[Torie]

Actually India has a larger middle class than China. The past is not always a guide to the future. The only thing that bails out China to some degree is the discipline of its people and Confucian traditions that are more amenable to the entreprenurial ethos and climate vis a vis India. But in the information age, that will not be enough. A freeer society like India is going to gain on China rather rapidly now.

[AIG]

China's already #1 in cell phones, refridgerators, light bulbs, air conditioners, elevators, and various other product categories, even ahead of the US, let alone India. China is already #2 in PC's behind the US.

[AIG]

For India, it's hard to change a majority-poor population into a majority middle-class population overnight, especially when the average Indian presidency lasts just 18 months and there is chronic legislative gridlock. Economics use a $3,000-$4,000 per-capita GDP benchmark at the point at which a country's economy starts to get the appearance of a more advanced world economy, and India is still far from that.