Yiwu, you point to a very interesting cultural difference between western and eastern societies, you make a judgment call that one behavioral pattern leads to economic success. I would just as logically point out that this lack of of individual initiative is one of the reasons that the eastern curltures have created very few major new entreprises, I believe that SONY is probably the only major Japanese mega company that was not operating in Japan during WWII, while in the US I would guess that a good 20% if not more of the mega companies are the result of new entrepreneurs creating new wealth (MSFT, INTC, AMAT, Genentech, AMGN, and the list goes on). The current malaise could be traced to such concentration and stonification of Asian corporate entreprise, due, at least to some extent, to the sacrifice of individual interest for the good of the collective. I also think that this "trait" is being exploited by the "higher" classes in some of the asian countries to control the masses.
Unfortunately, times march on, and the explosion of the telecommunication age is showing the Asian Masses that individuality has its price and its rewards. Hopefully, more and more will come to exercise their individual rights and better their individual interest. In doing so they will (through a different route) quite possibly, better the lot of all.
Zeev |
