Not sure about that. They scrapped 70% or so of their planned coal plants some months ago because of over-planning. They've built housing for 3 billion or so people, which nobody will ever use. They are building big train stations, for a tiny amount of passengers, just because maybe in some decades somebody will use them.
The thing about western countries like the USA, which people often don't get is: they are old, they've built their sh*t decades and centuries ago, they were the first one building and use new fancy technologies, and now they have to live with it and can't just switch them as easily as people wish for it. Countries like China, who just now start building modern stuff have the benefit of coming late to the game, have not technical debt and old expensive infrastructure they have to honor.
So they advantage is not better planning, or throwing more money at it, but mainly being late to the game and learning from the mistakes of others.
>>They've built housing for 3 billion or so people, which nobody will ever use.
> Planning for future capacity is a mystery to English speakers for some reason.
There was no planning involved, it was just a housing-bubble which busted some years ago and devastated some companies along the way. USA had this in 2008 too.
Also, do you seriously think china will reach 4+ billion citizen in the next 10 years? They have less than half of this now and aim to have even less.
> Have you ever looked at the five-year plans the Chinese government publishes? It's quite interesting how much of their economy is planned in advance.
Yes, it is, and so do other countries. And all those plans are also struggling and failing regularly, in all countries. China is overall as good or bad as every other country in what they are doing, it's mainly their situation which makes a different in the outcome.
USA is a car&plane-nation, trains hadn't a big relevance in the last century for reasons which are now biting them. A bit pointless to compare them on this.
The thing about western countries like the USA, which people often don't get is: they are old, they've built their sh*t decades and centuries ago, they were the first one building and use new fancy technologies, and now they have to live with it and can't just switch them as easily as people wish for it. Countries like China, who just now start building modern stuff have the benefit of coming late to the game, have not technical debt and old expensive infrastructure they have to honor.
So they advantage is not better planning, or throwing more money at it, but mainly being late to the game and learning from the mistakes of others.