Russia Misses out on Joys of Capitalism; China Doesn't

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Let us leave this scene of trillion-dollar deficits and out-of- whack public policy ... and go halfway around the world to view a couple of economic lessons at a distance, clearly:

How and why, for example, China's economy is doing so much better than Russia's.

Americans and Europeans buy untold billions worth of goods "Made in China" and almost nothing "Made in Russia." Yet they had the same chance. Both are former centrally planned Communist states, and the Chinese aren't even "former" yet. The party remains in charge even as economic progress runs circles around its dogmas.

The difference is this. The Chinese have -- and the Russians haven't -- created …