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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bicycle who wrote (10437)	9/28/2001 9:51:32 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Bicycle, <<Grand Hotel, a gaudy and wonderful confection on a hill in Taipei>> I agree with this part, but on the other parts, I think ... (a) he takes the next 25-50 years of hard work for granted, as if it is done already; (b) Successful Chinese kingdoms in the past, in the midst of other Chinese kingdoms, tended to maintain peace via relationships, counter-weights, position-ings, as opposed to invasion, and such direct methods, believing the most successful war is one fought without bloodshed, and so I believe Taiwan will not be defended by the US just as East Germany did not need to be invaded by Nato; (c) But, yes, I agree with him, especially … <<These folk can be packaged as exotic … In truth the Chinese were as exotic as potatoes, though not as mysterious>> <<They were smart, though, and studious, and showing marked signs of economic competence … They have all the pieces for a ferocious competitiveness. Hong Kong is New York with slanted eyes: They can do entrepreneurial cut-throat hardball business. The better American universities are heavily Chinese. These fit naturally into a techno-industrial world>> <<China is an enormous, old, and talented world that we know little of>> There certainly is a lot of relevant history that should be understood by leaders. <<They can be every bit as domineering as Caucasians, and will be. They are racially and nationally arrogant>> Yup, I saw that side quite often as well, with my peculiar Creole hat on:0) (d) <<How the West got the jump on them, I don’t know>> Combination of historic accident, and luck, combined with the march equation of time that made a civilization too contented with itself, while other civilizations are fidgety. It always works this way. Many contented civilizations failed as a result, and few remained viable to return to the game. Bottom line, he is right, or more right than wrong, unless he is of the between the lines opinion that China's rise equates to China marching around in jackboots. Chinese are too selfish and smart too march around the world in jackboots. Chinese instead migrate and worry about the same things that others worry about ... food, shelter, education ... and often remind themselves "friends come and go, family and enemies are forever. Chugs, Jay

To: Bicycle who wrote (10437)	9/29/2001 3:38:15 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

<<There, sitting at crate-desks in the narrow ways to avoid the heat, children did their homework. You don’t see this in Brazil.>> No you don't see this in Brazil. And that's the root of the problem. People in many countries in the world have lost their faith in education. And when this happens, there's no way you can get up. I study a lot the Brazilian education system. Brazil invests 60% of all money in education for 500.000 university students. The remaining 40% goes for 30 million basic education kids. The authorities say that to achieve a 50-50 balance it is not possible. The lobby of the middle class and the university establishment will not allow. Countries like Brazil and Nigeria -two typical examples- lost their faith in education because there's no meritocracy. One is not judged by what he learned but by whom he knows in corridors of power. Adding that that the secondary school prepares you to nothing practical but to prepare yourself to the university and you have lots of kids dropping out to idle away or go try their luck in soccer. Because the kids are not stupid. They know that this schooling is pure waste of time. I dropped out and went on to educate myself to prepare for a profession. But not many can do this by pulling up themselves by their own hairs.