Thread by @MaryGao

Here's my hot take on XJP's #20PC Speech as it relates to the economy and social welfare esp. Xi's signature use of Common Prosperity, which scared the bejeezus of capitalists everywhere last year. 1/6

This speech fully displays Xi's approach, which we might call "Bootstrapped Common Prosperity." Or "Neoliberal Common Prosperity." It's about hard work and struggle. Common prosperity itself is mentioned 4 times, the first 3 in mostly vague terms, hand-waving toward utopia 2/6

Things get interesting with the 4th mention, which precedes a long paragraph about distribution. Bootstrapping toward wealth is important here, 多劳多得，鼓励勤劳致富. The harder you work, the more you get, encourage hard work to become rich. Horatio Alger-esque socialism 3/6

Follows with a vague reference to fixing income distribution, and the need to "standardize mechanisms of wealth accumulation." That could be a property tax or meaningful income tax reform, or it could mean more crackdowns on tycoons and tech. It's hard to say. 4/6

That last paragraph did have more reference to gender equality and employment discrimination than I expected. Maybe the CCP got the memo that rampant discrimination against women in the workplace is not helping their population targets. 5/6

To sum: No lying flat allowed. Don't expect the state to do what you can do yourself. My take: the problem is that individual hard work isn't enough. The Chinese people have been working hard for a long time. The state needs institutional reform, in tax, property, and hukou.6/6