The US is an economy that struggles to produce what people need, while China an economy that produces more than what its people can afford.
This is why, while high inflation rate in the US is not good news, low inflation in China is not either. It all depends on what causes them.
Yet, the US resorts to money-creation (printing) to stimulate consumption, while China continues to invest in the supply-side even when such investments are no longer effective (though they were in the first 20 years of China’s reformed development).
What’s wrong with the politicians?
If you only look at the superficial statuses, you might prefer that of China to that of the US. But one needs to look deeper to find out the reasons that have led to such statuses.
They are a direct result of two sharply different political systems. Each tries to maintain its legitimacy, but they do opposite things to achieve that goal. The US politicians try to please the voters (and if you assume this is the great strength of democracy, you are wrong), while Chinese government tries to discipline its people to make them more productive (or to squeeze as much as possible from its subjects if that’s the angle you choose to look at).
Which one is better? It’s hard to say. It really depends on the people. For a citizenry that is mostly conscientious and hard-working, democracy gives them an opportunity and is therefore the better system; but if you look at the history, for example that of the Romans, it is naïve to assume that people are always conscientious and hard-working. For a populace that is overly corrupt, lazy and discontent, democracy leads to disintegration, and they end up deserving autocracy.
Humanity faces a Catch-22: currently people who deserve more democracy don’t have it. But people who have it are creating a condition to lose it.
If you ask me for a diagnosis, I do have one, but it is nothing new and you must believe: the root cause is Sin, and only God has a solution for that disease.
But as far as human efforts are concerned, mankind has never created a better political covenant than the U.S. Constitution. Let’s stick to it while we still can.