John Mauldin: Xi’s Big Mistake

Didi's IPO disaster is the tip of a very large iceberg.

NOTE: Ten years ago when I suggested that China faces the loss of as much as half its population, my good friend John Mauldin (whose newsletter you should read every week) laughed at me. He isn’t laughing anymore. — RDM

by John Mauldin
July 16, 2021

I have mixed feelings about China. On the plus side, I think the country’s massive economic transformation may be one of the most impressive events in human history. Bringing hundreds of millions from primitive rural lives into relatively prosperous cities within a few years was awe-inspiring. I greatly admire the millions of Chinese entrepreneurs worldwide who create jobs and technology. They’ve helped the entire world in countless ways.

And yet, I can’t forget that China’s leaders are devoted, ideologically centralist communists. Americans sometimes apply that term casually to our political opponents. Xi Jinping is an actual communist. His regime permits some limited market-like activity, but only to help achieve the government’s goals, whic…