Beijing farmers to become shareholders of firms

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Summary:
There are currently 2.73 million rural residents in Beijing and they are all set to become shareholders of the city's rural collective farming enterprises by 2013. This is done in an effort to end confusion from villagers and to stop the corruption of village chiefs. Currently, 1.81 million residents have already recieved shares in Beijing, making up about 62% of the city's collective rural economy. This is stated as being worth $45.5 billion. This plan is meant to increase the average farmer's income by 8% in the next 5 years, marking the start of the 12th five year plan. The annual income almost doubled in the last five years so this goal is more than doable.

Significance:

Here we see an economic change that most Americans would regard as contrary to democracy because it's greaty reducing privatization. But the goal of such an edeavor is to make millions of people more wealthy and so far it's working. We've discussed how the exact same form of democracy can't exist everywhere and I think wealthier citizens will naturally start to demand more liberties as more money yields better living conditions. So although many would see this new course of action as a bane to democratization, we must remember that there are many ways to define a democracy. This may not lead to the democracy portion of a liberal democracy right away, but it will most likely lead to the stepping stone that is more liberties. When that happens, the people will gain more power in the government as a reflex.