I have witnessed too many stories about the CCP using the crisis to create panic to profit from it. Even if there is no genuine crisis, they will create panic. The current pandemic is a weapon of the CCP and has created a panic far more serious than what it should be. The United States should have a plan for disaster relief and national strength revitalization. However, are there any politicians who use the relief plan for other goals instead of restoring the power of the country? Faced with foreign enemies, are they treating “our people” as pawns in their games? Who are they helping?
Government welfare and state free funds are all cancerous. In the beginning, it seemed natural to only take care of the old and the young. But gradually the government’s help is no longer regarded as a life-saving straw to overcome difficulties, but a “right”. People who depend on state funding are increasingly envy those who get more funding. The people who work hard to get very few would hate those who get a lot with minor work. Honest, self-respecting companies are at a disadvantage in this special competition and then social tensions have slowly risen. These phenomena have become more and more obvious after we settled in the United States, but do not seem to have attracted the attention of most people. The CCP triumphantly watched that the US government was learning how they governed the country.
Besides a series of suicide policies on issues such as diplomacy, climate, energy, and the southern border, the current US government is also undermining the foundation of our nation on a deeper level. The various government welfare programs and spending plans with sky-high prices that have recently emerged will inevitably go out of control if they continue to develop. Taxes will continue to increase, and the economy will become increasingly sluggish. With the spread of welfare, the state will manage health care, education, and most social services. The further decline of the private sector will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of unemployed. The few companies that survived either depended on government contracts for their livelihoods, established relationships with government bureaucrats or with organized crime, or both.
If the United States continues to develop like this, what will happen? Someone will inevitably launch the development model of red crony capitalism described in the previous chapter. In communist China, this guaranteed the bloody rule of the CCP’s proletarian dictatorship. Looking at the retirement system in China, it is easy to find where the government-led benefits will lead.
The retirement benefits of the CCP’s official in mainland China are much higher than that of ordinary people. Their retirement system is also highly hierarchical. When the officials at the county level and below retired, they have pensions that are discounted based on their original wages and their seniority. They also have a discount on the cost of medical treatment. When the officials at the central departmental level and at the local city level and above retired, they call it as “LiXiu”, which means “recuperation by keeping original salary.” They can get all original wages and full reimbursement for the medical expenses. The expenses of over 110 retired senior cadres at the first level of the Politburo member of the CPC Central Committee are about 1 billion yuan per year; an average of 10 million yuan per person per year.
According to a Hong Kong magazine in 2004, retired senior cadres at the Politburo Standing Committee, Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Vice Chairman of the State, and Deputy Director of the Central Advisory Committee, spent up to 326 million yuan in public expenditure, an average of 27.25 million yuan per person at the year. These retired leaders at the highest level can also enjoy free access to two Air China special planes, two military special planes, and three special trains with 7 carriages. There was armed protection for the special trains. All passenger trains must stop and let the special train go first. When express trains traveling in the same direction, all passenger trains must stop and allow the special train to pass by. In addition, there are groups of medical experts from the Beijing People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, from Shanghai East China Hospital, from the General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command be ready to service.
The other 105 retired senior officials such as Politburo members and deputy prime Ministers have a lower-level benefits. But they still spent 671 million yuan in public expenditure, an average of over 630,000 yuan per person. The benefits they enjoy include: two guards, one driver, two staff members, one cook, one health doctor, and two cars for each. They take six to eight seats by plane, first-class or business class; by train, they can pack a soft sleeper or add a special carriage.
According to that statistic in the 2004 report, besides the above privileged groups, China had over five thousand retired cadres at the provincial and ministerial level. The income of these people far exceeded that of ordinary civil servants, and there were also public expenditures. Even civil servants in the lower ranks also have much higher retirement income and benefits than ordinary Chinese. The system guarantees this extravagant life of retired CCP cadres and is a statutory privilege.
The magazine also reported on data submitted at an executive meeting of the State Council in December 2013. It shows that in 2012, there were approximately 610,000 retired party, government, and military senior officials of the Communist Party of China. Its total expenditure on salaries, benefits, and other items was more than RMB 725 billion, equivalent to 1.3% of GDP in the same year and 6.2% of fiscal revenue in the same year.
Speaking of the medical expenses, the Ministry of Health of the PRC once disclosed a data for 2005. It shows that 80% of medical expenses serve 8.5 million party and government cadres, while the other billion ordinary civilians can only share the remaining 20% of medical resources. According to a report from the Academy of Social Sciences, there are 2 million cadres in party and government departments across the country who take long-term sick leave, of which 400,000 have long occupied cadre wards, cadre guest houses, and resorts. Since 2006, the statistical yearbook of the medical and health authorities has no longer issue relevant data. The public then has no way of knowing the distribution of medical expenses.
The above information is mainly based on the CCP’s own public information. The actual situation will definitely be more shocking. This is the inevitable result of government-led universal welfare. If the government’s welfare programs and sky-high spending plan continue in the United States, what kind of country will it become? What kind of privileged class will the United States produce as a result?
(03/09/2022)