Two maps

Unz has mostly descended into tiresome eugenics and outdated racial stereotypes. It still manages to include a smart piece once in a while.

Mike Whitney makes a highly unorthodox and thus true point about China, using just one pair of maps.

= = = = = START QUOTE:

You see the development of a high-speed rail system that is unrivaled anywhere on earth. You see the actualization of a plan to connect all parts of the country with modern-day infrastructure that reduces shipping costs, improves mobility and increases profitability. You see a vision of the 21st century in which state-directed capital links rural populations with urban centers lifting standards of living across the board. You see an expression of a new economic model that has lifted 800 million people out of poverty while paving the way for global economic integration. You see an industrial juggernaut expanding in all directions while laying the groundwork for a new century of economic integration, accelerated development and shared prosperity.

Is there a high-speed rail system in the United States that is comparable to what we see in China today? No, there isn’t. So far, less than 50 miles of high-speed rail has been built in the United States.

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He attributes China’s fast growth to central planning. Exactly correct. When a strong government directs development toward national improvement, national improvement happens.

We achieved a similar transformation in the ’30s, with a somewhat milder level of national coordination. WPA gave us dams and roads and parks and schools and courthouses and electrical systems everywhere. We’re still running on the vapors of WPA.

A direct comparison of rail systems shows that a different model can also work. We DID have a complete network of high-speed rail from 1900 to 1920. The interurban system connected every major and mid-size city, and most smaller towns. In rural areas trains reached 70 mph, twice what the best automobiles could do. Interurbans were built by a mix of private and municipal companies, with no heavy national hand.

Our problem now is not lack of coordination. Our problem is that the feds and most of the states are SOLELY DEVOTED TO HALTING DEVELOPMENT. Look at the huge sums poured into business since 2000. 10 trillion before 2020, another 20 trillion in 2020.

NONE OF THIS MONEY DEVELOPED ANYTHING AT ALL.

No railroads, no factories, no businesses. In fact the 2020 money went into CLOSING and SHUTTING DOWN everything. Where did it go? Wall Street. That’s all.

The entire stock market setup is purely parasitic. It absorbs all of our efforts and money and skills with NEGATIVE REAL OUTPUT.

FDR showed us what a strong government, restricting the parasites of Wall Street with a heavy hand, could accomplish. Deepstate, an alliance of Wall Street with surveillance agencies and “political” stagecrafters, hated FDR with a passion and resurged after he died. It took several decades to destroy the work of the New Deal. Nixon started the destruction and every president since Nixon has continued.