Quick thread on something that has been annoying me more and more: very superficial comparisons between China and the US. These superficial comparisons take some similarity but totally ignore how fundamentally different the real key aspects are. Let me give a couple examples 1/n
Government land use. US and Chinese government both have interest in using land within the country and use land for public and private (sometimes) use but that is about where the similarities stop. In China there is no redress through the courts. In the US landowners can 2/n
tie up public projects for years and even decades. In China there is no guarantee of market rates for land seized by the government. In the US there is virtually always market price requirements if not more. You want to know the biggest obstacle to more rail in the US? 3/n
It is landowner rights. In China, land can be seized for virtually any reason by the government. In the US, after the SCOTUS decision which gave wider latitude to public seizure of lands for private use, most states have passed laws limiting government seizure of lands for 4/n
non-public uses. In other words, in the US yes, land can be seized by the government but not only are their multiple channels to oppose or demand fair compensation but laws have changed based upon public pressure. I have seen multiple additional brutally superficial 5/n
comparisons that ignore any real detail about how fundamentally different China and the US are on the issues raised. This is not to say the US does not have problems that need addressing, but these stunningly simplistic comparisons with no sense of reality serve no one 6/n
by providing a complete lack of context or perspective about what is actually happening. Governments around the world are generally recognized as having the power to seize land in the country. That does not make them all like the CCP. Important to note. Done.
