Lu Weimin's office has been moved from the third floor to the second floor, where he shares an office with Yin Hong, the secretary of Cao Gang, the vice-county magistrate.
Lu Weimin was carefully reading an old newspaper from a while back. On the October 5th issue of the People's Daily, there was an article by Wu Shuqing, the president of Peking University, discussing the combination of planned economy and market regulation. The article proposed that the socialist economic system still needs to be dominated by a planned economy, but it should be combined with market regulation, which aligns well with the current mainstream ideology.
He only found this article to read when he noticed Shen Zili was also reading it seriously. In a certain sense, this article is very representative and typical, reflecting a viewpoint in the current domestic economic field: the planned economy remains the essential attribute of socialism, but it is somewhat out of step with the current economic development situation and needs to be adjusted and supplemented through market mechanisms so that the socialist economy can continue to develop.
To capture the ideological dynamics of the leaders you serve, you can best assist them as a consultant and assistant.
To be precise, a secretary does not count as a consultant or assistant to a leader. In terms of being a consultant or assistant, the directors and deputy directors of the county government office, or the high-ranking advisors of the county party committee and county government policy research office, barely qualify.
However, Lu Weimin does not think this way. Since he has taken this position, it means he can play a greater role and have a greater influence as the status of his service object rises.
The current situation in Nantang County is not much different from other agricultural counties in inland provinces with poor regions. It has a large population, vast territory, lacks an industrial foundation, has weak township enterprises, and lagging infrastructure. There is no experience in attracting investment, and it is a blank slate.
Actually, this cannot be blamed on Nantang. Among the seven counties in the southern part of Liyang region, such as Huishan, Futou, Fengzhou, and Shuangfeng, which one is not like this? After more than ten years of reform and opening up, the rural household contract responsibility system solved the food problem for farmers, but to make farmers prosperous, the lack of industry is just talk. The development of township enterprises in this traditional agricultural area is not satisfactory, with small scale, poor efficiency, and relying on credit union loans to barely survive, which has become a chronic problem for township enterprises in this region.
Lu Weimin noticed that Shen Zili had many ideas, but before he was just the vice-county magistrate, and now he has become the head of the county government. With the change in position, his ideas have naturally changed as well.
In the kiwi fruit incident, he gave Shen Zili a pleasant surprise, which can be said to have significantly changed his status in the other's eyes. If their previous casual conversations and exchanges were still at the level of a superior leader showing concern and understanding for a subordinate, at most they might think this secretary has good theoretical knowledge, has studied for a few years in the developed coastal area of Lingnan, has seen some of the world, and has a more open and innovative mindset, then after the kiwi fruit incident, his performance probably truly won Shen Zili's recognition.
There are not many people who can both do practical work and have high theoretical knowledge, especially for someone like himself, who has just graduated from university. This must have made Shen Zili look at him with new eyes. However, Lu Weimin knows that to further deepen and strengthen his status in the other's eyes, he still needs to continue to come up with things that will gain the other's recognition or even surprise.
So when Shen Zili was paying attention to the debate in the country about the planned economy and the market economy, Lu Weimin was thinking about how to showcase himself.
In his memory, it was not until after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992 that the debate about the planned economy and the market economy gradually disappeared from the official media. However, the initial characterization of the planned economy and the market economy by the top leadership was already relatively clear by December 1990. However, at a time when the political climate opposing bourgeois liberalization was at its peak, putting forward such a viewpoint could easily cause ideological fluctuations, so the central leadership consciously limited this viewpoint to a very small scope.
By October, the Chang River had a bit of a chill, which was the most pleasant time of the year in terms of temperature. The Volga was speeding on the road from Nantang to Changzhou. Shen Zili had a meeting in the province on Monday and would return on Tuesday, so he also called Lu Weimin to go back to Changzhou together.
The county had two Volgas, one for the county party secretary and one for the county magistrate. The Shanghai cars were mainly used for the county people's congress chairman and the county political consultative conference chairman. As for the jeep, it was a work vehicle, and if a county leader needed to go to the countryside, they would inform the county party office or the county government office to dispatch a car.
"Did you read that article?" Shen Zili's gaze was calm and thoughtful. "I think it is very consistent with China's national conditions. Our country is a socialist state, and although the planned economy has its drawbacks, it would be inappropriate to completely abandon it just because of its flaws. Market regulation can serve as a supplement to the planned economy, which can fully leverage the advantages of the planned economy while effectively addressing the parts that the planned economy cannot cover. Weimin, what do you think?"
"Hehe, County Magistrate, my views might be a bit different from yours," Lu Weimin scratched his head.
"Oh? Tell me, there is a lot of debate about this issue across the country, and everyone is exploring it. This can be considered a hundred schools of thought and a hundred flowers blooming," Shen Zili was quite interested.
"Um, County Magistrate, my view is that with the further deepening of reform and opening up, China's economy integrating into the international market system is inevitable. In 1986, China formally requested to restore its status as a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the working group began its work last year. This is an unstoppable trend. The planned economy played a significant role in the early days of the founding of the country, focusing on the development of industry and infrastructure. However, as the economy develops, the people's demand for improving their lives and the increasing variety of consumer goods cannot be met by the planned economy. In fact, the state cannot achieve all of this, which requires the regulation of market economy rules."
Lu Weimin paused, "Actually, I think many people have a misconception that the planned economy is unique to the socialist economy, and the market economy is a characteristic of capitalism. This view is somewhat misleading. Capitalism also has state planning control, and socialism can also implement a market economy. This is not a characteristic of any system. Appropriate and necessary planning in macroeconomics and the use of market mechanisms in microeconomics is dialectical economics. Whether it is socialist or capitalist is irrelevant, and the role of the government is to regulate economic development order through laws and provide necessary guidance for important industries and sectors related to the national economy and people's livelihood. Everything else should be decided by the market."
[AD begins on the previous page]
[AD ends on the previous page]