Why China Builds Faster Than America & The Rest of the World

China’s “engineers-in-charge” model—where technocrats call the shots and slapped-together timelines get things done—stands in stark contrast to America’s lawyerly, permission-heavy approach that often leaves projects mired in red tape. In a chat with Dan Wang (author of Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future), Ryan and David unpack how this dynamic fuels China’s blitz-scale subways, high-speed rail, batteries, EVs, drones—and why many Western fears about omnipresent surveillance or an imminent collapse are overblown.

They also dig into why U.S. capital markets still rule the roost even as Chinese factories churn out goods by the boatload, what an American “abundance agenda” might look like, and Dan’s parting shot: the U.S. could use about 20% more engineers, and China could stand to add 50% more rights-protecting legalism.

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