For the Love of Money

From the You Can’t Make This Shit Up Department:

China said Thursday it hoped the United States would adhere to free trade under Barack Obama, while defending exchange rate policies criticised by the president-elect during his campaign.

“We will continue to follow a mutually beneficial foreign policy, we believe in free trade, and we believe America also believes in free trade,” foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

“We hope that the policy of free trade will continue to be adhered to. We must prevent trade protectionism, which is no good for either side,” he said, when asked if he thought Obama would be more protectionist.

That’s right, folks.  Communist China has a better perspective on international free trade than the guy we just elected president.  This country has used capitalism to lift 400 million people out of poverty in the last 20 years.  (That’s more than the population of the US.) In the last 20 years in the US we’ve gone from the free market ideals of Reagan to the neo-socialist protectionism of Obama, all while we’ve convinced ourselves that more government, law, and regulation are the best ways to help the poor.

America could learn a lot from China sometimes.