The Great Depression was not a deliberate purge, markets follow boom and bust cycles.
>And? What's the point? That they learned by observing? Is that bad?
It's a self-serving bias to attribute their economic development to their leadership. They would've developed sooner and are simply taking credit for getting out of their own way. Sure, you can point to specific projects and say "the government bankrolled this therefore it exists" but it's not like in their absence nothing would have developed. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo et al have pretty skylines and good public transportation too.
> The Great Depression was not a deliberate purge, markets follow boom and bust cycles.
Right. You're doing exactly what I pointed out before: making excuses for US economic policy when it fails but giving it the credit when it succeeds.
> They would've developed sooner and are simply taking credit for getting out of their own way.
Who is "they"? You do realize China has had more than one leader in the past 50 years?
> They would've developed sooner
Uh sure. So what? The point is that they are wildly succeeded the past couple of decades. The original claim that started this was they haven't done anything remarkable yet. Which as a matter of historical record, is wrong. The past 20 years have been remarkable for wiping out poverty in China. Regardless of whether or not that poverty could have been wiped out earlier, it was wiped out. And this happened under the current Chinese government. So the claim that the current Chinese government can "achieve miracles" in 20 years -- while exaggerated -- is far closer to the counter claim that they have achieved nothing yet.
> taking credit for getting out of their own way.
That would not be how most economists would describe Chinese economic policy. It doesn't even describe the relatively less controlled US economic policy.
>And? What's the point? That they learned by observing? Is that bad?
It's a self-serving bias to attribute their economic development to their leadership. They would've developed sooner and are simply taking credit for getting out of their own way. Sure, you can point to specific projects and say "the government bankrolled this therefore it exists" but it's not like in their absence nothing would have developed. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo et al have pretty skylines and good public transportation too.