Interesting article by Fareed Zakaria.
However I am not very sure if the world is making as much progress as he seems to be claiming it is. In India I perceive a very rapidly expanding divide between the rich and the poor. So even though the GDP is growing at fast clip, the 7.5% inflation is something that can cause poor parents (about 50% of the population) to pull kids out of schools. In an information economy countries like India cannot milk the "we speak english" advantage for multiple generations. When this growing young population will see a ceiling to the progress it could morph into an explosive situation. What about the riots in France and recently in South Africa. Also when new powers rise, wouldn't there be more friction? Mr.Zakaria seems to be making a lot of simplistic assumptions.
In his video he makes an interesting point, that the biggest strength of US is its immigration policy and the strength of its educational institutions. I couldn't agree more. Here I think both India and China are at a big disadvantage. China can build top notch schools but its roadblock will be free thinking people. Can they encourage this in schools and still have a censored media. In India its amazing how, the media, the politicians and the citizen journalists aren't even talking about our decrepit higher educational system.
PS: I like the term the "Rise of the Rest".
[article] --- Americans—particularly the American government—have not really understood the rise of the rest. This is one of the most thrilling stories in history. Billions of people are escaping from abject poverty. The world will be enriched and ennobled as they become consumers, producers, inventors, thinkers, dreamers, and doers. This is all happening because of American ideas and actions. For 60 years, the United States has pushed countries to open their markets, free up their politics, and embrace trade and technology. American diplomats, businessmen, and intellectuals have urged people in distant lands to be unafraid of change, to join the advanced world, to learn the secrets of our success. Yet just as they are beginning to do so, we are losing faith in such ideas. We have become suspicious of trade, openness, immigration, and investment because now it's not Americans going abroad but foreigners coming to America. Just as the world is opening up, we are closing down.
1 comment:
The real truth is that all of this is occurring with ecological catastrophe in the background. The world's scientists do not have much hope for us all in all. We need to respect that because the modern world is built on science and rationality. Our scientists are saying that our species loss is worse than any other time in earth's history, that our water, land and skies are full of toxins and pollutants. Now our north pole will be ice free in perhaps five years. "Big deal" we say.."so what?" we say. These reactions smell of hubris to the scientific community. I think nature will regulate us and after that we will see who has risen and who has fallen. Over the next thirty years we will see how these concerns mesh with Fareed Zakaria's. I do think his article was a great read and his ideas are worth taking note of. But it seems to me that the US is loosing its middle class and becoming very much a "winner take all" "every man for himself" society. These are primitive attitudes that will cause some instability inside the US.
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