current per capita GDP is $17,206. China is poorer than Equatorial Guinea, poorer than Guyana, poorer than Belarus. By comparison (with a per capita GDP of $23,741) Bulgaria is a rich country. I’ve been there. It isn’t. The “Chinese Way” is nothing more than another form of the “command economy” that dictatorships are always imposing on their countries. China has been wiser than most dictatorships in keeping its commands very vague—“make money and don’t make trouble.” Command economies often seem to work well at first because dictators can command that they do so. But in the long run those who control command economies always seem to ask for too much—and to get more than they bargained for. Mussolini made the trains run on time and ended up hanging by his feet from a train trestle. —P. J. O’Rourke, March 2021
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