Comments on: Overtaking China http://www.deeshaa.org/2003/10/04/overtaking-china/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:41:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: anand http://www.deeshaa.org/2003/10/04/overtaking-china/comment-page-1/#comment-14 anand Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://home.blogstreet.com/2003/10/04/9#comment-14 <i>The Chinese are collectively smarter than Indians. </i> Ooh la la. Where did that come from ? I would have to ignore it because the alternative it to say indians are smarter than chinese :) <i>The Chinese are not stupid. They will get democracy when they are good and ready, when the conditions are such that democracy will help rather than hinder. </i> You dont think, one can wake up one fine day and say, "Conditions look good today. Let us have democracy." It is much more complex than that. The advantages of democracy are manifold and in most cases not so obvious. The stock exchanges in china are full of state owned companies with huge barriers for private companies to enter. This stems from the traditional mistrust that communists have against capitalists gaining control. When financial times launched its china edition around last month, it was immediately censored in china because it carried three articles comparing china to india with the suggestion that India might perhaps have the edge. Do you think such a society has the right foundation for growth. I don't think so. The day will come when the transition has to be made and like the USSR, the transition will most likely be painfull. I am not saying china will go into recession but it is hundred percent likely that china will experiance periods of slow growth. If we are rightly placed then, we will be in a position to go ahead. The Chinese are collectively smarter than Indians.

Ooh la la. Where did that come from ? I would have to ignore it because the alternative it to say indians are smarter than chinese :)

The Chinese are not stupid. They will get democracy when they are good and ready, when the conditions are such that democracy will help rather than hinder.

You dont think, one can wake up one fine day and say, “Conditions look good today. Let us have democracy.” It is much more complex than that.

The advantages of democracy are manifold and in most cases not so obvious.

The stock exchanges in china are full of state owned companies with huge barriers for private companies to enter. This stems from the traditional mistrust that communists have against capitalists gaining control.

When financial times launched its china edition around last month, it was immediately censored in china because it carried three articles comparing china to india with the suggestion that India might perhaps have the edge.

Do you think such a society has the right foundation for growth.

I don’t think so.

The day will come when the transition has to be made and like the USSR, the transition will most likely be painfull. I am not saying china will go into recession but it is hundred percent likely that china will experiance periods of slow growth. If we are rightly placed then, we will be in a position to go ahead.

]]> By: anand http://www.deeshaa.org/2003/10/04/overtaking-china/comment-page-1/#comment-15 anand Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://home.blogstreet.com/2003/10/04/9#comment-15 A single case study can easily highlight the difficulties faced by a democratic country vis a vis communist country. The three gorges dam has a fair number of detractors like the narmada dam. But since the people of china don't really have a say in the matter, the government just went ahead with the construction. In India, the case got caught up in a legal tangle for years. The recent dis-investment supreme court ruling is also a fair indicator on how "everyone in india has a veto". Such are the difficulties faced by a democracy and when china wakes up to such a reality, it will slow down. India on the other hand, being a "mature" democracy, should be on growth path still. PS : This article, http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=F12EC40E-E198-4893-B955-706359ED8537, says china will maintain its lead well into 2050. Forget China, I would be happy if we could hit $30 trillion by then :) PPS : A point to note. Indians are seen to be traditionally negative and prone to play down their own successes. This is rarely seen in other countries and certainly not in china. Shourie wrote about this a while back. I remember, a gartner analyst being surprised about the generally negative attitude in the media. I wonder why. Maybe, you could write about that ? A single case study can easily highlight the difficulties faced by a democratic country vis a vis communist country.

The three gorges dam has a fair number of detractors like the narmada dam. But since the people of china don’t really have a say in the matter, the government just went ahead with the construction. In India, the case got caught up in a legal tangle for years.

The recent dis-investment supreme court ruling is also a fair indicator on how “everyone in india has a veto”.

Such are the difficulties faced by a democracy and when china wakes up to such a reality, it will slow down. India on the other hand, being a “mature” democracy, should be on growth path still.

PS : This article, http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=F12EC40E-E198-4893-B955-706359ED8537, says china will maintain its lead well into 2050.

Forget China, I would be happy if we could hit $30 trillion by then :)

PPS : A point to note. Indians are seen to be traditionally negative and prone to play down their own successes. This is rarely seen in other countries and certainly not in china. Shourie wrote about this a while back. I remember, a gartner analyst being surprised about the generally negative attitude in the media. I wonder why. Maybe, you could write about that ?

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