China is more Capital-centric...

So a few beloved friends of mine travelled to Hong Kong, as we met up for drinks, a ‘over-the-beer’ conversation centered on the form of “capitalism”.

One claimed: “On a scale of 1 to 100, China now resembles more capitalism than that of the U.S.”.

And, another friend concurred.

I couldn’t disagree more with what was said! But I didn’t know what arguments I could present to counter the claim. So it prompted me to look up Wikipedia for the definition of “Capitalism”.

“Capitalism is the economic system in which the means of production are controlled by the private sector rather than by government.”

Well, let’s see, on a relative basis, which government (China or U.S.) has more control over its nation’s production (think state-owned banks, oil/coal production companies, telecommunication companies and airline companies, etc.)?

While we have seen real estate development been privatized, which country, today, has more rigid control on its property rights and commodity prices (think no individual can own land in China but lease them, and the property price cooling measures Beijing has administered in the past twelve months)?

While the answer is obvious, I have to appreciate the topic of discussion. With the way China has transformed its centrally planned economy to a mixed one, how soon can we expect China to overtake the U.S. as the biggest economy, and when that happens, would it be as capital-based as the U.S.?