Someone who is "rich" in a consumable asset and therefore chooses to just consume that instead of investing in a renewable or compounding asset is colloquially known as "a dumbass."

> US is rich in fossil energy so it doesn't have the same incentives as China does obviously.

China isn't rich in fossil energy? That's news to me.

They are the world's largest coal producer and still create over half of their electricity from coal. The difference to the US is that China seems to realize that this strategy isn't a long term solution.