China had its “cultural revolution” when they tried to destroy all of the historical items. They consider this to be a “lost decade” where their development stalled. Today the government has partial ownership in all businesses, so they get over half of their revenues from this “free enterprise.” They have no choice but to continue support for free enterprise or else they will not have sufficient money to support their social agenda.
Vietnam has a communist government. However, their economy is free enterprise. There are three reasons. First, the breakup of the Soviet Union in early 90’s stopped the external financial support. Second, China’s success with free enterprise showed a model that worked. (I’ve read that some China jobs are now being outsourced to Vietnam.) Third, TV and the internet shows what works. (Vietnamese children learn English for US cartoons!)
Cambodia is the most extreme. They are recovering from the Khmar Rouge period 30 years ago, and realize that free enterprise is the opposite of the extreme collectivism that was forced upon them. Like China, they see this as a “lost decade.”
South Korea sees the results of the 60 years experiment of North Korea communism vs South Korean free enterprise. East and West Germany also ran a 50+ year experiment with clear results.
Let’s hope that the US retains sufficient appreciation for these global learnings about the role of free enterprise. If we disincentivize free enterprise initiative enough, it is possible to produce our version of a “lost decade” in the US.
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Doesn't the US government now have majority ownership in most banks? I also think they take a cut of all company profits too if I'm not mistaken.
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