<story><title>Singapore to regulate high traffic websites that report on Singapore</title><url>http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/net-us-singapore-internet-idUSBRE94R0G220130528</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>Singapore and China are proof of two things:&lt;p&gt;1) Freedom is not a necessary condition for economic prosperity (which undermines a lot of American rhetoric of the last 50 years);&lt;p&gt;2) The global business community doesn&apos;t give a shit about democracy, as demonstrated by its rush to embrace China, the Middle East, etc, and the corresponding apologizing about their political systems.&lt;p&gt;I nearly puked on Metro North the other day (like a drunk Westchester teen after too much fun in Manhattan) reading an article where some commentator with business interests in China tried to downplay the free speech situation in China as &quot;cultural differences.&quot;</text></item><item><author>revelation</author><text>Oops, the cool, tax-saving getaway is a fascist dictatorship. Who could have known.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>javert</author><text>&amp;#62; Freedom is not a necessary condition for economic prosperity (which undermines a lot of American rhetoric of the last 50 years)&lt;p&gt;That is demonstrably false. Everywhere you look, throughout history, the more free a country is, the more economically prosperous it becomes. In fact, _every single example_ fits this pattern. There is not a single exception.&lt;p&gt;China and Singapore are much more economically free than the US (and most other places), and that&apos;s why they have seen economic &quot;miracles.&quot;&lt;p&gt;If your argument is, &quot;You don&apos;t have to have 100% freedom to have economic prosperity,&quot; _that_ is true, but it&apos;s not an interesting observation. No country in history has (quite) been a utopia of freedom.&lt;p&gt;&amp;#62; The global business community doesn&apos;t give a shit about democracy, as demonstrated by its rush to embrace China, the Middle East, etc, and the corresponding apologizing about their political systems.&lt;p&gt;You&apos;re treating the &quot;global business community&quot; like it&apos;s a &quot;class,&quot; in the Marxist sense: a bunch of people who all think alike. In fact, there are just a bunch of individuals.&lt;p&gt;Most businessmen have similar values and ideas to the rest of the culture. Which is to say, not great, not horrible.&lt;p&gt;I plan to go into business eventually in some form, and I hope you don&apos;t justify punishing _me_ on the basis of your characterization of the &quot;global business community.&quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Singapore to regulate high traffic websites that report on Singapore</title><url>http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/net-us-singapore-internet-idUSBRE94R0G220130528</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rayiner</author><text>Singapore and China are proof of two things:&lt;p&gt;1) Freedom is not a necessary condition for economic prosperity (which undermines a lot of American rhetoric of the last 50 years);&lt;p&gt;2) The global business community doesn&apos;t give a shit about democracy, as demonstrated by its rush to embrace China, the Middle East, etc, and the corresponding apologizing about their political systems.&lt;p&gt;I nearly puked on Metro North the other day (like a drunk Westchester teen after too much fun in Manhattan) reading an article where some commentator with business interests in China tried to downplay the free speech situation in China as &quot;cultural differences.&quot;</text></item><item><author>revelation</author><text>Oops, the cool, tax-saving getaway is a fascist dictatorship. Who could have known.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>xiadz</author><text>Come to China and see for yourself that although Chinese really improved their life standard, they also really suck at inventing anything new. I think that freedom is a prerequisite for creativity, not necessarily for prosperity in general.</text></comment>