2030: Not India, Not China,..USA still a superpower…

recent blog lead to this thought..: is Asia is king of 21st century?? that what we are hearing today. then, why I feel America(/’Big brother’) will still boss around..?

Now with genX everyone in the family has a word to say/comment to make but ‘Big brother’ makes decisions and will continue to do so. 2006 events highlights self-confidence among others countries & divide in US community. Lets not forget the fact mr.Bush is unpopular so whatever he(/his friends/his policy) does is & will be unpopular not just around the world but within americans as well. A genuine superpower does not merely have military and political influence, but also must be at the top of the economic, scientific, and cultural pyramids. Soviet Union was only a partial superpower, and the most recent genuine superpower before the United States was the British Empire.

Economy: challenger ‘China’ – the progress that the US economy would make from 1945 to 2030 (85 years) would have to be achieved by China in just the 25 years from 2005 to 2030. Even then, this is just the total GDP, not per capita GDP, which would still be merely a fourth of America’s. (assuming US GDP 3.5% and china’s GDP 10%.. by 2030, US economy size $30 trillion in 2006 dollar and china’s will be around $2.2 trillion)

Brand america from Inventions to mass-marketing: Creating world-accepting brand such as Nike, Coco-cola, Xerox, Google, (very recently)Youtube,. Europe & Japan had worked very hard in last 50yrs to have few in few specific selectors. Become the nation that produces the new inventions and corporations that are adopted by the mass market into their daily lives. Lets accept American-dominated ‘blogosphere’ emerged as a powerful force of information & media. USSR was ahead of the US in the space race at first, until President Kennedy decided in 1961 to put a man on the moon by 1969. now, China has plans to put a man on the moon by 2024.

Military power: “Have a military capable of waging wars anywhere in the globe (even if it does not actually wage any). Part of the opposition that anti-Americans have to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is the envy arising from the US being the only country with the means to invade multiple medium-size countries in other continents and still sustain very few casualties. No other country currently is even near having the ability to project military power with such force and range. Mere nuclear weapons are no substitute for this. The inability of the rest of the world to do anything to halt genocide in Darfur is evidence of how such problems can only get addressed if and when America addresses them.”

Education & Immigration: 17 of the world’s top 20 universities are in the US. ofcourse, we can notice odd good B-school poping-up elsewhere but Noone is even close to MIT. so US will continuce to attract top students from Asia, Europe and retain them. “US effectively receives a subsidy of $100 to $200 billion a year, as people educated at the expense of another nation immigrate here and promptly participate in the workforce”. as long as, India & No other country has size & capablities (atleast today) to attract smart immigratent.

Entertainment & Culture: No one will be able to (/willing to) address Piracy issues (we need smart business-man & business plan to overcome this problem). and “When American teenagers are actively pirating music and movies made in India or China, only then will the US have been surpassed in this area. Take a moment to think how distant this scenario is from current reality.“

Europe and Japan have tried for decades, and have only achieved parity with the US on maybe two of these dimensions at most.

PS: US will remain superpower, claims CIA

India vs. China: future edge….

India vs. China: who will lead…!?

Well, this topic of discussion in almost economic forum. Comparing India and China is to embark on an old puzzle that has fascinated smart people for centuries. No doubt India and China are likely to be the dominant economic powers by the middle of this century. Obviously both countries are very different in many respects.

India is way behind in infrastructure compare to China – From realities one might wonder why anyone would ever consider investing in India over China. Ranking the two countries on infrastructure – roads, airports, and new buildings, China looks like a ten and India hovers close to zero. But India is changing rapidly. NSE index of top 50 blue chip had tripled in last 2years. Although China’s stupendous economic growth rate still surpasses India’s, India has now reached the 6% plus rate of GDP growth that marks the emergence of a developing country.

People

The fact that the educated classes all know English gives Indians a comparative advantage in the growing informational sciences and services, while the Chinese advantage still resides in manufacturing. Although I in no way condone the British occupation and control of India for several centuries until 1947, three British legacies — the English language, Democracy, and Freedom of the Press — benefit many Indians today.

India is built on a meritocracy where performance on exams dictates jobs and admission to the top-ranked schools. At the top, India’s education system is as good as any, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) rivals MIT as the world’s producer of top scientists. Furthermore the Indian Institute of Management recently had 200,000 applications for only 250 seats at its top Ahmedabad campus, a ratio that puts the Ivy League’ selectivity to shame. Although India does have an “affirmative action” program for those in the lowest castes, the private sector is not subject to these quotas and therefore is free to hire “the best and the brightest.” There’s no doubt that China is also developing top schools, both in science and in business. The latter is particularly important to China since the Communist system is filled with managers of state-owned enterprises that are woefully inadequate in a private-sector economy. India is ahead of China in this area. However, the excellence of education at the top has given Indians a great deal of pride in their ability to achieve world-class excellence, and it has been a strong democratizing influence in a society that has been mired in a rigidly hierarchical caste system.

Private enterprise, private property and the rule of law has been the norm in India since the British occupation. In contrast, until recently, the Chinese government owned and controlled everything. It surprises many that Lakshmi Mittal, an Indian-born steel magnate, is the 3rd richest man in the world after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. In fact, in Forbes’ latest list of the world’s wealthiest people, 12 Indians made the list and only two Chinese. And there is a growing consensus in India that this wealth creation can help everybody rise, not just those at the top.

Government

I believe China will evolve into a more democratic political system as it pulls itself out of poverty and feels the pressure of a growing middle class. Although this political evolution is likely, it is by no means a sure thing. Yet for India a democracy already exists, and it has withstood many crises. Furthermore India enjoys an independent judiciary, a critical adjunct to a democratic system. Democracy is the best system in which power can evolve from the private sector, not from dictates of the government. As far as the politics are concerned, there are no reservations about India.

It is well known that the Chinese are master copiers, and openly sell merchandise sporting pirated designer labels or hawk intellectual property that is easily downloaded in our digital world. Although this also exists in India, it does so to a far lesser extent.

I remember reading Economist , was trying to paint stripes on India since 1991. It doesn’t realize that India will never be a tiger. It is an elephant that has begun to lumber and move ahead. It will never have speed, but it will always have stamina. A Buddhist text says, “The elephant is the wisest of all animals/the only one who remembers his former lives/and he remains motionless for long periods of time/meditating thereon.” The inversion between capitalism and democracy suggests that India might have a more stable, peaceful, and negotiated transition into the future than, say, China. It will also avoid some of the harmful side effects of an unprepared capitalist society, such as Russia. Although slower, India is more likely to preserve its way of life and its civilization of diversity, tolerance, and spirituality against the onslaught of the global culture. If it does, then it is perhaps a wise elephant.

India lags in the hard infrastructure of roads, airports, and buildings, but leads in the “soft” infrastructure of democratic institutions, free press, and an independent judiciary. In general, China has discouraged or actively undermined local entrepreneurship in favor of an foreign direct investment-dependent approach, they say. India, on the other hand, is building an infrastructure—however slowly—that allows entrepreneurship and free enterprise to thrive. By making fuller use of its resources, India’s long-term outlook may be far stronger.