I used to be a big believer in the unstoppable ascendency of China. Although I agree that they will be a power to be reckoned with this article points out one problem that might slow the uninhibited growth and progress that they have made over the last 20 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/world ... ml?_r=1&hp
When I listen to people like Niall Ferguson drone on about the decline of the West he makes a lot of good points, but he seems to overlook a lot challenges facing the East as well.
China's Challenges
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China's Challenges
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. - Blaise Pascal
Re: China's Challenges
Niall Ferguson is a pompous dope masquerading as an intellectual. I find his views to be predictable and boring. Although he is probably correct in his basic predictions, he never mentions that historically what he is saying can just as easily unfold over 100 years as it can unfold over 10 years, which makes it almost worthless other than to frighten people and sell books.
As far as China goes, you have a corrupt communist government presiding over an enormous capitalist economy with no meaningful reporting or disclosure requirements (either in the public or private sectors), along with very weak protection of property rights (especially foreigners' property rights). What could go wrong with that? If it wasn't actually happening, I'm not sure it would even make for a good joke because no one would believe it.
Remember what happened in the Soviet Union when the real condition of the economy was exposed after decades of suspect economic reporting. The basic fact is that an economy in which the state dictates how capital is to be allocated results in enormous misallocations of capital. When such an economy is leveraged, the harmful effects of these market distortions are even more pronounced.
What does China require to move to the next level of economic development? A large middle class relative to the size of the overall population. What does a middle class demand? Political and economic rights. Anyone think the communists in charge of China are interested in such an arrangement?
As far as China goes, you have a corrupt communist government presiding over an enormous capitalist economy with no meaningful reporting or disclosure requirements (either in the public or private sectors), along with very weak protection of property rights (especially foreigners' property rights). What could go wrong with that? If it wasn't actually happening, I'm not sure it would even make for a good joke because no one would believe it.
Remember what happened in the Soviet Union when the real condition of the economy was exposed after decades of suspect economic reporting. The basic fact is that an economy in which the state dictates how capital is to be allocated results in enormous misallocations of capital. When such an economy is leveraged, the harmful effects of these market distortions are even more pronounced.
What does China require to move to the next level of economic development? A large middle class relative to the size of the overall population. What does a middle class demand? Political and economic rights. Anyone think the communists in charge of China are interested in such an arrangement?
Q: “Do you have funny shaped balloons?”
A: “Not unless round is funny.”
A: “Not unless round is funny.”
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goldfinger
- Junior Member
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Re: China's Challenges
I 'm confused, this article is about Thailand, not China. Could you enlight us a little bit?
doodle wrote: I used to be a big believer in the unstoppable ascendency of China. Although I agree that they will be a power to be reckoned with this article points out one problem that might slow the uninhibited growth and progress that they have made over the last 20 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/world ... ml?_r=1&hp
When I listen to people like Niall Ferguson drone on about the decline of the West he makes a lot of good points, but he seems to overlook a lot challenges facing the East as well.