We all know the CCP struck a deal with the population after Tiananmen square: wealth in exchange for unquestioning obedience. When th government's credibility was gone and any other country would have rebelled and replaced the regime, the greedy and craven mainland decided to stick with it.

Reagan opened up trade relations with China a while later, and since then the economy has filled the vacuum. Growth is a great source of national pride now, as more and more people are getting access to luxury goods.

But China is still far behind, even in consumption. Ivory and endangered animal trade is banned, peak oil has passed already, modern culture values individualism and frowns upon conspicuous consumption.

More and more people are realizing that our current economic system is unworkable. Everything is still set up to chase that 17th century dream of colonial trade profits. Yes, even today there are new niches opportunities and markets in which people can make tremendous profits, but often it's just because things are set up to generate these opportunities. Consumer culture is promoted, loans and creditcards allow people to consume beyond their means if they are willing to be that stupid. And Chinese consumers are nothing if not stupid.

China also has an obsession with possessions. Cargo cult and gift-giving culture. There seems to be a belief that having nice things automatically makes you a good person without further effort. It comes as no surprise that China is now a massive producer of trinkets, and gets profit from their export.

What I wonder, is whether this was what Reagan planned from the start. Offering the CCP a way to deliver the promised wealth by creating an insane consumer culture in China. But it can't last forever, because resources are dwindling.

While the west is focusing on energy efficiency, alternative fuel sources, recycling and environmentalism, China is still massively polluting, lighting up city skylines like decorated Christmas trees, wasting lots of resources on poor-quality cyclical consumption goods, burning coal, you name it.

Will this end in disaster for the people here? Once resources become depleted, China will face poverty and turmoil while the west has shifted to more durable paradigms.