Imagine the looks on their faces, when Deng Xiaoping sold them out. The old commies in China had tried to make steel in backyard barbecues. They’d carried the fat Mao on a litter, on a long march to nowhere. They’d pretended his Little Red Book was more than drivel. They’d endured one absurdity after another… purges, starvation, and misery. All for the cause. And now this… “To get rich is glorious…” Xiaoping is alleged to have said.

Whether he said it or not, millions of Chinese took it to heart. They got richer, faster than any people ever had. The economy is now 10 times larger than it was then; it grew 300% just in the last 10 years. Incomes rose every year. There are now more millionaires there than anywhere else on earth. Living standards have improved and poverty alleviation does not look like a farfetched dream. Perhaps the Chinese can give their African brothers and sisters some pointers on wealth creation and entrepreneurship. Africa has received bailout after bailout from the IMF and World Bank, but dismal economic development, poor roads, high taxes and corruption cling to Africa’s future like the laughter of cruel Greek Gods. Even though Africa has cheap labour and weak currencies as compared to the United States and Europe, industrialization seems to have evaded the continent. In the dire consternation of my corporeality, the only words that spring to my mind are those that were uttered by Xiaoping. I say to Africa “To get rich is glorious”. Only through free market capitalism can Africa and other developing countries unleash the potential of the masses.
Emerging market growth should be driven by creativity and innovation rather than public sector spending by willy- nilly politicans…