Chapter 7 1. The emperor's new clothes?
"In China, the American dream is still there, and it's still very good." On November 23, 2010, the American online magazine The Globalist (The Globalist) published an article with such a title, describing the emergence of A strange phenomenon.The American author of this article said: "We live in strange, even distorted times. Suddenly, those who support the United States most have deep doubts about the future of this country, and do not know what the future of this country is. Can it continue to be brilliant? However, during a recent trip to China for the media, we found that the American dream is still alive and beautiful in this land of China. This is what surprised us the most. When Chinese scholars heard us When American journalists and scholars criticize American political deadlock and American society in serious conflict, they will be very unhappy... They tell us, stop talking about how bad America is, we will not believe it. You are destroying our dreams for the future Belief that the United States has a bright future is the driving force for us Chinese to get out of the dark days." Following the logic of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes", that is, "Please stop talking about the problems of the United States, and stop talking about the problems of the United States in many On the one hand, it’s like the emperor without new clothes. We won’t believe it if you say it. You are destroying our dreams for the future. The United States represents the light and the future, and we are still struggling in the dark.”
Of course, the wishes of these people belong to their wishes. We still need to understand a real America. This is to avoid being fooled by the United States and the forces it supports, and it is also to know ourselves and the enemy in the great process of China’s rise, and finally surpass the United States and the American model in an all-round way. , to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.China has risen to the point where it is today, and it is of great benefit to figure out the real America.There are already many Chinese people who have been to the United States today, and we can already see a more real America through all kinds of smog and barriers.In a sense, this is also a process from myth to truth.
Like China, the United States is also a complex country, and the description of the United States may also have a "blind man feeling the elephant", that is, describing a certain aspect of the United States while ignoring other aspects of the United States.But the lies made up by some "big V" are too outrageous, and it is better to expose them, otherwise Americans will blush when they hear it, such as "the quality of public school education in the United States is very high", "the United States is a high-welfare country", "Social Security is strong in the United States", etc.
At the beginning of 2014, Observer.com published an article written by a blogger living in New York entitled "On the Gap between the Rich and the Poor in the United States". The article analyzed the reasons for the gap between the rich and the poor in American society. The narrative fits well with my observations of the United States over the years.The article says:
Turn on the TV, whether it is live news or movies or TV series, you can often see ordinary people in the United States: obese, beer belly, dark and yellow complexion, wrinkled skin, and sloppy clothes.Driving an old car, engaged in manual labor or service industry for many years, not good at math, barely finished high school, started working as a salesperson and cashier at the age of seventeen or eighteen, or worked as a worker in a local factory, holding government relief food stamps (food stamp), only buy the cheapest genetically modified food and a lot of junk food such as potato chips and soda in the supermarket, don't like reading, feel good about yourself.Such people account for more than 50% of the American population, and they are in stark contrast to the white-collar workers in suits and ties, personable, smart, capable, and sophisticated tastes seen in Manhattan, as well as the handsome, stable, polite, and experienced students in Ivy League universities. contrast.Not to mention those big bosses and rich people in helicopters on Long Island.
The article believes that the serious solidification of American social classes is mainly due to two reasons: First, education, especially expensive tuition fees, has blocked the upward passage of the vast majority of poor people through education: from "myth" to "truth" "top schools" The annual tuition fee of more than 50,000 US dollars can keep most of the blacks out. In addition, the low quality and educational level of parents and the backwardness of ideas are the root causes that prevent these children from making further efforts. Except for a few students who can be admitted to prestigious schools, In addition to receiving scholarships, students from poor families and not very top-notch students can only go to state universities, community colleges, or even drop out of school. What else can they do? Sell vegetables in supermarkets, deliver food in food stores, and work as waiters Wait, this life is probably like this, the future is bleak, they must be the lost generation, and their children will not escape their fate."
The second is knowledge, which includes two aspects: one is the widespread anti-intellectualism at the bottom of American society, especially "anti-mathematics" and "anti-nerds", and the excessive use of intellectual property protection. "The miraculous effect of anti-intellectualism is that those young and ignorant children will say: Ha, let those nerds succeed, I don't care about mathematics, and I drank a bottle of self-narcotic miracle drug, and my waist is no longer sore and my legs are no longer painful Walking is also strong. Let them learn actuarial calculation, statistics, finance, mathematics, and computers? Don’t even think about it. The children of the poor have no skills and it is difficult to compete with those from the rich. It is even more impossible to change their destiny.” As for knowledge Property rights are generally believed to be conducive to promoting invention and innovation, but the excessive use of intellectual property rights has produced what the Chinese call "too much to be worth". On the contrary, it hinders the diffusion of knowledge and the progress of society.The article said that in the United States, due to the excessive protection of intellectual property rights, "whether it is to buy textbooks, listen to songs, or read books, magazines and movies, you need to spend money to buy them. For example, a new textbook usually costs about 200 US dollars. An ordinary Popular books in China are about $20, a CD is about $12, and a magazine is about $5. Unlike China, where Sina Aiwen, QQ Music, Kuaibo, etc. are all available with one click. This makes the poor unable to access (buy) a lot of knowledge, so , they can only find alternative ways to get free information: TV, free resources on the Internet. TV is full of stupid entertainment programs, especially in the United States (because good channels have to pay)".
The author believes that a large number of free "brain-dead programs" on American TV and the Internet make many people in the United States only satisfied with sensory entertainment and do not seek to make progress. In addition, "junk food destroys the health and intelligence of these people", this situation is incompatible with most There is a world of difference between Chinese people who are busy recharging their batteries, making progress, and constantly seeking to improve their own destiny.The author believes (and the author also believes), "With the improvement of China's per capita living standards, China's middle class and intellectual elite will soon live a better life than most ordinary people in the United States."
We can also pay attention to the level of social security in the United States today, especially medical insurance and pensions, which are also issues that Chinese people are very concerned about today.China's universal medical insurance has not started for a long time, but by 2011, China's basic medical insurance has covered 95% of the country's population. In other words, China has built the world's largest basic medical insurance network. The overall level of protection is not high, but has been steadily improving.In contrast, one-sixth of the population of the United States (nearly 50 million) does not have any medical insurance, and those who have participated in the American medical insurance often have misery.A very popular post was circulated on the blog of a student studying in the United States. The title was "Domestic medical care is poor, let's change it?", which roughly pointed out the main differences between Chinese and American medical insurance and medical services. "The article is not without jokes: "I used to think (after paying thousands of dollars in medical insurance every month) that you can go to the hospital directly if you are sick, and the test results can be obtained in 20 minutes. It is two steps in the hospital. You can get medicine, and the doctor who is bleeding heavily will also give you a blood transfusion. If you have a heart attack, you won’t go bankrupt if you pull the ambulance.If you still dare to think so today, congratulations, because you are likely to live in a country that meets the above requirements, it is called China. "
They compared the difference between Chinese and American medical insurance: "In China, the essence of medical insurance is an account, which means that there is money in it. American medical insurance is just a card with your name on it, and there is no money. The United States is a country without a government. A capitalist country with medical insurance. Private companies provide medical insurance. There are two types of private companies, HMO and PPO, which occupy 97% of the market. The two are one company. Do you understand what a monopoly is? We pay $500 each, and we have Add $300 after the child. Our parents-in-law’s family is in San Diego, Southern California, and each person also pays $500. There are three children, one of whom unfortunately suffers from congenital diabetes. conditions) to refuse to provide medical insurance. All at their own expense. Regardless of HMO or PPO, regardless of the type of insurance, private companies will reimburse you for doctor/medicine ratios. The proportion is also uncertain. It is still uncertain whether to reimburse Dr. A today or see Dr. A tomorrow. Do you understand what is changing rapidly? In short, the biggest feature of the American medical billing system is randomness and stimulation. It is impossible when you see a doctor If you know how much you have to pay, because the doctor doesn’t know, they say you need to report to the insurance company, and the tens of dollars you pay when you see the doctor are just a fee for seeing the doctor, and a bill will be sent to you after 1-2 months. It's 'doctor's fee'. The bills are all the abbreviations set by the medical insurance company, which are basically the same as the passwords during the war. If you really want to understand the bills, you probably have to take a special course in graduate school, 6 credits. ...(Sometimes) when you receive the bill, you find out that the insurance company has not reimbursed you. Why are you so angry? Who told you not to read the 50-page document when you bought the insurance? The insurance company wrote it all, and donated money every month Basically, depending on your type of insurance, you only start to reimburse the percentage after spending hundreds to thousands of dollars. The first few hundred to thousands of dollars are paid out of your own pocket! You got sick once or twice this year and didn’t spend the limit. Why? Do? I’m sorry, but you will have to pay the full amount at your own expense this year, and the limit will start from zero next year. Don’t worry, our insurance company will not go bankrupt, and our policy will not change for decades.”
Endowment insurance is also an important part of social security. China's endowment insurance has grown from scratch, from small to large, and the entire country has achieved full coverage of basic endowment insurance. In 2013, 205 million people in China enjoyed basic pension insurance benefits, and the basic pension standard for enterprise retirees has recently increased by 10%.Americans born after the war, that is, the generation born between 1946 and 1964 (roughly equal to the post-40s, post-50s, and post-60s that the Chinese call them) enjoy significantly lower security than their parents, and the prospects are not very optimistic . The 2008 financial crisis led to the shrinking of the wealth of the American people is one of the main reasons, and the market-oriented reform of pensions that began in the 1980s is another main reason.The financial crisis has reduced the median family net worth of people aged 55-64 in the United States by about 8% compared with their previous generation. According to a 2011 poll by the AARP Public Policy Institute, more than 50% of this generation believe that their retirement life will be worse than that of their parents because most of them have already retired. Without the kind of pension benefits enjoyed by their parents.The retirement age in the United States is 5 to 10 years later than that in China, and you have to work until you are 66-67 years old to fully retire. In 2013, Americans received an average pension of about 1,200 US dollars. It is very difficult to live in the United States with this amount of money. Even if your mortgage has been paid off, you still have to pay a large amount of property taxes every year (approximately 50% of the value of the property. 1%-3%, a property worth 300,000 US dollars may consume 1/3 or more of your pension in a year), and the cost of seeing a doctor is even more expensive, so it is already a must for the elderly in the United States to continue working after retirement. common case.
When talking about social security, I am afraid that we need to compare the security level of a society as a whole.In this regard, China is much better than the United States.China is undoubtedly one of the safest countries in the world, but in most cities in the United States, who would dare to walk alone at night?In my book "China Touched", I once compared the social security of China and the United States in this way. If China gets 5 points, the United States can only get 3 points at most.In most places in China, it is safe to take a bus or walk at night, and it is almost safe to travel with a few friends anywhere in China.I know a student from Switzerland who, together with three Chinese classmates, rode a small motorcycle and traveled around half of China in three or four months. He did not encounter any social security problems. He told me after he came back that the security situation in China Certainly better than Switzerland, which is one of the safest countries in the West. In 2012, the homicide rate in China was 0.8 per 100,000 people, lower than both Switzerland and Japan.In contrast, there were about 150,000 homicides in the United States in 2011, an average of 50 per 100,000 people, 60 times that of China.
The Chinese people's long-standing family culture and respect for the elderly are a useful supplement to the current medical insurance system and pension system.The tradition of the United States is different from that of China. The United States is a typical individualistic "atomized" society. You belong to you, I belong to me, the elderly belong to the elderly, and children belong to children.When you are old and sick, you carry it by yourself, and your wife may help you, but how can there be any concept of filial piety for children?How can any unit leaders and colleagues come to visit and express condolences?How many American companies are looking for "legal" excuses to fire employees in their 50s to reduce the burden of their own medical insurance and pensions. When former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passed away in 2013, her children declared that they would not come to attend to the funeral, and asked the outside world to respect their privacy. This is understandable in Western societies where individual rights come first, but the Chinese have their own more For the warm cultural inheritance, especially for your parents and relatives.No wonder that after the publication of my "China Shock", the well-known American political commentator Robert Kuhn also said in his comments that "the 'China model' is higher and more humane."
Of course, on the whole, China's social security system is still in the process of construction, and there are still many defects, such as regional division, urban-rural division, departmental division and so on.But what is important is that our country, from top to bottom, has formed a strong consensus: we want to establish a more equitable and sustainable social security system, and our security level will continue to increase with economic development .The time has come for the whole people to share the fruits of China's development.Chinese state-owned enterprises will also spend 30% of their profits on social security in the future.Deng Xiaoping had many expositions on socialism with Chinese characteristics, two of which were the bottom line that he never compromised, one was the leadership of the party, and the other was public ownership as the main body.With these two items, no matter how many problems arise in China, we have ways to correct them.In the past 30 years, while the wealth of our society has grown explosively, the gap between the rich and the poor has also widened. However, relying on these two things, the living standards of most of us have been improved unprecedentedly. Our social security The career has achieved rare achievements in the world.The social security model we are exploring should not only avoid the excessive capitalization model, but also avoid the excessive welfare model, and finally build a social security system in China that is in line with China's national conditions and comprehensively surpasses the American model.
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