Bill -
SEA is south Pac Rim countries: Indonesia, Singapore, HongKong, Malaysia, Phillipines, Thailand, etc. PacRim refers to the big powers Korea, Japan, Singapore, and now China. Bengladesh is South Asia, grouped with India, and Pakistan.
The big factor is SEA because of the population (consumers). Add China to that. We are looking at huge population. Never mind the per capita income. Only need to look at 5% of that huge population for buying power. That's like adding 50% of US population for equavalent buying power.
SEA + Pac Rim are key areas, because they are true blue capitalists, in their blood. Just think of Singapore and HongKong for what they have done, can and will do. Presently the middle class is small percentage, with the reset 90% as poor. All those US, European,and Japanese investments have been trying to do, was to change and increase the percentage of middle class. Unfortunately, there have been too much political and government corruptions, and subsequently the 90% poor will remain for a while longer. Prime example for this is Indonesia. Thailand is in the same boat. Previous prime example was Phillipines, the wealthiest country in Asia after WWII, and proceeded to never ending recessions/depressions cycles because of deep seated corruption. |
