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Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

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Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#81

Post by AngrySkillzz »

themartorana wrote: post #59
vvvv wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly the control mechanism that was used by a number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, to prevent the Arab Spring revolutions from happening within their borders. They handed out billions of cash to the populace. "...the Saudi state began spending $130 billion to pump up civil servant salaries (paying two extra months’ salaries)" "In Kuwait, at around the same time, the state increased civil serva…

What will become of the already unstable Middle East when oil begins its inevitable (likely slow) decline as a dominant power source?

Most of the oil-rich nations have reasonably large sovereign wealth funds, so they have broad investment exposure to the rest of the global economy. I think the plan is to draw on those as necessary to transition their economies into something more diversified and sustainable.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#82

Post by eachro »

vijayr wrote: post #17
timwaagh wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most people i know do need to work if they dont want to sleep in the streets. i program others wait tables or clean out the garbage. you think somebody does that for 'pride'? it does not matter if the country is developed or not you still have to work because real estate is expensive even if food is not. if you dont well congrats but then you (and your buddies) are one of these second generation dandies.

even if food is not. Good food is not cheap. In NYC, we pay 8$ for a decent sized watermelon - almost all fruits are expensive, and most vegetables too. Only shitty food like chips, soda, candy, fast food etc are cheap.

Produce from any of the Chinatowns(Manhattan, Flushing, 8th ave) is pretty reasonable.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#83

Post by jkaunisv1 »

themartorana wrote: post #59
vvvv wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly the control mechanism that was used by a number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, to prevent the Arab Spring revolutions from happening within their borders. They handed out billions of cash to the populace. "...the Saudi state began spending $130 billion to pump up civil servant salaries (paying two extra months’ salaries)" "In Kuwait, at around the same time, the state increased civil serva…

What will become of the already unstable Middle East when oil begins its inevitable (likely slow) decline as a dominant power source?

They may actually emerge as a leader in green energy & architecture. Masdar City looks like an interesting project to follow.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#84

Post by roymurdock »

cafard wrote: post #33
roymurdock wrote: post #31

Funny to think that China was reforged under communist ideals only 50 years ago, and that the hatred of the poor rural folk for the wealthy, corrupt royals and warlords was strong enough to unite allow the country to expel the Japanese, the British, and the KMT. It's my view that the standard of living for the poor and lower classes has improved enough that there would not be enough hatred to fuel a revolution. Disgu…

a. Only 50 years ago? The Japanese surrender was 70 years ago, and the civil war between the PLA and the KMT was all over but the shouting 65 years ago. b. The British? The corrupt royals? The royalty was gone except from the puppet state in Manchuria well before that. c. The expulsion of the Japanese had a good deal to do with the Japanese losing a war to certain Western powers, not to mention, in at the end, the US…

You're right - for some reason I thought we were still in the year 2000. The main brunt of the revolution occurred 70-80 years ago from 1930-1945.

I also agree that the huge macroeconomic instability of WWII was helpful in allowing the communist party to organize a successful campaign as the KMT had to deal with multiple enemies on multiple fronts, and the communists were also receiving aid from the US to fight the Japanese post Pearl Harbor.

I think we would need to see another period of large-scale war in order to see any kind of revolution in China.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#85

Post by Retric »

Retra wrote: post #77
veidr wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote has always bugged the shit out of me, because: those were only the worst slave owners for future generations of sociology and history students (who mostly didn't descend from slaves). For the actual slaves themselves, the worst slaveowners were the ones who whipped and tortured their slaves in an attempt to extract more value (or just for fun), those who separated children from parents, raped the women or…

>those were only the worst slave owners for future generations of sociology and history students That's the thing, though: he wasn't speaking as an owned slave, but as a future sociologist/historian. So if they are the worst for future generations, why would it be bullshit that he's claiming they're the worst? Maybe he simply isn't optimizing for immediate value, but for long-term value. And why would you be objectin…

What long term value? The system is already gone.

If anything the fact that some slavers where more personable means more people can conceive of such a system showing up again which will help avoid it.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#86

Post by jsprogrammer »

Retra wrote: post #77
veidr wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote has always bugged the shit out of me, because: those were only the worst slave owners for future generations of sociology and history students (who mostly didn't descend from slaves). For the actual slaves themselves, the worst slaveowners were the ones who whipped and tortured their slaves in an attempt to extract more value (or just for fun), those who separated children from parents, raped the women or…

>those were only the worst slave owners for future generations of sociology and history students That's the thing, though: he wasn't speaking as an owned slave, but as a future sociologist/historian. So if they are the worst for future generations, why would it be bullshit that he's claiming they're the worst? Maybe he simply isn't optimizing for immediate value, but for long-term value. And why would you be objectin…

Why should we care about a future sociologist's or historian's opinion about what was "worst"?

It seems like the determination of worst would need to be made by someone who actually experienced these things, not someone who never experienced them or even saw them.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#87

Post by anonnyj »

joshuaheard wrote: post #64
talloaktrees wrote: post #38

I had trouble understanding this title, and I realized it's because I speak Chinese. "Yuan" doesn't sound anything like one. it's more like "you" + "an"

I was told in China it was pronounced "wahn", so the title makes sense to me.

Eh, thats simply wrong though. Maybe it'd sound like that with a thick accent/someone who doesn't speaks putonghua well...

Either that or you're thinking of 万 / wan / 10,000

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#88

Post by Retra »

Retric wrote: post #85
Retra wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>those were only the worst slave owners for future generations of sociology and history students That's the thing, though: he wasn't speaking as an owned slave, but as a future sociologist/historian. So if they are the worst for future generations, why would it be bullshit that he's claiming they're the worst? Maybe he simply isn't optimizing for immediate value, but for long-term value. And why would you be objectin…

What long term value? The system is already gone. If anything the fact that some slavers where more personable means more people can conceive of such a system showing up again which will help avoid it.

I don't understand your question. The long term value I'm talking about is that of the system being gone, so it being gone is a realization of that value, not a point that the value isn't there.

That's like saying "What is the value in winning the lottery if I already have all the lottery money in the bank."

>If anything the fact that some slavers where more personable means more people can conceive of such a system showing up again which will help avoid it.

Or alternatively, it could convince people that slavery is not that bad. (Which is exactly the point he was making.) And now we're just betting on which is more likely: that nice slave owners will teach us that the evils of slavery can be hidden, or that they'll convince us slavery is not bad.

But those are the same thing. The way you hide the evil of slavery is by convincing people that it is deserved and just. You say "We don't need to pay our employees more, because they are not Titans of Industry like us, they are Welfare Leeches." His point was that you can fix it faster if it is obviously evil, and that is better than living for centuries in a society that doesn't value you.

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#89

Post by angrow »

veidr wrote: post #68
littletimmy wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really liked this sentiment of Oscar Wilde on charity: “[Charity] is not a solution [to poverty]: it is an aggravation of the difficulty. The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible…Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered from it, and understood by thos…

That quote has always bugged the shit out of me, because: those were only the worst slave owners for future generations of sociology and history students (who mostly didn't descend from slaves). For the actual slaves themselves, the worst slaveowners were the ones who whipped and tortured their slaves in an attempt to extract more value (or just for fun), those who separated children from parents, raped the women or…

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (the source of the quote, if anyone's curious) gave me the distinct impression that Wilde enjoyed bugging the shit out of people. Who would have guessed?

Re: Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich Kids

#90

Post by moron4hire »

themartorana wrote: post #59
vvvv wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly the control mechanism that was used by a number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, to prevent the Arab Spring revolutions from happening within their borders. They handed out billions of cash to the populace. "...the Saudi state began spending $130 billion to pump up civil servant salaries (paying two extra months’ salaries)" "In Kuwait, at around the same time, the state increased civil serva…

What will become of the already unstable Middle East when oil begins its inevitable (likely slow) decline as a dominant power source?

If anything, they'll get richer, as oil is not exactly an elastic good. As supply dries up, demand won't, so price will have to compensate, and barring some form of extra-market intervention, it will probably mean a higher margin for the suppliers.
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