A recent survey conducted by the Conference Board for the Business Council, an industrial body, shows that American CEOs apparently think that the Communist Party of China's leadership has been more effective than Western politicians, says an article in The Financial Times. Excerpts:

Some 70 CEOs were asked to evaluate the current economic and political climate - and the results were striking.

Most notably, when this group was asked which global institutions they considered most competent and credible, the body they put in first place was themselves (about 90 percent of these CEOs apparently think that "multinational corporations" have been "moderately", "very" or "most" effective in handling the challenges created by the economic crisis and financial shocks).

After this, the CEOs apparently admire central banks: almost 80 percent deemed these "moderately", "very" or "most" effective.

But the group that grabbed third place was the leadership of the CPC: it garnered a 64 percent approval - or "effective" - vote for how it has handled political and economic challenges in recent years.

This was way ahead of the US president's ranking (33 percent), let alone US Congress (with a dismal 5 percent vote). Even though many of these same CEOs have presumably elected those unloved American leaders themselves.

This finding partly reflects the extraordinary rise of China, which has done an impressive job of keeping its giant economy growing since 2007. What impresses some global CEOs is how the Chinese government takes a long-term policy view.