Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 09:12:23 -0500 From: Phanny Subject: CONTEST: SUB: Humor: Satire: Essay THE CHINESE HAVE MUCH TO LEARN by B.S. Pyle (fictitious name) As we all are aware, the Chinese have never quite gotten their act together. Throughout history the disparity between the wealthy and the impoverished in that realm has been substantial. It doesn't seem to matter what sort of government is in power or with which economic system they are experimenting. According to the news, the current government of China has announced that it plans to eliminate poverty within a few years. All I can say is, good luck. If they plan to continue promoting capitalism, then they are going to have to institute a welfare system, on the order of our old "War on Poverty" to accomplish this task. They will be compelled to shove all the needy into low-rent ghettoes, put them on the dole, give them food stamps and so forth, ad naseum. After that, no one will want to work for less than a living wage, parents will be demanding a decent education for their kids, the disabled will be grumbling about not being treated equally, and old folks will feel entitled to retirement benefits and health care. All the crybabies will come crawling out of the woodwork, whining about something. A few years of this and the middle class will start complaining about their taxes being frittered away on deadbeats instead of the military, prisons, corporate welfare, perks for elected officials, the war on drugs, and other economically sound programs. Sound familiar? Citizens will not support programs for the poor if it means they are to be inconvenienced. And who can blame them? The Chinese could end up in the same shape we are now ... a nation filled with angry taxpayers and radical minority groups. The streets could become so filled with people waving placards and shouting slogans, Tiananmen Square would look like a cake walk. The Chinese will learn to just let the poor sink or swim ... just as we did.