On the flip side, turns out they're capable of learning. It just takes a few tries.
"During those conversations in Korea, U.S. officials nonetheless warned their Chinese counterparts that they could take national security steps in the coming months that Beijing might find objectionable, according to two people familiar with those conversations."
Indeed, they can do anything they like. And sometimes actions have consequences ranging in severity from extremely painful to outright crippling.
Just send all the poor to jail, problem solved. Only the rich survive in the United States.