As I noted in a previous post, both Xi and Biden are attempting to reduce inequality by improving the lot of workers and cutting the fabulously wealthy down to size. In Biden’s case, he attempted to use the tools available to him in a liberal democracy–legislation–but to no avail. The BBB failed. The dollar store economy remains in place, mitigated somewhat by the pandemic relief bill.
Xi has very different tools available to him in a very different state. He is trying to spread the wealth by using the arbitrary power of the Chinese government to intimidate the wealthy, bring large companies under more rigorous state control, and force large “voluntary” charitable contributions for the public good.
Will Xi’s approach work better than Biden’s? I don’t think so. Apparently random efforts to interfere with the market, driven by politics, are no substitute for an adequate welfare state. They destroy essential incentives for business without assuring anyone that the proceeds of the ransom payments–er, voluntary contributions–will be used fairly and effectively.