this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2025
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Can you elaborate? Xi has done more to increase socialization and reduce corruption as compared to the 2000s. I really don't know what you're talking about.
Corruption efforts are nice, but are also about control and loyalty - keep your head down and stay loyal, and you may prosper. Extreme poverty is way down (yay!), but so is social mobility and opportunities for younger generations. The huge number of chinese millionaires are very telling here - second only to the US. Something is going very wrong.
Then there's its military assertiveness, which could lead to a new regional or world war..
Billionaires in China are going down over time, and real wages for the working classes have steadily and consistently improved year over year for decades. China does have problems, but it has been improving under Xi. Further, China doesn't have millitary assertiveness, that would be the US Empire.
Billionaires were nearly non-existent when he started, and only went up for a long time under him (*exchange rates play a role here, if we talk USD) until economic hard times, where the numbers sunk.. I'm not giving Xi that.
Its naval neighbours will disagree with you on assertiveness, but I can't dispute the US, although I wouldn't call it an empire, rather a superpower with long and tawdry history of abusing its position. And now, trump is leading it into a death spiral, making it far less predictable and more dangerous.
In times of chaos, it's not the altruists who are out in front, but those who act fast and decisively. It's likely going to be a shitshow.
China's wealth has dramatically skyrocketed over time, resulting both in more billionaires and in dramatically improved material conditions for the working classes. China is not in "hard times" either. I suggest reading China Has Billionaires.
The US is the world empire. The vast sums of wealth it has it gains by superexploiting the global south for super profits and through unequal exchange. It uses the IMF, dollar hegemony, and financial institutions to plunder the world. This is by definition an extremely clear empire. Trump isn't taking it on a death spiral, imperialism is decaying and Trump happens to be president while that happens.
You've consistently erased the US Empire's imperialism and tried to pretend it's somehow beneficial to the world, which is the key problem with your analysis.