Why Can't We Be More Like China?

This is a common lament among intellectuals. Thomas Friedman thinks that a dictatorship would be great, at least for a little while, to really get some things done. Elizabeth Warren, the Cherokee princess running for a Senate seat in Massachusetts, recently said:

"Why aren't we rebuilding America? Our competitors are putting people to work building the future. China invests 9% of its in infrastructure. America? We're just 2.4%"--Elizabeth Warrencampaign ad, July 30

As the Wall Street Journal noted, though, there have been a few problems with Chinese construction:

"One of the longest bridges in northern China collapsed on Friday, just nine months after it opened, setting off a storm of criticism from Chinese Internet users and underscoring questions about the quality of construction in the country's rapid expansion of its infrastructure. A nearly 330-foot-long section of a ramp of the eight-lane Yangmingtan Bridge in the city of Harbin dropped 100 feet to the ground. Four trucks plummeted with it, resulting in three deaths and five injuries."--New York Times website, Aug. 24

online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444358404577609343602510960.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

Do these folks also not remember the crap that China was sending into this country just a few years ago ( and may be even now): poison children's toys, defective wallboard, etc.? Even if they do, they seem unable to connect the dots, as was the case with the Soviet Union, Castro's Cuba, etc., etc. Moths to the flame.