The Middle Kingdom: Abroad
One of the most serious problems with the People's Republic of China's (P.R.C.) model of "state capitalism," so lauded by Tom Friedman & President Obama for its efficiency & verve, is that it is fundamentally a command economy. Market forces do not direct the allocation of capital & labor, oligarchs—high-ranking members of the Chinese Communist Party or the People's Liberation Army—allocate capital & labor as they see fit; it is neither a capitalism system nor a socialist system, but a hybrid manifesting the worst features of both. Consider the bargain struck betwixt the authoritarian rulers of the P.R.C. & the authoritarian rulers of the Republic of Angola—China receives precious Angolan petroleum & Angola receives new construction that is sorely mismatched with its citizens' needs: "If you build it, they will come"-link.