Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 10:00:29 +1000 From: "Peter Ross" Subject: Re: [luv-talk] Petition on refugees (was Re: luv-talk Digest, Vol 31, Issue 1)

The couple I mentioned are Chinese. They just do what they are told to do in this society. Wealth is what counts. That's what they learn over in China. China is a cartoon version of capitalism.

I have visited China, and many other countries with low levels of capital, where most of the people are still poor. Shopgirls in Shanghai at the time of my first visit (1997) earned about $20/month. There is no safety net. If you do not have children who will support you in old age, and fail to accumulate wealth, you face poverty and a miserable old age. In such circumstances it is very understandable that people are very focussed on money. Per Maslow, once people feel secure at one level their attention tends to shift to "higher" concerns. Often this transition takes a couple of generations. Similarly it is easy to judge the concerns of working class people who face poor transport and other facilities, high unemployment and a multitude of other problems, from a comfortable middle-class suburb.