^How did so many become so rich so quickly? For the most part, through corruption. Twenty years ago, the Communist Party decided that "getting rich is glorious," giving the green light to lawless capitalism. The rulers in China started by awarding themselves and their families the lion's share of the state's resources in the guise of privatization, and by selling licences and other access to the economy to cronies in exchange for bribes. The system of corruption, and the public acceptance of corruption, is now pervasive — even minor officials in government backwaters are now able to enrich themselves handsomely.^

^This ethos of corruption is captured in a popular song in China, I want to marry a government official, whose lyrics explain why an official makes for a good matrimonial catch: "He has power, a car and house; He only needs to drink tea and read the newspaper during work; He never spends his own money on cigarettes and alcohol; He can get free food every day; He can get promoted by only kissing his boss's ass."^
The author mislabels this as "lawless capitalism." In reality, it is actually business given the power of law. Commerce handed the power of the government gun, with a government's ability to take property and force compliance.

This is the "chimera" I was talking about in another post. The inevitable result of government control of an economy is a two-headed monster of government power and so-called "private" business.

I would bet China has even more business regulations on their books than we do.

This is where we're heading if we're not careful. I don't know if you've watched as certain large industries are beginning to place themselves so they're on the inside of government power looking out. You can get the creeps tracking what Goldman Sachs has done during the financial crisis, and some of the stuff involving GE recently has a smell to it too. Of course, there's the long-standing example of Archer Daniels Midland.