SI
SI
discoversearch

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 : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: BGR who wrote (48622)2/24/1999 12:46:00 PM
From: Mike M2  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 132070
 
BGR, the notion of China and India developing buying power like the US middelclass has one major problem -the per capita income is not there . Mike



To: BGR who wrote (48622)2/24/1999 1:54:00 PM
From: Ramsey Su  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 132070
 
a major boom in computing use in the 2 most populous countries in the world(China and India) with a combined 500 MM middle class folks with buying power about the same as that of the US middle class adjusted for PPP.

Which China and India are you talking about?

500 mm middle class folks?? Dream on.

Ramsey



To: BGR who wrote (48622)2/25/1999 8:00:00 AM
From: Earlie  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 132070
 
BGR:

The proof will be in the pudding.
1. Broadband in what? That covers a lot of territory. If you mean on the net, I would have to say minor impact. While the net is very useful to "info hounds" as are found on SI, a large portion of the population has next to no interest in the net. They tried it and found it "boring". There is a lot of hype about the net, but it is an adjunct, not a replacement form of communicating. Incidentally, try to picture the net AFTER the market has been crushed and all those e-bananas and day traders have been swept out to sea,....it may be a much lonelier place, as they account for much of the net useage. I'm expecting to see an entire generation emerge that hates stocks and wants nothing more to do with them. (understandable once they've lost everything)

2. RDRAM is about to be seen as a DOA situation. Check out DDR. Almost as fast, addresses current PC standards, does not require massive new expenditures to produce (especially test equipment)and much better yields. There's a joke out there among the Dram producers,...."INTC,...SHOW ME THE BUYERS". They don't see it and neither do I. RDRAM is effective only in conjunction with the high performance micros. For Intel it may prove to be a billion dollar boondoggle.
3.I'm a ham. We've messed with video telephony for years. Bluntly it's boring. Talking heads.
4. Does anyone other than a marketing madman care about this?
5 See above
6. When your currency has been smashed, and your stock market has been trashed, you revert to survival thinking. Scratch most of Asia, Russia, etc as buyers of products that are not essential to survival. China is a mess that keeps getting messier. Those middle classes that you mention have been traumatized by events of the last two years. Incidentally, the deflationary wave that flattened those unfortunate people is rolling across Latin America and is heading North. Heads in sand won't stop it.

None of these items are going to do it in the near term in my opinion.

Best, Earlie