Today's forgotten celebration
Oops, it's now just after midnight, but I'm referring to Monday, the 10th.
I've started taking lunchtime walks around the south end of Central Park. (I'll have to buy a pair of shoes just for this, since I prefer leather-soled dress shoes for work, and those aren't the most comfortable for extended walking.) Though the skies today were overcast and the horses' smell seemed to permeate the air much more than usual, it was nonetheless exceedingly pleasant. For a few minutes I also watched the Columbus Day parade, whose route took it up Fifth Avenue.
But until I read this from the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal, I wouldn't have known that today is Taiwan's National Day. That's quite an interesting piece: "Taiwan succeeds despite being shunned by the U.N.--or maybe because of it." Taiwan has so far surpassed mainland China in GDP per capita, the standard of living and individual freedom.
One wonders whether it could have anything to do with the difference between a free market democratic society and a corrupt centrally planned state. Here's a toast to you, Taiwan.
I've started taking lunchtime walks around the south end of Central Park. (I'll have to buy a pair of shoes just for this, since I prefer leather-soled dress shoes for work, and those aren't the most comfortable for extended walking.) Though the skies today were overcast and the horses' smell seemed to permeate the air much more than usual, it was nonetheless exceedingly pleasant. For a few minutes I also watched the Columbus Day parade, whose route took it up Fifth Avenue.
But until I read this from the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal, I wouldn't have known that today is Taiwan's National Day. That's quite an interesting piece: "Taiwan succeeds despite being shunned by the U.N.--or maybe because of it." Taiwan has so far surpassed mainland China in GDP per capita, the standard of living and individual freedom.
One wonders whether it could have anything to do with the difference between a free market democratic society and a corrupt centrally planned state. Here's a toast to you, Taiwan.
posted by Perry Eidelbus at
12:05 AM
2 Comments:
Actually, Taiwan has the highest rate of gov't business ownership of any nation outside the old Soviet bloc. In the old days all large companies were gov't owned, from the airlines to the sugar refineries. The policy in te last two decades has been for the gov't to let private business emerge to compete alongside the govmint. For example, there are both gov't and private construction firms, gov't and private airlines, gov't and private bus firms, etc.
Michael
Taiwan's greatest economic achievements, however, have come since the 1980s when it abandoned statism (including martial law) and free markets. This is a lesson to Venezuela and other nations that have nationalized or want to nationalize their industries.
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