Shopping Does Not Equate To Patriotism
Wang Yong, Shanghai Daily | January 19, 2009
The poor should not be beggared to bail out speculators. ++ Housing, health care and education are so expensive they are creating misery comparable to the ills of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism that once afflicted China. ++ Officials calling on "everyone to spend a year’s income" and call it "patriotic consumption" are echoes of Marie Antoinette. ++ Consumption is not a sin, but people should be given time off work to spend sensibly. ++ Paid summer holidays, not calls for forced spending, are the solution to the crisis.
