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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (67500)	10/23/2010 10:36:29 AM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 217802

The imperialism of the British was immeasurably superior to any in the past. Its only competition in terms of spreading advanced culture was Rome. If you had the bad luck to a colonial subject, would you prefer to be in the Congo ruled by Belgians? In Mexico ruled by Aztecs who would take you prisoner then rip your heart out? Imperialism inherently requires a measure of oppression for few submit willingly to it. Like pluralistic democracy now, it was the accepted mode of governance for a very long time. I would suggest to you that the British Empire did more for the spread of culture, education and technology than any other form of imperialism. The New Imperialism is corporate. It no longer requires the outright subjugation of the local populace. And although the global scale corporations that engage in it are identified with a certain country, think BP, Shell, Exxon, Microsoft, etc., they are not in any sense of the word citizens of any particular nation though of course they must have a corporate HQ somewhere. The Chinese are inventing a new New Imperialism, one in which intertwined corporate and governmental interests are pursued. It will be very interesting to see how this model develops. I anticipate there will be tension as government and corporate interests diverge, as they inevitably will just as it has happened here. How the tension will be resolved is anyone's guess. If history is a guide, the Chinese government will loosen the reins for at the end of the day governments seem to inevitably be controlled by whoever has its hands on the levers on money. As usual, that is what it comes down to. Material and therefore cultural progress requires labor and investment. The means by which this takes place has evolved throughout the ages. Inevitably, however, it requires the 'exploitation' of the many by the few, with increasingly larger slices of the pie going to the many as the pie itself increases. China's resources are huge, but so is its population. Whether it will be able to provide a decent living for the many is its daunting challenge for its export model requires low wages, low taxes and few social benefits. Will it be able to transition itself into a truly modern society given this demographic challenge remains to be seen. I think its initial push into a modern infrastructure is a step in the right direction. No different, really, than what took place in the US and Britain in the 19th century. Ex scientia pecuniae libertas - out of the knowledge of money arises freedom.

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (67500)	10/23/2010 11:05:42 AM
From: Chas.	Respond to of 217802

Yes agreed... absolutely. The Brits were not there on a cultural mission they were there to exploit the country, same as China is today... Chas

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (67500)	10/24/2010 5:45:59 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 217802

60's dumped VVV. Last nails on the coffin being hammered. Technology and capital spreading creates new sets of Vs. It is other countries that are taking social networks: Orkut, Twitter... Those peoples embracing new technologies and new ways of interacting are doing that because they do not have the old Vs. It is all about technology taken by the youth. The youth of the 60's took FM radio, Drive in movies and cheap home appliances that created the effects that propelled the social revolution of the 60s that dumped the VVVs.