Eit is honorable to become rich. China’s economic reformer Deng Xiaoping (1904 to 1997) made this phrase the motto of his era. In the People’s Republic with its socialist constitution, this was not a matter of course at the time of Deng, who died 25 years ago, since the rich were considered enemies of society according to the communist interpretation. The image of the enemy still sometimes appears today – not only in China. In Germany, which is plagued by a lack of energy and drought, owners of a swimming pool will be viewed with particular suspicion this summer. And even a green lawn in front of the terraced house is almost considered a crime against society. Recently, even an everyday phenomenon such as the company car has been declared a burden on the community.
It is because of prejudice and ignorance about prosperity and wealth that stereotypes take hold, which time and again provides ideologues with an excuse to blow the whistle on the fight against the rich. Such campaigns not only distract from the root cause of many problems, but also make it difficult for ordinary private investors to build a small fortune. A little less ideology would help. In any case, the economic reformer Deng always presented himself as emphatically free of ideology after he succeeded Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, in the late 1970s. The fact that Deng pursued a completely different economic policy than his ideologically stable predecessor caused almost more astonishment in the West than in the People’s Republic itself Deng and his party are actually no longer communist. Deng’s answer: “So what?”
