China is my particular hobby horse this decade. In my opinion they are the most powerful fascist nation since the Third Reich, and without the handicap of an insane dictator to hold them back.. My concern for their (Xi, the Central Committee) plans is tempered somewhat by the knowledge that their model of centralized control limits the scope of what they can accomplish. Their Covid response is exhibit A, the expanses of empty state planned real estate is exhibit B.
As a lifelong carpenter and contractor I have been acutely aware of the power of market systems to foster creativity and diverse/robust economies.
In my city I relied on "3rd West" for supplies, a couple of miles of commercial and trades suppliers on the west side of town. The ferment of tools, fasteners, and materials has been exciting to follow and participate in, and this creativity depended totally on the self determined actions of entrepreneurs, inventors, and investors looking to "build a better mousetrap" and thus to grab part of my construction dollar. The advances constantly available to me made my products better and cheaper, my time more valuable, and made my client's dollars go farther. This is what capitalism does well.
As you point out, capitalism has serious flaws when dealing with human values. I don't see anything in the Chinese model that I would trade though for the occasional and usually unintended cruelty of market economies. When we confront those injustices we can, and do confront our government, the corporations responsible, and when we stay involved often improve situations, with little fear of retaliation from the powerful forces we face. In China, as the old saying goes, "the nail that stands up will be hammered down".
So, American exceptionalism, I don't think it can be dismissed. Sometimes we are exceptionally bad. As a young man I grew to hate my country, to regard us as the new Nazis in our criminal Vietnam war. I hated LBJ for fighting it, for trying to force me and my friends to go there and kill and die. My perspective has broadened in the decades since. I have come to understand that in other ways he was a great president and only missed that place in history for his Vietnam blunders.
As much as I dislike the casual and expansive damage done by capitalists (your definition) and large corporations I have also come to understand the incredible scope of our economy and the people it serves. The water we drink, the food we eat, the roofs that shelter us, the energy that warms, cools, moves, and lights us...so many of the essentials of our lives would be impossible to obtain without those corporations and capitalists.
I want to fix the plane where possible, to build new and better ones to replace the obsolete ones on which we are dependent. I am very mindful though of the difficulty of remodeling while in flight, of the multitudes that will not survive if the plane crashes...whew, what a rant, 24 claps BTW for my boyhood hero, Willie Mays;)
