Maybe it’s just the old story: “What have you done for me lately?”
Here’s how AP tells the story about Pew Research Center’s wide-ranging new, survey of 49,000 people worldwide:
“A world-topping 95 percent of Vietnamese say that most people are better off in free-market economies and 76 percent of Chinese agree … Seventy percent of Americans and 65 percent of those in the U.K. expressed support for a free-market economic system … Expanded world trade has ignited fast economic growth in emerging economies such as China and Vietnam, lifting tens of millions out of poverty. Meanwhile, the advanced economies of the United States and Europe have contended in recent years with stagnant growth, high unemployment and stagnant wages.”
Of course, these Chinese and Vietnamese attitudes are largely aspirational in that their societies lack many the institutional foundations that make free-markets economics work optimally: freedom of expression for individuals and the press; democratic, multi-party elections and governance; encouragement of innovation; and a genuine commitment to minimize government corruption.
Still, Mao and Ho must be uncomfortable.