CHAN AKYA

March 12, 2010

"Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing." - Chanakya (350-275 BC)

For more on the original Chanakya, the inventor of skullduggery, click here.

Drunk in a bankrupt world

What unites Mitt Romney's pledge to save Michigan, mounting US bank losses and the World Bank's most recent corruption scandal in India with monetary tightening in China and the launch of the cheapest car in the world this week? Fool's gold, mainly.

(Jan 19, '08)

More racist than thou

The racism row involving Indian cricketers highlights the different standards of Asia with respect to the rest of the world. Simply put, race differentiation is part of the regional culture; attempts to impose Western standards would simply go against the grain of thousands of years of history. As for the game of cricket itself, what works will be determined by Indian audiences.

(Jan 11, '08)

Black swans and greedy oilmen

Two books stand out from last year's motley publications covering the subjects that matter - economics and markets. Both will in time be misused, but for now they present important learning opportunities for Asian policymakers.

(Jan 05, '08)

Storm warning for Asia

Asia's economies, already under pressure amid rising regional security risks in the form of an unsettled Pakistan and a belligerent Russia, could see their growth prospects blown away as the impact of the crippled US financial system goes global. The biggest economies may pull through eventually; the smaller ones will have a tougher time finding port.

(Jan 04, '08)

Bang for the buck

The tragic shooting of students in Virginia now occupies the media center stage, pushing other stories such as Paul Wolfowitz's continued troubles at the World Bank to the inside pages. Life imitates art, as the American mainstream media embrace Hollywood's double standards with respect to the portrayal of violence being more normal than sex.

(Apr 21, '07)

Those bubbling property markets

Archaic land-use regulations across Asia have caused significant distortions in property markets, in turn creating vicious cycles of volatility. Much as Japan lost economic growth and an entire generation of people because of its failure to address land reforms, other Asian countries that fail to learn from the experience are condemned to repeat it.

(Apr 14, '07)

Toward food FTAs

Even though the US-South Korea free trade agreement may be all about ushering in a unified Korea, authorities in both countries have clearly missed the bigger picture in terms of using the framework to capitalize on their competitive advantages. The biggest battle, over agriculture, has only just begun, and rich Asian countries simply have the wrong approach.

(Apr 12, '07)

Hollywood's Muslim villains

The controversy over the new film 300 is misplaced. Cold-hearted economic thinking underpins Hollywood's forays into multiculturalism. Heroes and villains are selected on the basis of the audience reaction they are likely to evoke, rather than any notions of historical accuracy that pedants may wish to foist upon these creative geniuses.

(Mar 24, '07)

A good use for the IMF: Bail out America

The US crisis in mortgages is spreading to the rest of the economy, threatening to take down the world's top consumers in the next 12 months. But fear not, for help is at hand from the International Monetary Fund, whose record of destroying economies in Asia and Latin America can now be put to use closer to home.

(Mar 17, '07)

Hobson's choice

Global economic growth is likely to dip in coming quarters as the US economy heads for a recession. Declining house prices have exposed the soft underbelly of the US, namely its borrowings from the rest of the world. Along with the US, most developing countries will lose out, unless they can move from production to consumption. That would require significant adjustment of currency values, starting with China - now.

(Mar 10, '07)

India 1, China 0

China made a mess of its financial-market regulation this week, even as India charged ahead, albeit with a reform-chary government acting as the proverbial millstone. Structural factors provide a distinct advantage to India as the rule of law and stronger institutions help to dull market volatility. Chinese market policies, in contrast, are reminiscent of tin-pot dictatorships.

(Mar 03, '07)

The jihadi ate my homework

And not just jihadis - Maoists in India and Nepal, Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka, and many other players exploit children who should be in school as cannon fodder for their wars and disputes, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty and violence. At the heart of the problem are government priorities that push education far down the agenda.

(Feb 24, '07)

Rich bad, poor bad

Communism fails the rich, capitalism fails the poor but Islam as an economic system appears to fail both. Failure to prepare their young for the modern world leaves Islamic countries over-dependent on the progeny of Muslims in secular democratic countries such as those in Europe. Therein lies the case for separating religion and politics across all these countries.

(Feb 17, '07)

Sun Tzu's art of investing

Following the practices set out in the ancient Art of War, the Chinese government has embarked on significant changes to its investment philosophy, the net result of which will be to provide self-sufficiency in imports, and a greater say in world affairs. Collateral damage from this could well snowball to a precipitate decline of both the US and the Middle East.

(Feb 10, '07)

Pointless pontification in Davos

The recently concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, produced more than its fair share of howlers from the assembled ranks of has-beens and wanna-bes. With financial markets proving more adept at transferring risks across a wider group of investors, policymakers simply have much less influence than they used to. Asian participants were embarrassing representatives of this status quo ante.

(Feb 02, '07)

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THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
quark
(Mar 11, '10)
How do you figure out the ROI on infrastructure? China is building infrastructure and the multiplier affect can be compared to a similar multiplier in US in the 50/60's an...
Read full post/respond
THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
MonsoonWind
(Mar 11, '10)
Chan Akya wrote: Permanent Advantage explained - did I extrapolate much? Actually no. You need to travel around Asia to see what I have seen, and enjoy what I ...
Read full post/respond
THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
Chan Akya
(Mar 11, '10)
Not at all .. but the point is that an empty 7 lane superhighway in China has a tendency to fill up over 3 years and within 5 years they are soon talking about the need fo...
Read full post/respond
THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
Michael
(Mar 11, '10)
Read full post/respond
THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
Michael
(Mar 11, '10)
so your telling me that its actually full then?
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THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
Chan Akya
(Mar 11, '10)
Michael - actually that is not true at all. The 7-lane superhighway is not a luxury when you have a city of 30 million threatening to explode to 50 million on the one end ...
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THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
Michael
(Mar 11, '10)
enjoy a 7 lane superhighway to your factor? and ROI of that highway? How does China/India avoid the infrastructure debt trap? No one needs 7 lanes to drive in. Wi...
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THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
Chan Akya
(Mar 11, '10)
Permanent Advantage explained - the main factors that augur a permanent advantage are the possibility that one side will *ALWAYS* remain better than the other .. in ot...
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THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
Michael
(Mar 11, '10)
2. Could this Asian advantage become permanent? It's possible, if not probable............... My question at this point is given the problems in Europe and the US, what...
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THREAD: Re:More Denial by CA...
DrCore
(Mar 10, '10)
Michael wrote: how do you tell if a newbie has their own axe to grind and will try and hijack a discussion and tailor it to their paticular agenda? I have my own axe...
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Drunk in a bankrupt world

More racist than thou

Black swans and greedy oilmen

Storm warning for Asia

Bang for the buck

Those bubbling property markets

Toward food FTAs

Hollywood's Muslim villains

A good use for the IMF: Bail out America

Hobson's choice

India 1, China 0

The jihadi ate my homework

Rich bad, poor bad

Sun Tzu's art of investing

Pointless pontification in Davos

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