The Ex-Millionaire
Henry here. I must be becoming cynical. I see by The Associated Press this morning a headline that “China Executes Ex-millionaire.” That didn’t strike me as strange or bizarre, as China is theoretically a communist country where the odd millionaire might well end up on the chopping block.
But perhaps I wonder if his sin was not that he was a millionaire, but an ex-millionaire. Perhaps that falling from his millionaire status is unforgivable. Socially, in our commercial countries, we tend not to forgive people who have squandered their money. Gamble it away and you are seen as a fool, invest in a failing project and you are the same. Give it away to charity and you are a generous fool. Give it to your children and you are their fool.
Hard to win in this money game, and I would think especially so in China where for many years years money was anathema. Certainly wealth was frowned on severely.
Perhaps one source of cynicism is that I have been reading the “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” put out by The Epoch Times. This book, in remarkable detail points out the corruption of the Chinese Communist Party and leaves one with the feeling that anything can be done as long as it props up the government. Perhaps it pays to be somewhat cynical.