U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism with American Characteristics

It's probably less so State Capitalism and instead a return or emphasis on Mercantilist policies.

But this reversion from more free market principles* is in line with other large countries or trading blocks doing the same, whether that's the EU, India, China, or others.

The United States has generally been strong because we have a large population and free enough trade. State management of the means of production is usually a broad failure, but can be specifically successful in cases where there is an extreme need and resources have to be mobilized and economic considerations are minimized.

A lot of people like to look at the CCP and the rise of the population of China from poverty to where they stand today, but we often forget that through centralized planning and seizer of the means of production that the CCP put their people in such desperate circumstances in the first place, and only by loosening those barriers and emboldening private capital did China see the rise it has seen in its standard of living. So don't let the marketing about the Chinese Miracle fool you.

  American democracy constrains the state through an independent judiciary, free speech, due process and the diffusion of power among multiple levels and branches of government.

Cute

* By free market I mean generally the extent to which governments intervene in trade, that can be done by tariffs, artificial non-monetary barriers, quotas, sanctions, etc. - it's a spectrum.

The title appears to be a reference to Yasheng Huang's book "Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics".

State Capitalism? Is that like the Mussolini thing?