this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

China eradicated extreme poverty, and has been extremely consistent when it comes to improving quality of life year over year. Imperialist countries may have higher quality of life in some areas, such as the Nordics, but they are regularly deteriorating thanks to capitalism while China is regularly rising thanks to socialism.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Like I said, theoretically it will even better than those capitalist countries, at some point. It's just not the case yet

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, but already it's better to be poor in China than poor in the US.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

That'd be fine if those were the two countries in the world, but there's lots of capitalist and socialist countries 

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, but they're also useful examples.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I mean preferably you'd pick top ones to compare, so best in class from both systems. In this case the winner would be from the capitalist side, if your pick was China. That's what I meant it being a poor example. There's probably a socialist country that actually beats the capitalist countries when it comes to social safety net and not as many living paycheck to paycheck

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

China beats the US when it comes to quality of life for those without much money, though. Maybe if you were talking 20 years ago the situation would be different, but China has absolutely surpassed the US. Further, the US Empire relies on imperialism, and has been a developed country for far longer. China at the moment is the world's most developed socialist country, and it already surpasses the US Empire.

[–] Geobloke@aussie.zone 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Hypothetically which county in China offers the best social safety net?

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago

Major cities tend to have better infrastructure and access to care. I don't know about "best" though.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Did you just make the whole thing about USA? Fucking hell, this America centrism is killing me

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

No? I included the Nordics as well. What are you trying to say, here? I used the US Empire as its the dying world hegemon, but use any western European state you like and it's similar.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

It just feels like a "programming is failing" moment to write that in reply to a comment questioning the focus on the US when the comparison was just to capitalist countries.

I mean jeez. There's other countries out there and we were talking about those beating China. If you feel like the Nordics have poorer safety nets than China or more people living paycheck to paycheck just say that, instead of a reply talking about US for whatever reason...

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

When you say "top of the world," the US is the world hegemon with the greatest amount of wealth and plunder. It distributes it very poorly because it's a dying capitalist empire, of course. Nordic countries are in some ways behind China and in some ways ahead even if they fare better than the US, but that's because of imperialism still, and not an example of capitalism working. China shows that, despite developing far later than the imperialist west (take your pick on whichever one), it has managed to develop far more quickly and for the benefit of all, rather than an elite few.

Don't insinuate that I'm a bot. Dehumanization is bad. Either explain what you mean by "best in class" or accept that it's possible that someone would interpret it as I did.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

What I said:

I mean preferably you'd pick top ones to compare, so best in class from both systems

The topic was about people living paycheck to paycheck and social safety net... So take top ones in that category from both systems and compare them to find the overall winner.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 hour ago

But that doesn't make sense, you compare among peers in development timeframes where you can, as well as size and location. Nordic countries tend to have good safety nets, but they also fund them from imperialism, and they've been developing for a longer period of time. China isn't imperialist, and it's only recently been developing. If you're trying to compare capitalism and socialism as systems, you have to compare their trajectories and where they've come from, not static snapshots.