Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe NYC who wrote (347092)	8/16/2007 2:45:27 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1575422

Joe, > It is a sad thing that the issue of concern for the environment has been hijacked. Seriously. I can hardly dispute the impact of CO2 emissions without someone accusing me of being against clean air. Tenchusatsu

To: Joe NYC who wrote (347092)	8/20/2007 4:16:18 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575422

don't like socialism, especially when it's disguised as "environmental regulations": It is a sad thing that the issue of concern for the environment has been hijacked. By whom and in what way?

To: Joe NYC who wrote (347092)	9/11/2007 5:11:33 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 1575422

The Rise and Fall of Indian Socialism Why India embraced economic reform Sam Staley \| June 2006 Print Edition India became the poster child for post–World War II socialism in the Third World. Steel, mining, machine tools, water, telecommunications, insurance, and electrical plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalized in the mid-1950s as the Indian government seized the commanding heights of the economy. Other industries were subjected to such onerous regulation that innovation came to a near standstill. The Industries Act of 1951 required all businesses to get a license from the government before they could launch, expand, or change their products. One of India’s leading indigenous firms made 119 proposals to the government to start new businesses or expand existing ones, only to find them rejected by the bureaucracy. The government imposed import tariffs to discourage international trade, and domestic businesses were prevented from opening foreign offices in a doomed attempt to build up domestic industries. Foreign investment was subject to stifling restrictions. But the planners failed. Manufacturing never took off, and the economy meandered; India lagged behind all its trade-embracing contemporaries. Between 1950 and 1973, Japan’s economy grew 10 times faster than India’s. South Korea’s economy grew five times faster. India’s economy crawled along at 2 percent per year between 1973 and 1987, while China’s growth lept to 8 percent and began matching rates for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other Asian tigers. Even as that reality became clear as early as the late 1960s and early 1970s, India’s policy makers refused to give up on economic planning. Experts and elected officials settled for what they called the “Hindu Rate of Growth,” which, according to official figures, was sluggish at about 3 to 4 percent per year. That would be respectable for a developed country like the United States or Germany, since they start from a higher economic base. But for a country like India, it’s abysmal. Attitudes finally began to change in the 1980s, as India’s persistent budget deficits forced austerity measures in the middle of the decade. A foreign exchange crisis in 1991 precipitated major shifts in public policy thinking. The government brought spending in line with revenues and moved away from fixed exchange rates, allowing the Indian currency to reflect world prices. (Fixing exchange rates at a government-determined price tended to overvalue the rupee on world markets, discouraging foreign investment.) The government began to open the door to foreign investment while Indian companies were allowed to borrow in foreign capital markets and invest abroad. Inflation was brought under control. The new policies fostered a booming information technology industry, which grew to billion-dollar status in the mid-1990s and exceeded $6 billion in revenues by 2001. The technology sector didn’t suffer from as many burdensome regulations as, say, steel and airlines. Nor did its success hinge on traditional utilities and basic infrastructure, depending more on new technology such as satellites. A 2004 World Bank report notes that “Services, the least regulated sector in the economy continue to be the strongest performer, while manufacturing, the most regulated sector, is the weakest.”... reason.com