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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: microhoogle! who wrote (45512)	10/12/2000 3:28:45 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Respond to of 769670

>>Credit is due to both US which makes starting and thriving of a business easier and to the founders of companies who at some point have taken huge risks.<< That is very true Murali. Did you happen to see the program several weeks ago hosted by John Stossel on innovation and business? He did an excellent job of showing why India is having such a difficult time due to bureaucratic interference and why so many successful Indians are leaving the country. He also used the program to point to Hong Kong and it's extraordinary growth. The reason? Benign neglect by the British when they had control. Here is a country (India) with excellent natural resources (human and otherwise) and Hong Kong (with no real natural resources, they have to import everything). One is thriving and the other is stagnating. You obviously know the reason why. You are here.

To: microhoogle! who wrote (45512)	10/12/2000 3:42:33 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Murali, I'd like your opinion on this as it relates to the coming election. Who do you think is more business friendly? By Todd Seavey N E W Y O R K, Sept. 1 — America is a great success story: It has the most wealth, the most Nobel Prizes, the most immigrants per year of any country and an infectious pop culture that has spread around the world. But why do some nations flourish, while others flounder? Why is tiny Hong Kong so rich and gigantic India so poor? Density Isn’t Destiny One of the most common answers in recent decades has been population density: There are simply too many people in places like India, or so goes the conventional wisdom. But Hong Kong is densely populated, too: nearly 6,000 people per square kilometer, compared with India’s 287 people per square kilometer. (Even New Jersey has a population density over three times that of India, and despite all the jokes about New Jersey, few would call it unlivable.) And yet despite some recent woes caused by the Asian currency crisis, Hong Kong is a fast-paced society with a per capita income almost as high as that of the United States. Nothing to Lose But Their Chains One factor that really does make a difference, according to experts at think tanks such as Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation and Canada’s Fraser Institute, is economic freedom — the absence of government regulations. Hong Kong and the United States, they point out, are among the freest nations in the world; countries like India, Syria and North Korea are among the most highly regulated. India does have a free press and a democratic government (elevating its ranking on the less economics-oriented Freedom House survey). But its thicket of business regulations and bureaucratic restrictions is so dense — and wealth so difficult to create there — that Indians endure a standard of living as low as that of communist countries. Hong Kong, on the other hand, has few regulations, low taxes and an entrepreneurial culture. Perched on a barren rock on the Chinese coast, Hong Kong’s citizens enjoy all of the perks of other advanced, affluent societies. In the ABCNEWS Special Report, Is America Number One? John Stossel examines Hong Kong’s freedoms and India’s bureaucracy — and asks how America compares to both. The Open Door Stossel also examines another key indicator of national success: openness to new ideas. “If you had landed on this planet in the year 1400, and you had to send back a report ‘What will be the society that dominates the world?’ it definitely would’ve been China,” says Tom Palmer of the free-market Cato Institute. By A.D. 1400, the Chinese had already invented gunpowder, the compass, the clock, real paper and printing. However, just as Europe was entering an age of exploration, China cut itself off from outside influences. “They burned all of the ships that had been traveling around the world,” Palmer says. “They wanted to make sure they weren’t contaminated by outsiders. They didn’t want all that change that an open, dynamic society brings about.” China closeted itself, while Europe explored. Eventually, Stossel argues, China stagnated as Europe grew wealthy and powerful. Free Thinkers Thrive Stossel also discovers one tangible result of a country’s greater openness: an influx of immigrants, often the bearers of the new ideas that enrich a culture. Italy invented pizza, for instance, but it was Italian-Americans who popularized it by adding diverse toppings. Rock ’n’ roll is derived from the music of Ireland and Africa. Scientists and entrepreneurs often come here to work on ideas that found a less receptive audience back in their countries of origin. As French expatriate businesswoman Martine Kempf tells Stossel: “I designed and built a voice-recognition system to help disabled people control electric functions in cars,” but French red tape made distribution of the product impossible. A move to Silicon Valley changed all that, and within in a year Kempf was distributing her voice-activated cars in nine countries. Her hometown back in France is so proud, “they named a street after me, Rue Martine Kempf,” she says. “But I still don’t want to go back.” France’s loss is America’s gain, a pattern repeated every time people flee a stifling environment for a more open one. SEARCH ABCNEWS.com FOR MORE ON … S U M M A R Y What accounts for some nations’ inventiveness and prosperity? Many believe freedom is the critical factor. LIVE EVENTS BOARDS: Stossel: Is America Number One? LIVE Related Stories A Chat with John Stossel Reference Hong Kong Profile Country Profile: India Country Profile: United States W E B L I N K S Stossel in the Classroom Cato Institute Fraser Institute Freedom House Heritage Foundation