It strikes me as a picture filled with both positives and negatives, and the point being made is not that China is a doomed sinking ship, but that the challenges it is dealing with aren't analogous to the ones faced by the US in the 19th century. (I don't know if wealthy 19th-century Americans did or did not aspire to move their wealth to Europe or send their kids abroad for school, but at least, the argument being made by the poster suggests a belief that they were not).