By David Frum
(David Frum: 前总统布什的经济演讲稿撰稿人，他也是第一个“内幕---“对布什总统一书的作者。)
对于埃及媒体报道 ,很多人强调穆巴拉克总统的民主正当性不足。，当然这是千真万确的。但是,这种缺乏民主的合法性是不是唯一的---亦是千真万确的的。然而，没有那么民主的中国却有一个普遍的安定的大众. 事实上，如果民意调查是可信的，中国人民表达比地球上任何其他大国社会的条件更感满意。
为什么呢？---你知道怎么用普通话说”这是经济，傻瓜!”？
让我们比较埃及和中国：当胡斯尼穆巴拉克于1981年承担的权力，埃及的人均国内生产总值比中国的GDP高250%。今天，中国的国内生产总值比埃及的大50%.
自1981年以来，埃及经济增长，并超过其人口增长速度。这是令人印象深刻，因为埃及的人口已经从1981年翻了一番，从4000万至8000万。
但埃及的经济增长速度不够快，无法满足其人民的愿望。一半国民的生活费每天不到2美元，社会向上流动受阻。在中东地区, 埃及一直是的大中专毕业生失业人口最多的国家. 另一方面,中国因为经济的快速增长和人口增长缓慢, 大规模提高了普通人民收入, 这种收入增长速度是如此之快，中国人民看到他们的生活有实质性的改善：更好的食物，更好的住房，更好的服装。
是的，许多中国显然仍然很贫穷，但足够数量中国人受益达到足够的满足地步，他们更愿意理解---等待----进一步的改善，而不是做任何可能破坏正在改善的现状。反过来,中国的动态资本主义赋予它的其威权政府政府的合法性。埃及的低迷状态的国有经济现在已动摇国家的统治阶级。这对威权政府独是一个教训---对民主领导人也一个教训
(Google Translate)
Much of the press coverage of Egypt has emphasized President Mubarak's lack of democratic legitimacy. Which is true enough, of course. Also true: That this lack is not unique. Yet undemocratic China has a generally quiescent public. In fact, if opinion surveys can be trusted, China's people express more satisfaction with national conditions than those of any other large society on earth.
Why? How do you say "It's the economy, stupid!" in Mandarin? Let's compare Egypt and China: When Hosni Mubarak assumed power in 1981, Egypt's per capita GDP was 250 percent greater than China's. Today, China's is 50 percent greater than Egypt's. Since 1981, the Egyptian economy has grown, and grown faster than its population. That's impressive, because Egypt's population has doubled since 1981, from 40 million to 80 million.
But Egypt's economy has grown nowhere fast enough to satisfy the aspirations of its people. Half the country subsists on less than $2 a day. Upward mobility is blocked. Egypt has the largest population of unemployed college graduates in the Middle East.
China's rapid economic growth and slow population growth has raised incomes so fast that ordinary Chinese people see meaningful improvement in their lives: Better food, better housing, better clothing. Yes, many Chinese obviously remain very poor, but enough Chinese have benefited rapidly enough that they understandably prefer to wait for further betterment rather than do anything that might upset an improving status quo. China's turn toward dynamic capitalism has bestowed legitimacy on its otherwise authoritarian government. Egypt's sluggish state-controlled economy has fomented the discontent now shaking the state's controllers. There is a lesson embedded there for dictators -- and for democratic leaders too.
