Fareed Zakaria said: It is the big, contentious democracies, Britain and the US, that have prevailed in the world, not Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union. No organization has ever benefited from being able to be the sole judge of its own performance. Ruchir Sharma at Morgan Stanley said:
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: The Department of Defense cost overruns on one weapons system are more than the total defense budget of Britain and France put together. The US spends more on defense than the next 8 nations put together including China and Russia. Since 9/11 America has been
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: All through history, humans have advanced when they have been able to work together. Matt Ridley said human progress took off when human beings began exchanging things, ideas, skills, goods, services. Teamwork is the most crucial skill and yet education is mostly about solo performances.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: Russia is a great power in decline accounting for only 3.4% of global GDP versus China’s near 16% and almost 4 x Japan’s and 5 x Germany’s. China’s very different approach to foreign policy constitutes the most significant and dangerous shift in international politics
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Zhu Haibin at JPMorgan Chase said the lack of good unemployment data is the main reason why China still focuses so much on GDP, and since China is more concerned about employment and inflation, it refrains from big stimulus. Zhu said China’s current registered unemployment rate is
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: Obama’s Syria policy is destined for failure and almost certain to produce chaos and unintended consequences. Joshua Landis at Syria Comment estimates that non-jihadi groups collectively control only about 5% of Syria. The underlying reason for the violence in Iraq and Syria is a Sunni
READ MORE... →Fareed Zakaria said: Over time, countries that grow economically tend to become more democratic, excepting oil-rich states that are run by dictators. China will not become a Western-style liberal democracy, but should consider Singapore’s example. Minxin Pei wrote in 2006 that China had had virtually no move toward political openness
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Christine Lagarde at the IMF said: The global economic outlook is less positive than in April but is still in recovery, and improved from a year ago. IMF growth forecasts for Hong Kong have not changed. The financial crisis left more major scars and legacies that the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mark Wiseman et al at Goldman Sachs said: LNG projects in Africa, Canada and Australia face delays or cancellations as global demand slows, US output increases, nuclear reactors restart in Japan, China’s success in shale-gas E&P, and economic conditions in ASEAN. Global demand will compound at 5%
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gareth Leather and John Higgins at Capital Economics said: If the protests in Hong Kong continue, its tourism and retail industries, some 10% percent of its GDP, would be hit hard, and Hong Kong could easily be pushed into recession. If Hong Kong’s status as an international
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