On Friday April 11th, The British Daily Mail wrote a sober, clear-eyed article comparing how once globally dominant England lost its leadership position to America. The author makes a compelling case for how America will lose its #1 place in the world to India and China. Below are some poignant excerpts:
Cecil Rhodes, the businessman-imperialist of Africa, the creator of
Rhodesia, suffered no flicker of doubt about who were the masters. "To be born an Englishman," he mused, "Is to win first prize in the lottery of life." It wasn't idle boasting. In the jingoistic triumphalism of the
late 19th century, when waving the Union Jack was a simple pleasure,
people sang: "Rule Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves" without any
irony. It was a statement of fact.
The global power shift from the West to the East is no longer just a
matter of debate confined to learned journals and newspaper columns -
it is a reality that is beginning to have a huge impact on our daily
lives.
The desperately weakened American dollar appears to be on the verge of
losing its global dominance, in the same way as sterling lost it a
lifetime ago.
Last month, an Indian company, Tata, bought up what was once the cream of British manufacturing - Jaguar and Land Rover. A couple of years ago, Nanjing Automotive, a Chinese company, snapped up MG Rover. The Malaysian company Proton owns Lotus. Indian company Tata owns British Steel, as well as Tetley Tea.
Goldman Sachs, the bank, recently predicted that by 2050, China and
India would have overtaken the U.S. to be the world's first and second
biggest economies.
As it builds gleaming skyscrapers on its fields, China alone consumes half the world's cement and a third of its steel.
What is happening is so extraordinary that economists have had
to invent a new word for it - this is not an economic cycle, but a
supercycle, a shift in the world economy of historic proportions. When demand increases and supply stands still, prices shoot up.
Iron, wheat and oil are all at record prices, despite slackening demand
in the faltering Western economies.
The cost of living in Britain is now rising faster than wages, making the British on average poorer year on year.
The emigration of poor people from China and India to the West is
slowing down, as their citizens see more hope in their own rapidly
advancing nations. Instead, their expanding middle classes are paying large fees
for their children to enjoy a Western university education, before
returning home. There are now 60,000 Chinese students in Britain, more than from any other country.
As the opportunities flow from West to East, so too do the people. India is luring the global Indian diaspora back, with laws that would
be judged racist in Britain, offering visas to anyone living in the
West with Indian blood in their veins. Even some non-Indian Westerners are heading East for opportunities greater than they find at home.
Read the full story.
