America's fate looks dicey in the showdown with the Chinese juggernaut, warns this vigorous jeremiad. Fingleton (In Praise of Hard Industries
) argues that China's “East Asian” development model of aggressive mercantilism and a state-directed economy “effortlessly outperforms” America's fecklessly individualistic capitalism. Nor will economic development democratize a “quasi-fascist” Confucian culture. More likely, Fingleton contends, is “the Confucianization of America” as Chinese wealth subverts American politics and media. Fingleton's brief against Confucian societies can seem vague and paranoid; fortunately, his economic analysis is incisive. His most telling critique is of American business elites and policymakers, who have wrecked the U.S. economy, he insists, by promoting laissez-faire nostrums, free trade and a hollowed-out service economy. More compelling than Fingleton's exaggerated dread of the Confucian dragon is his well-supported case for economic nationalism. (Mar.)
