“The economic management team in Beijing has seriously lost its way. But leaders do funky things when the ruling party’s bargain with its people is ‘we get to rule and you get to get rich.’ Collapsing markets can quickly lead to collapsing legitimacy.”

Tom Friedman, writing in today’s New York Times.

Not sure what he means by “funky”, though. It sometimes is a synonym for “cool”. But it could mean “frightened” — as in “he was in a blue funk”.