I've never understood this notion of distinguishing the economy so thoroughly from the rest of civil society as to pretend that the former can be regimented and controlled while the latter remains "free".Communism is inherently totalitarian precisely because of its nature as as economic system: if you give a centralized bureaucracy the level of control over society necessary to centrally plan the economy, you're giving them de facto control over *everything*.China has become more economically free in recent years not because the communist system collapsed and a natural market arose in its absence, but because the government finally realized that central planning according to socialist doctrine does not produce the desired results, and deliberately restrained communist practice. The apparatus of state control is still in place, though, and is still being used for other purposes, e.g. internet censorship.
Oh come on, in China the government still owns a large share of the telecom companies. In the U.S. they have to appeal to strong idealists like Ed Whitacre, who would sacrifice their careers to protect our privacy. Yeah, they had to, uh, speak to him sternly. Well, ok, he actually offered to sell out his customers. But he didn't laugh while doing it. No siree. He only smiled.
dasunst3rJul 5, 2006
Just when Cambridge breached the Great Firewall: <a class="user" href="http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/04/1221253">http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/04/1221253</a>I guess it's back to work for those folks... So ironic that China dare call themselves the "People's Republic" when the people don't have any freedom.
prot0colJul 5, 2006
The name "People's Republic" was screwed up in the translation. It actually is the "People's Prison".
asterusJul 5, 2006
I've never understood this notion of distinguishing the economy so thoroughly from the rest of civil society as to pretend that the former can be regimented and controlled while the latter remains "free".Communism is inherently totalitarian precisely because of its nature as as economic system: if you give a centralized bureaucracy the level of control over society necessary to centrally plan the economy, you're giving them de facto control over *everything*.China has become more economically free in recent years not because the communist system collapsed and a natural market arose in its absence, but because the government finally realized that central planning according to socialist doctrine does not produce the desired results, and deliberately restrained communist practice. The apparatus of state control is still in place, though, and is still being used for other purposes, e.g. internet censorship.
williamdyerJul 6, 2006
Oh come on, in China the government still owns a large share of the telecom companies. In the U.S. they have to appeal to strong idealists like Ed Whitacre, who would sacrifice their careers to protect our privacy. Yeah, they had to, uh, speak to him sternly. Well, ok, he actually offered to sell out his customers. But he didn't laugh while doing it. No siree. He only smiled.
mtnbluetJul 6, 2006
viva la fee internet---may the chinese govt never suceed!
Closed AccountJul 6, 2006
I wonder who decides who should form the Government in a communist nation. Sounds more like dictatorship to me.