[Edited Message Follows] [Reason: Sorry, Garbled first paragraph.] On Sun, Mar 17, 2024 at 12:04 PM, Charlie wrote:
> > Pardon a crude question: Why should anyone take this seriously when Xi's > family has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars? Note that Charlie refers to “Xi’s family” rather than to Xi and that they amassed between them “hundreds of millions of dollars” which is chicken feed compared to the personal and family fortunes of Western politicians - Trump being the most notorious example. Of course it is true that leading party and state officials draw far better salaries and enjoy more benefits than the highest paid Chinese wage-earners. But that is the norm everywhere and, apart from Lenin and the early Bolsheviks who had more modest lifestyles, subsequent Communist Party leaders and functionaries in China and the USSR lived far more comfortably than the workers and peasants they led. Some questions for Charlie in return:: 1. What is the evidence that the personal wealth of the leading Chinese state and party officials derives from the earnings of the state corporations they control? 2. Do they have majority shares in the state or private corporations and, if so, which ones and what is their percentage stake? 3. Are any of them multi-billionaires on par, for example, with Bezos, Musk, the Kochs, and Zuckerberg in the US or India’s Ambani or France’s Arneault? 4. Are any of them just run-of-the-mill billionaires like most senior managers of Western multinationals who rely more on their shareholdings and stock options than on their salaries? It’s to be expected, though not condoned, that the Chinese elite, especially the well-connected “red diaper babies” of prominent Chinese revolutionary leaders, have prospered from the appearance and growth of China's private sector and that some have inevitably engaged in corrupt practices - just as in the West. But that is a far cry from blaming Chinese party and state officials of systematically amassing great personal wealth by looting the state corporations they control. Yet this is what is implied by Charlie and Western propagandists. I did a quick Google search on Xi and his family and the first hit was a 2014 NYT story about his crack down on his own family and those of leading officials who were also accumulating real estate and other assets in the private market at home and abroad. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/asia/chinas-president-xi-jinping-investments.html ( https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/asia/chinas-president-xi-jinping-investments.html ) I stopped my search because I’m aware that Charlie will be quick to pounce if things have changed for the worse since then. :) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29499): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29499 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/104961025/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
