3 ms·

Think Again: Asia's Rise

• sho 17y ago
  "The region produces roughly 30 percent of global economic output, but because of its huge population, its per capita gdp is only $5,800, compared with $48,000 in the United States." That's nice, but it's states that buy armies, not individuals chipping in one by one. "Asian countries are furiously upgrading their militaries, but their combined military spending in 2008 was still only a third that of the United States." But what if they're getting 5 times the value for money? Military expenditure in the USA is so notoriously, farcically expensive and inefficient it is often quite literally a joke. China sure manages to build a lot of ships and submarines for the little money they supposedly spend. "Even at current torrid rates of growth, it will take the average Asian 77 years to reach the income of the average American. The Chinese need 47 years. " I don't know what numbers this guy is looking at, but in the last two decades China has grown 7+% above whatever the US has managed to achieve. PPP is what counts in this case, so that's a 6-fold gap to catch up with the average American. A seven percent advantage will cover that in under 30 years, not 47, which is comparable to experience in Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. I could go on and on, but why bother when the article seems to be founded upon such basic flaws?