How Xi Jinping Should Have Led China's Transition
This video explores how Xi Jinping should have led China's transformation to achieve the transition from an industrialized country to a developed one. The video points out that the "low human rights advantage" policy, which previously supported rapid industrialization, became a drag during the transition period because it suppressed the public's consumption power and innovative drive. The author argues that at the beginning of his tenure, Xi Jinping should have improved labor laws, increased rest time, raised the treatment of low-level laborers, and adjusted the family planning policy in a timely manner to promote the development of the tertiary industry. However, the Xi Jinping administration focused only on social security issues regarding the implementation of labor laws and turned a blind eye to the phenomenon of overtime work. The relaxation of the family planning policy also lagged severely, leading to a sharp decline in the birth rate. In addition, the video criticizes the high housing prices caused by land finance, arguing that this has severely suppressed the consumption power of the Chinese people, and although Xi Jinping once proposed that "housing is for living, not for speculation," housing prices have continued to rise.
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Some policies during the Hu-Wen era were indeed helpful for China to achieve rapid industrialization, but it is clear that they were not helpful for becoming a developed country. After all, the various policies of the Hu-Wen era actually existed to support rapid industrialization, not to support the transition to becoming a developed country. In fact, many policies were even in conflict with becoming a developed country and developing the tertiary industry, such as the low human rights advantage.
The low human rights advantage was helpful during the period of rapid industrialization, but it became a complete drag during the transition period. The development of the tertiary industry requires not only that the people of the country have innovation capabilities, but also that they have the consumption power to pay for innovation. However, under the low human rights advantage, the Chinese people were squeezed to the point where they had no money to consume and no time to consume. When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, China should have started to improve labor laws, increase people's rest time, and improve the treatment of low-level laborers so that they would have the money and ability to consume.
But Xi Jinping did not deal with this matter. The strict implementation of labor laws was only concentrated on social security issues. What stood out was: if you owe the government money, I will strike with a heavy fist; if you make employees work overtime, I will turn a blind eye. The same is true for the family planning policy. When becoming an industrialized country, having fewer newborns was beneficial, but when transitioning to a developed country, it was detrimental. Although newborns cannot become a labor force, their consumption is not low, and is even higher than that of an average adult. This consumption demand can promote the development of the tertiary industry. The family planning policy, which should have been amended when Xi Jinping came to power, was delayed until 2015 to allow a second child, and not until 2021 to allow a third child. By 2024, China's birth rate was almost zero, and only then were birth restrictions completely lifted. As for the issue of land finance, it was changed, but it ended up as a "half-finished project." The high housing prices under China's land finance severely suppressed.
The consumption power of the Chinese people; China's consumption was squeezed out by housing prices. At the beginning of his tenure, Xi Jinping did propose "housing is for living, not for speculation" and wanted to curb housing prices. However, after encountering some resistance, he stopped, and even during the Xi Jinping era, China's housing prices began to see an even larger wave of increases.