It's interesting to look at some of the leaders on a long-game perspective. I feel like Fidel Castro, for example, didn't really use the office as a vehicle fo

It's interesting to look at some of the leaders on a long-game perspective. I feel like Fidel Castro, for example, didn't really use the office as a vehicle for self-enrichment and seemed to bow out in a graceful attempt to preserve his long-term legacy. It seems like Xi is on a similar vector-- his domestic credibility is largely due to rising global economic and political importance, and you don't really hear rumours of grand mansions and fleets of luxury vehicles on the state's tab. Maybe from that perspective, it's a "why change horses in mid-stream" scenario in the short-mid term at least. When we talk about how flexible and adaptable free markets are, we also forget how inertia-prone they are-- too many private businesses will let their country's future rot because they want to milk dying business plans for one more calendar quarter. China's ability to direct economic activity gives them a way to break the stiction.