China #1

The first thing I noticed was the haze. A deep, musky haze, the color of dirty snow after a New York City snow-shower. I’ve been warned of the pollution, but it was thicker than I imagined: a gray cloud pock-marked with dark strawberry seeds.


Stepping off the plane, I was greeted with 6 security personnel; this in itself would not have been odd. But they were “strategically” placed at places they were not needed. For example, there was a walkway that ended in a sharp turn to the right and into another hallway; that is, there was no possibility of going anywhere but right. Yet there were two men, guiding us with their stiff arms, telling us to walk right, lest we walk straight into a wall. This concept, jobs of no utilitarian value, was further magnified when stepping off the concourse. I saw 3 women guiding a line of 5 baggage carts; that’s one woman for every 1.67 cart. At Pathmark, one 15-year-old boy can expertly maneuver 13 shopping carts by himself. What I found most ridiculous however, was this:


That's right -- it's a vending machine attendant. She stands there all day, waiting in the near-empty airport for a thirsty soul to come by her station. When he does, he gives his money to the attendant, who then puts it into the machine, chooses the drink, and then proceeds to retrieve the drink and open it for the purchaser.

These jobs, I guess, are the vestiges of an old communist past that assured every single citizen a job and a wage, no matter their education or amount of human capital. They're the physical remnants of a failed ideology that stridently, and dangerously, emphasized the notion of equality to the max.

We often take for granted the political and economic system of America. It emphasizes equity, not necessarily equality. Equity means that everybody gets a fair chance -- there is an emphasis on playing by the rules and being impartial and unbiased and fair. This doesn't always happen, but it is a revered virtue. Equality, on the other hand, is the concept that everybody should get a fair share. This thinking however, the concept of everybody having an equal part of the pie without regard to anyone's input in making the pie, leads to complacency and a lack of incentive. The result: a stagnating economy like China in the late 20th century.