"Five Stars" for Mickey

Against the fairytale backdrop of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the Communist Party official and guest of honor stood Monday alongside Disney executives Michael Eisner and Bob Iger to cut the red ribbon officially opening the $3 billion theme park.

Also present at the ribbon-cutting was Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang, representing the park's main investor, the Hong Kong government. With a 57 percent stake in Disneyland, the government is counting on the park's magic to lure 5 million tourists to Hong Kong within a year, and double that number by 2020.

The park is projected to earn $19 billion over 40 years.

Link.

China continues to prosper under a free market economy that is run by Communists. I don't get it. And all that revenue, which is presumably increasing the Chinese government's available funds, combined with (i) a Communist ideology that is bent on conquest, and (ii) an overcrowded mainland? I may not get it, but it makes me nervous. Ignorance breeds fear, I suppose, and I really don't know what China is up to, but I read quite a bit, and nothing is assuaging my fears on this front. There is evidence that China will use their prosperity to fund military aggression, but we're told it won't happen because, once the Chinese experience the fruits of the free market, they won't want to disrupt the apple cart.

To me, that seems like a case of "market mysticism," the idea that the free market will take care of all ills, and not just economic ones. It's a dastardly idea that gives a bad name to laissez-faire economists (the more responsible of which disclaim any such idea).