Posted on 11/25/2006 8:05:05 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn has warned that Western nations must prepare for a future dominated by China and India, whose rapid economic rise will soon fundamentally alter the balance of power.(AFP/File/Paul J. Richards)
Africa is still a basket case, and will be for a long time.
This is pure conjecture, education didnt fuel the industrial revolution, or even the tech revolution
creativity, persistence and just dumb luck did.
These pompous bloviators of economic doom are blinded
by pessimism. May they meet with FSB agents bearing polonium supositories.
I think India and China are rather immune to that. The big issue is not so much Islam, unless it tanks Europe, but rather whether China can transition into a great power without going through what Germany did, ie do a dalliance with nationalistic state capitalistic hubristic agression. I think the answer is probably yes, thanks to nukes. I am an optimist.
He is a leftist. More money for education is NOT the answer. Higher birthrates is the answer.
China has more than 3 times our population.
A little fact worth mentioning... The per capita income of a Chinese citizen will still be less than half that of his American counter part even if these projections hold true (which I doubt).
An Islamic jihad MIGHT work agains India, as the Muslims in India have had a running street battle with the non-Muslims in that nation for some sixty years or so, from before the time India was granted independence from the British Empire.
What was once "India" is in fact three countries now, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. The first two are Muslim countries, and the fracture was along religious lines. There is even yet one province (Kashmir) which cannot be equitably divided.
In China, there is no such ambiguity. Muslims are very much a persecuted minority there, apparently the only sure way to manage the unrest they cause so much of elsewhere. Of course, the Chinese treat most religious organizations in a similar manner, so it is nothing specifically directed against Muslims. The Red Chinese are equal-opportunity in their suppression of religion. Even Buddha is accorded very little official recognition.
The vast preponderance of young Chinese males, with no potential mates to be found in their own country, are probably just about ripe to volunteer for an expeditiionary force to calm the entire Middle East, if they can pick up some foreign female companionship along the way, by stealing the Muslims' women after they decimate the male population.
Genghis Khan rolling into town with some high-tech support. Who said there is no hope for the world?
bookmark
This is all baloney.
This is another case of would-be futurists predicting the future based on todays technology.
Nanotech changes everything.
Desktop assemblers will appear long before 2050 and will change the old equations where western high-wage workforces cannot compete with large low-wage workforces.
http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=+nanotech+assemblers&btnG=Search
When you can make your own gadgets on a desktop from raw materials then of what possible use are a billion Chinese
willing to work for pennies?
The tech world is in for some amazing changes over the next few decades....any predictions of the future that do not take nanotech onto consideration are simply faulty.
Yes. People keep forgetting that.
And the Chinese are trying to do it the same way as the Japanese tried, by artificially keeping the value of their currency low.
It will catch up with them eventually.
The Africans are too busy complaining about the damages done by western colonialism. They fail to realize that history will be mild compared to what the Chinese are willing to inflict. China isn't worried about Amnesty International complaining about their mistreatment of people in Africa. The Chinese likely pay their bills.
Both India and China have the worlds only nuclear Islamic nation on their borders. That really cannot be a good thing in the long term.
Both countries are cheap manufacturers of products designed, tested and developed elsewhere.
Both countries have huge populations to feed maintain and control and both have tried unsuccessfully to use government force to reduce population.
Their per capita productivity is low; it is just the mass of it that looks so strong.
Err do you mean that Islamic nation which is China's oldest strategic ally,outside of North Korea???The One which buys the most weaponry from Beijing & who's nuke programme is entirely Chinese in origin???Well Beijing should be thrilled by the presence of that state given that it keeps the injuns on their toes.
Africa will soon see a new era of colonization as they become economic dependencies of India and China.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.