The US still has an incredible pool of talent and a vast industrial base, but we're losing a lot of ground. The development in China's industrial base is the result of decades of technocratic oversight and continuity of policy aimed at creating exactly what we see now.

The US leadership by comparison can't decide whether to wear its pants back to front, or front to back, and changes its mind every 2-4 years.

I was mulling today that it seems like the political institutions in China seem to value the strength of China in the world foremost. Not to say that anywhere is completely free of corruption or individual political maneuvering. The US political elite by comparison seem to value a very specific type of economic freedom that happens to also enrich the very same elite, and secondarily 'philosophy of life and values' sort of stuff that doesn't really have much to do with running a healthy and economically stable country.