Four years after defeating the US in battle, in 1955, Mao told colleagues, “If we can’t overtake America in 100 years we don’t deserve to exist. We should be wiped off the face of the earth”. Less than seventy years later, China overtook America.
Today, Chinese are much richer than their American and European counterparts, they live longer, healthier lives and their children graduate from high school three years ahead in STEM subjects. Before we examine China’s rise, however, let’s review the West’s decline:
- Most Americans have saved less than $10,000. Only 0.1% hold $5+ million, the minimum required for retirement.
- “Twice a week the YMCA holds a free food distribution for the military community, and every week, there are more families in the line than food to serve.” NBC News, 8/2/25.
- The official US poverty rate is 11.6%, with 38 million people living in poverty. US Census
- “Most Americans don’t earn enough to afford basic costs of living, analysis finds,”
Megan Cerullo, CBS News.
- The bottom 50% of American citizens own 2.5% of national wealth. St. Louis Federal Reserve.
- In 2007, the median US homebuyer was 39 years old. Today, she’s 56.
- In 2025, the average Dane works 6500 hours for each year of retirement. Their Chinese work 4600 hours.
- Last year, the median net worth in Germany’s richest city, Berlin, was $89,000, says Bundesbank.
How China did it
American workers’ real incomes have not risen since 1975, their savings have fallen steadily since 1989 and the results are undeniable.
Chinese workers, by contrast, have doubled their real incomes every 10-12 years since 1955 and they saved 35% of their incomes every year. In 2020, urban Chinese families’ median net worth was $200,000. In 2025 it will be $250,000.
Our media and government will suppress news of this change for as long as possible but, once it becomes common knowledge, it will permanently change the world.
I’ll speculate about that revolution next week.
The post The World’s Richest People are Chinese, not Americans first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.