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> What China manages to do quite well is stop rentiers from stifling innovation

Tell that to the dying startups that have to stand up against Tencent and Alibaba. Beijing is littered with them. Let's not forget the various Chinese state-owned enterprises.

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Any successful Chinese business is or becomes a Chinese state-owned business. The only difference is that the Chinese govt is the rentier, versus multiple ones in the US.

You can't become a state-owned business. You either are (because you have government ties in the first place), or are not (and you are doomed, sorry for that). People have no chance to succeed unless born to the right parents. Even Chinese people admit that. The problem is not how many, but who the rentier is.

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