Reply to: How much aid do we give to India?

[Gibbon]

Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world.
India will get there because its people work hard and value education, unlike us.
The turnaround they've made from complete basket case to having a viable middle class has happened in 2 generations since independence.
What will happen in another 3-4 generations?

Much the same unless they sort out the rife endemic corruption. Also they don't yet have a free thinking culture that leads to true innovation.

China is spending loads on this but is laughably micro managing it and only letting ideas that are certain to work get funding!

[Sysman]

They also have nukes, Obama was once asked what kept him up at night and he answered "Pakistan".

Must have picked a bad restaurant.

[Sysman]

Or having suffered 24 previous instances of potato crop failure before the new American strain of Blight arrived the government could have bought grain as Sir Robert Peel did, the Irish could have diversified crops or the Government could have requisitioned Irish Grain crops as it did in earlier famines but that was unpopular with Irish Landlords because they lost money.

Of course the British just wanted to starve the Irish out we are known for that sort of thing

Its easy to blame the government but it is normally more complicated than that.

Vague memories of a history lesson at skool tell me that some Brit official was sitting on a warehouse full of grain, all paid for and to be distributed.

But he wanted to test out some economic theory (maybe the law of supply and demand, but I honestly can't remember), with the result that the intended recipients couldn't afford the stuff.

[minestrone]

Or having suffered 24 previous instances of potato crop failure before the new American strain of Blight arrived the government could have bought grain as Sir Robert Peel did, the Irish could have diversified crops or the Government could have requisitioned Irish Grain crops as it did in earlier famines but that was unpopular with Irish Landlords because they lost money.

Of course the British just wanted to starve the Irish out we are known for that sort of thing

Its easy to blame the government but it is normally more complicated than that.

Remember we had a conversation recently about how you had a habit of saying really fookin stupid things on occasion, yes? Well this is another occasion.

[Mich the Tester]

The loss of UK taxation as outsourcers abuse the visa rules to avoid paying.

Or perhaps Europe's high tax economies (including the UK) are actually screwed given the competition from newly developing economies, and need a new business model to compete. Why on earth would I pay someone in Britain to hand over more than half of what he costs me to subsidizing bloated governments when I can give the same reward to someone in Asia, Latin America, or increasingly, Africa, at lower costs to my business?

Fine to complain about lost revenues, but look at the other side of the equation; huge bloated governments that we're struggling to afford.

[vetran]

It's the whole 'Bob' thing, isn't it? I think there are parallels with the birth of industrialisation. Some I.T. guys view themselves how the craftsmen did before industrial processes started to drive down prices. There are complaints that lower prices mean lower quality, but a failure to understand that this is the new business model, where the quality is seen as acceptable and the price essential to remain competitive. Replace industrialisation with globalisation, and we see the 'craftsmen' independent I.T. worker replaced by cheaper overseas firms and workers. Some anger is inevitable, I think, and I find it hard not to sympathise with the Luddites.

But an answer is to remain ahead of globalisation by making generic skills relevant to specific niche industries where the globalised model cannot as easily penetrate.

There is also the frustration with the price driven systems everything takes five times as long and the outsourced resource costs X times more once you multiply it up.

The loss of UK taxation as outsourcers abuse the visa rules to avoid paying.

etc.

Not sure where you ar getting the racism bit, Sasguru as usual jumped to a conclusion.
We are using the top 1% of their population by achievement / opportunity its likely we will see people who are much better than us and I do recognise that where appropriate. I work with some great people from India.

[Mich the Tester]

Pakistan will happen.

Iran will probably happen too.

[russell]

hopefully if they don't pull themselves apart with hatred.

They also have nukes, Obama was once asked what kept him up at night and he answered "Pakistan".

[vetran]

Pakistan will happen.

hopefully if they don't pull themselves apart with hatred.

[Old Greg]

When India is mentioned, with some cretins there's always an undercurrent of condescension, tinged with a bit of racism.
More fool they.

It's the whole 'Bob' thing, isn't it? I think there are parallels with the birth of industrialisation. Some I.T. guys view themselves how the craftsmen did before industrial processes started to drive down prices. There are complaints that lower prices mean lower quality, but a failure to understand that this is the new business model, where the quality is seen as acceptable and the price essential to remain competitive. Replace industrialisation with globalisation, and we see the 'craftsmen' independent I.T. worker replaced by cheaper overseas firms and workers. Some anger is inevitable, I think, and I find it hard not to sympathise with the Luddites.

But an answer is to remain ahead of globalisation by making generic skills relevant to specific niche industries where the globalised model cannot as easily penetrate.

[russell]

Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world.
India will get there because its people work hard and value education, unlike us.
The turnaround they've made from complete basket case to having a viable middle class has happened in 2 generations since independence.
What will happen in another 3-4 generations?

Pakistan will happen.

[Mich the Tester]

When India is mentioned, with some cretins there's always an undercurrent of condescension, tinged with a bit of racism.
More fool they.

The Indian chaps I work with here are absolutely the equals of any of us; they're here because they bring skills that are in short supply in NL, just as there are Argentinians, Romanians, Russians, Poles, Italians, Britons, and so on and so forth, here for similar reasons. Seeing as I'm one of the few that doesn't have an engineering degree I try to just learn as much as possible from them as I go along. Aside from the pleasure of working with competent people, I gain useful contacts for future business.

[sasguru]

I sometimes joke with an Indian chap here about this; last time we were in a meeting together I went round with the hot water can and poured everyone a cup of tea. As I did I said in a somewhat posh accent 'I bet you never expected to be served chai by an Englishman?' He laughed and said 'no but it will probably happen more often in the future'. By the way, most of the Indian chaps here are netting more than their Dutch counterparts, but seeing as income taxes and employers' contributions are lower in Pune than in NL, they cost the employer about the same.

When India is mentioned, with some cretins there's always an undercurrent of condescension, tinged with a bit of racism.
More fool they.

[Mich the Tester]

Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world.
India will get there because its people work hard and value education, unlike us.
The turnaround they've made from complete basket case to having a viable middle class has happened in 2 generations since independence.
What will happen in another 3-4 generations?

I sometimes joke with an Indian chap here about this; last time we were in a meeting together I went round with the hot water can and poured everyone a cup of tea. As I did I said in a somewhat posh accent 'I bet you never expected to be served chai by an Englishman?' He laughed and said 'no but it will probably happen more often in the future'. By the way, most of the Indian chaps here are netting more than their Dutch counterparts, but seeing as income taxes and employers' contributions are lower in Pune than in NL, they cost the employer about the same.

[sasguru]

An Ecomoronic prediction for 100 years hence, they always turn out accurate.

They predicted Japan would be a superpower decades ago.

Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world.
India will get there because its people work hard and value education, unlike us.
The turnaround they've made from complete basket case to having a viable middle class has happened in 2 generations since independence.
What will happen in another 3-4 generations?