I showed a Chinese friend of mine the famous Chinese Professor commercial. In Beijing, 2030, a Chinese professor tells his students about the fallen American empire. It is a commercial against “government waste”.
My friend said that in China you would be put in jail for making such a commercial. There is lots of waste in the Chinese government, she said. I asked her for examples. One is restaurant meals. Government officials go out for extremely expensive meals and eat just a few bites. I have heard that one quarter of restaurant spending in China comes from the government. There is a restaurant near my apartment with absurdly high prices; one of my students said that only government officials would eat there. Another example of government waste is cars. Government officials have big expensive cars.
If you spent time in D.C. you would come to the same conclusion about our government.