Capitalism with Asian Values, American Style

Earlier this week The Washington Post reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Index was approaching an inflation-adjusted all-time high on the same day that NPR’s All Things Considered reported that national approval ratings of our elected government officials in Washington, across both major parties, was at an all-time low. This juxtaposition was striking in that bull markets have for decades been reliable fuel for the signature American optimism. A traditional African saying holds that if you want to know whether or not times are good simply ask “How are the children?”; In America we have more often asked “How’s the economy?”, and we have turned to the numbers on Wall Street to get much, if not all, of our answer.

But the times, as reflected by our general disgust with the folks we have sent to Washington to represent our interests, seem anything but good, even as Wall Street chugs right along. One obvious narrative is that the rich are getting richer, but that has ever been the case. What has changed is the fact that the have-nots, who have always cut the rich some serious slack based on their own caviar dreams, are fed up because not only are they still not rich, now they don’t even have a functioning democracy.

All of which means that the Asian Century is right on schedule, if we understand that the “Asian Century” is a term carefully selected because it is less threatening to the west than the “Chinese Century.” China, of course, is home to a thriving brand of capitalism that has no truck with democracy. This is politely referred to as capitalism with Asian values. Tuesday November 19th, 2013, the day the Post and NPR made their twin reports, marks the beginning of the Asian Century in America, a mere 13 years and change after the putative beginning of the 21st century, making us strangely like Orthodox Christians celebrating Christmas 13 days after December 25th.