they don't let companies get powerful enough to run the government.

Communists: big company bad!

Libs: big government bad!

it's the same picture

That is one good thing about state capitalism. Although, it does nothing to prevent party corruption, which has definitely been getting worse for them.

There's a lot of shit they haven't handled right. Their propaganda engine is absolute, and people disappear for years when they criticize the government in the slightest way. But that hasn't really done anything with that that'd i'd call pretty awesome.

The government runs half of the largest companies. They are all commanded to work together, at a loss if necessary to get things done. When the government said we're going in on solar, they forced the aluminum companies to fill solar orders first and cheaply, they commanded the banks to give them extremely favorable loans. Now, when they make a panel, the raw cost is far better than can be produced anywhere else.

People are allowed to move from their home zones, but they lose a lot of their government benefits. When they want to spin up a new manufacturing center, They offer to let people move to the new location while keeping their benefits. They can direct the labor, through opportunity and spin up cities on a dime.

How they treat their fringe groups is awful. The lack of personal freedom and stranglehold they still have on business is enough to keep me from ever wanting to go there for more than a visit, but however everything is run isn't quite as bad as we've been led to believe either.