this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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Are there countries where there aren't people living paycheck to paycheck? I really can't think of any, unless we count some social safety net things but some capitalist countries have that
Socialist countries generally have better safety nets, like China. Even Cuba, poor and sanctioned as it is, takes better care of its poorest than capitalist countries do.
China has a shitload of people living paycheck to paycheck in miserable conditions. Up until 2014 (and even still) people outside of cities didn't even get proper social safety nets. Arguably even some capitalist countries are better off there.
I'm sure in theory China will have it better than anyone else at some point and whatnot but when it comes to this meme, it's not a great example tbh
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.
Like I said, theoretically it will even better than those capitalist countries, at some point. It's just not the case yet
Sure, but already it's better to be poor in China than poor in the US.
That'd be fine if those were the two countries in the world, but there's lots of capitalist and socialist countries
Sure, but they're also useful examples.
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
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.
Hypothetically which county in China offers the best social safety net?
Major cities tend to have better infrastructure and access to care. I don't know about "best" though.
Did you just make the whole thing about USA? Fucking hell, this America centrism is killing me
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.
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...
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.
Why do you say the US is dying? Seams to be imperialising and monopolising better than ever to me.
What I said:
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.
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.
We're trying to find the best countries right now. You'll never find good comparable enough countries anyway, there's always big meaningful differences that can be argued over endlessly.
Right now there's capitalist countries beating all the socialist ones at what we're talking about. Like said, theoretically at some point they will be best than every capitalist country. It's just not right now.
This was the original claim:
Which is true, and requires analyzing them in context of their peer countries. Imperialist countries have inflated living standards due to taking huge amounts of super-profits from the global south, therefore comparison isn't going to be even anyways. Comparing Cuba with other Latin American countries makes a lot of sense, trying to grab "the best" of each like history is just a static snapshot and doesn't matter is horrible for trying to see which is better.
I'm just saying that right now the best of capitalist countries beat the best of the socialist ones, at least if that best example is China (which isn't great tbh). In theory in the future etc. but like right now.
Why would that make any sense for a kind of comparison between capitalism and socialism? Why not compare peers? And additionally, China does have good quality of life, and again is rapidly improving.