Despite the risk of being labeled a "Marxist", I share the following observations about the word "Communist". That word is becoming more popular these days in American political discourse.

“Communism!”    Oh no! It’s one of those conditioned reflex words. It’s right up there alongside other reflex words:  Devil, Demons, Queers,  Atheists,  & Socialist. A number of years ago, the word “communism” became one of those conditioned reflex words, designed to elicit a well known emotional and hostile reaction, a process not entirely unlike Pavlov and his dogs. 

Let’s hold our nose and take a closer look: how evil is Communism in today’s world? 

Made in China

Have a look around your house: maybe your Iphone, your computer monitor, that new set of dishes in the dining room, your latest high fashion tee shirt, or those attractive new jeans hanging in the closet.  “Made in China” says the tag or label.

Made in that evil Communist country we call China. That large container ship pulling up to the dock in Long Beach, full of containers with goods made in (oh, no!) Communist China. China was America’s 4th largest trading partner in 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_United_States 

Hmmm… The greatest American leader of all time, Donald Trump, surely must be enemies with Xi Jinping, the leader of that evil Communist country, right? Wrong. Just the opposite is happening. “U.S. President Donald Trump publicly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, telling him “it’s an honor to be your friend” and labeling him a great leader.” – Gemini AI overview. But wait, there’s more: Trump traveled with a delegation of top (capitalist) business leaders, expressing a strong desire to expand reciprocal trade and business ties with China. [1, 2]  Apparently all strongly capitalist American (and Western) business leaders are anxious to do business with the evil Chinese Communist empire. 

Standard of Living

I wonder how all those starving peasants, living in huts and sleeping outside, are getting along in that horrible Communist country. Oh, wait a minute. It appears that China, far from having a housing shortage, has a huge housing surplus. This housing glut, 60 to 90 million vacant apartments, is so large that it has tanked the housing market. China faces a historic housing oversupply with an estimated 60 to 90 million vacant apartments. This glut is driven by overbuilding in smaller cities, speculative investment, and a shrinking population, resulting in a prolonged market slump and steep price drops. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]  Meanwhile, back in the capitalist countries, driven by “free markets” and capitalism, there are historic housing shortages almost everywhere: the US, Canada, the UK, France, and even Australia. 

(image taken from the Guardian)

Surely Communism in China has been bad for the standard of living for the average Chinese citizen, right? Wrong. It appears that since Communism came to China almost 80 years ago, the Chinese standard of living has risen from widespread poverty to widespread middle class levels. 

(Here's what Gemini AI says about this.)

Over four decades of market reforms, average life expectancy rose, over 800 million people escaped absolute poverty, and massive gains were made in housing, diet, and infrastructure. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Traditional Era to 1949

• Stagnant Real Wages: Real incomes and living standards saw little cumulative change across centuries, often constrained by rapid population growth matching food production gains. [1, 2, 3]
• High Insecurity: Widespread poverty, periodic famines, and foreign or domestic conflict left the general populace economically vulnerable. [1, 2]

The Mao Era (1949–1978)

• Basic Health and Education: Modest gains occurred in basic literacy and public health, raising average life expectancy from roughly 44 years in 1949 to the mid-60s by the late 1970s. [1, 3]
• Material Scarcity: Centralized planning and strict collectivization kept per capita availability of food, clothing, and housing largely stagnant and tightly rationed. [1, 2]

Reform and Opening Up (1978–2010s)

• Agricultural Decollectivization: The household responsibility system boosted farm output and improved rural diets quickly in the early 1980s. [1]
• Urbanization and Jobs: Millions moved from farming to manufacturing and services via township enterprises and urban migration, fueling consumer abundance (electronics, appliances, and later automobiles). [1]
• Poverty Alleviation: Decades of economic growth systematically reduced the rural population living in absolute poverty. [1, 2]

Modern Era (2010s–Present)

• Eradication of Absolute Poverty: Targeted state campaigns declared an official end to extreme rural poverty under current national benchmarks by 2021. [1]
• Advanced Infrastructure: High-speed rail networks, widespread digital connectivity, and massive automobile ownership became standard for hundreds of millions. [1, 2, 3]
• Rising Inequality: Private wealth accumulation led to income inequality metrics that currently approach those of the United States. [1]

 Assuming the above AI overview is correct, the evil Communist government in China has succeeded in eradicating absolute poverty and has constructed a new network of advanced infrastructure. Has free market capitalism succeeded in eradicating poverty here in the US? Judging from all those homeless people camped out on sidewalks and alongside our highways, I would say not. To be sure, rising inequality, so widespread in the US,  has now also come to this Communist country. 

Environment & Renewable Energy

Surely this Communist regime in China is just obsessed with power and doesn’t care about climate change or the environment, right? Actually, this Communist country is leading the global transition to renewable energy. 

Gemini AI again: 

China is expanding its renewable energy capacity at a historic pace, installing over 430 GW of renewables to reach a total of more than 2.34 TW. Clean generation from wind and solar now accounts for over 40% of total power output, driving a historic reduction in domestic coal-fired electricity generation. [1, 2, 3]

Scale and Manufacturing Dominance

• Unprecedented Buildout: China installs more wind and solar capacity annually than the rest of the world combined, vastly exceeding its original climate targets ahead of schedule. [1, 2]
• Global Supply Chain: Chinese factories produce roughly 80% of the world's solar panels and 70% of wind turbines, driving down global clean technology costs. [1, 2]
• Economic Impact: Clean energy manufacturing and investment contribute trillions of RMB, acting as a primary engine for the national economy. [1]

Grid and Integration Challenges

• Transmission Bottlenecks: Most renewable megaprojects are built in remote northwestern deserts ("Shagehuang" regions), while major power demand sits on the industrialized eastern coast. [1, 2]
• Curtailment Rates: Rapid generation growth has outpaced high-capacity ultra-high-voltage power lines and localized grid flexibility, leading to wasted renewable output in certain provinces. [1, 2]
• Storage Investments: Battery storage deployment and grid infrastructure spending are scaling up rapidly to help balance intermittent solar and wind flows. [1, 2]

It would appear that this Communist country is leading the way on generating renewable energy and implementing its own transition to renewable energy. According to this report, China derives 40% of its total energy from renewable resources. Meanwhile, back in the capitalist US, renewables account for only  25% of total electrical generation. 

One other selected observation about this Communist country in which entrepreneurial companies seem to thrive, is this country’s success in designing and building affordable electric vehicles. 

Again: Gemini AI speaking:

China is the largest electric vehicle (EV) market in the world, producing over 70% of global EVs and driving rapid innovations in affordability, battery-swapping, ultra-fast charging, and smart cockpit tech. Major manufacturers like BYD, Geely, Xpeng, and Nio dominate domestic sales and are expanding aggressively across Europe, Australia, and Asia. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Top Chinese EV Brands & Market Position

• BYD (Build Your Dreams): The world’s top seller of fully electric and plug-in vehicles, known for vertical supply-chain integration and budget-to-luxury offerings.
• Nio: Famous for premium smart EVs and pioneering automated 4-minute battery-swapping stations.
• Xpeng: A technology-forward brand known for advanced driver-assistance systems and experimental modular flying car concepts.
• Geely & Zeekr: Offer high-value, tech-heavy SUVs and sedans popular in international export markets. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Key Factors Behind Their Success

• Supply Chain Control: Long-term government support and localized battery production allow Chinese automakers to drastically undercut Western competitors on price. [1, 2, 3]
• Advanced Technology: High-end infotainment, integrated refrigerators, fast-charging architectures (replenishing up to 70% in minutes), and sophisticated autonomous driving software come standard on many mid-tier models. [1, 2, 3]
• Global Expansion: While heavily restricted or blocked in the United States via 100% tariffs and trade barriers, Chinese EVs have captured substantial market share throughout Europe, the UK, and Australia. [1, 2, 3]

BYD: One of the Chinese EV manufacturers:  https://www.byd.com/us 

The US has imposed prohibitively high tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, resulting in effective tariff rates of 127% to 245% in an effort to support the local electric vehicle industry. This Communist country appears to be far ahead of the capitalist economy in the electric vehicle market. 

Freedom

How about freedom in this Communist country? Now we encounter the worst feature of Chinese communism. There is a distinctive difference between China and the West. Compared to the US, China has low levels of freedom. 

This map is taken from Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/explore-the-map?type=fiw&year=2026 

The press and internet are tightly controlled. There is no freedom of speech, no freedom of public protest and little freedom of movement. The emphasis in Communist China is on collective stability and low violent crime rates, while the emphasis in the US is on preserving individualism. The clear winners in the freedom category are the US and the Western countries. However, this rejoicing should be tempered with the recent trends towards authoritarianism and loss of freedoms, especially since the ascension of DJT back into power in 2024. 

PBS Newshour recently carried a story about a Christian pastor recently released from Communist China. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-party-is-in-charge-of-everything-freed-pastor-says-of-chinas-crackdown-on-religion 

Conclusion: 

Far from being that well-known horror word, left over from the Joe McCarthy era, “Communism” is a word that currently describes a system of government that has brought substantial economic improvements to China, along with a loss of individual freedom. 

“Communism” in the American mind at least, is associated with the Russian brand of despotic authoritarianism, characterized by the two Russian tyrants: Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. Communism is associated with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, which started shortly after the end of World War 2 and ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Russian brand of Communism failed and the Soviet Union has transitioned to a very autocratic oligarchy which is now engaged in a long endless war of conquest upon its neighboring state of Ukraine. There is much of the Russian brand of communism that had nothing to do with Marx’s vision of a communist state. 

Again, at the risk of being labeled a Marxist, let’s stop using the word “Communism!” as a swear word, fear word or derogatory label to dehumanize someone else. Take another glance at the “Made in China” label on your iPhone or computer monitor. In our social discourse, “Socialism” or “Communism” could be regarded as alternative terms in sandbox lingo  for “Share the Toys!”. 

America has an unsolved problem. White settlers from Europe caused a terrible holocaust of Native Americans in North, Central and South America. As soon as they arrived in the 1600's,  America’s white European settlers started fighting with Native Americans, killing them and taking their land.

America's war with the natives has gone on for over 300 years. It started long before the Revolution and continued up until 1923, even after WW1 was over. 

The Nazi Holocaust killed 6 million Jews, 50% of the 12 million Jews in the world at the time. This is a truly horrifying event by any standard. The holocaust that the European settlers brought to Indigenous peoples in the Americas is far worse. When this holocaust was over, only 300,000 of 10,000,000 Native peoples were left. 97% of all Native people were wiped out.

They were killed by war, slavery, starvation and diseases that were brought over by the Spanish, Portuguese, and British Europeans: 

The Declaration of Independence, which declares that “all men are created equal”, did not apply to Native Americans, as well as to enslaved Black Americans. The Declaration dehumanized Native Americans, calling them “merciless Indian Savages”. Some of the soldiers who fought in the Revolution were rewarded with plots of land taken from the Indians.

The Native people fought back, of course.

This resulted in famous battles, like “Custer’s Last Stand” and not-so-famous episodes, like the Wounded Knee Massacre.

After the Custer battle in 1876, the white Europeans, in both the US and Canada, resorted to breaking up Native families, taking children away from their mothers and sending them off to “boarding” school, where they tried to turn these Native Americans into white people.

Manifest Destiny

A Mountain of Buffalo Skulls. 

There is a huge moral debt that America owes to these surviving Native peoples.

What can we do to make this right?

Let’s seek to restore equity for one thing. Native American reservations should not be centers of poverty, drug abuse and disease. They should be as prosperous as a typical American town or city.

Giving the land back is not an option.  “Land use acknowledgements”, while they sound noble, are basically hypocritical.

Ultimately, in my opinion, there are two long term goals that can help make things right:

First, we must come to regard ourselves, both white, Native American, black people: everyone as one united people: “All men (women) are created equal”.

Second, we must change our relationship with the land: the land does not belong to us. We belong to the land. We are all children of “Grandmother Earth” and we must all strive to live together in peace.

Seen on a nearby garage door:

https://www.shockoeinstitute.org/ 

Posted on 6-17-2026

Trump Is A Sick Man

In the first 4 minutes of the video below (ignore the click-bait title), Professor Jeffrey Sachs gives the most accurate and concise definition of Donald Trump’s mental state that I have come across in a long time. When we observe or listen to Donald Trump, we are paying attention to a sick man. And as Professor Sachs also points out in later in this video, the mainstream news media tends to take the pronouncements and behavior of this sick man far too seriously. This unwarranted attention and credulousness of the mainstream media, regardless of whether it is in favorable or unfavorable, is exactly what this sick man wants. Furthermore, this unwarranted seriousness is greatly distorting the “truthiness” of our collective perception of reality. We would do well to cling to a non -Trump perception of reality that tends to be impartial and empirically verified.