> They moved from dirt poor to middle income largely by strangling their economy quite as hard as the did under Mao.

They did move from durt poor to “higher life expectancies than the US” because the state made it an actual goal, with policies designed for that.

> If they liberalised further, they could become richer.

That's just your religious belief. But it has strictly the same factuality as “if you went to church, God would help you be happier”.

> > “FDR didn't exist”.

> Huh?

Maybe document yourself on the massive financial regulations tightening that happened under FDR before saying it has always been the same.