

It’s Morning in India - jesseendahl
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/opinion/31friedman.html?src=me&ref=general

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gamble
One of the great American foreign policy mistakes for the last fifty years has
been the decision to keep India at arms length, while embracing Pakistan and
China. It goes back to Cold War politics - India was suspiciously socialist
and non-aligned, whereas Pakistan and China were willing to act as bulwarks
against Soviet Communism. However, the West has far more in common culturally
and economically with India than it ever will with Pakistan or China.

In strictly utilitarian terms, a strong India is far more to our advantage
than an empowered China. Pakistan is a crucible for radical Islam and a haven
for terrorism, while China is chronically autarchic and mercantilist. I fear
that neither is ever likely to integrate well with the existing group of
first-world nations. So far, India appears much more compatible.

Fortunately, it seems like attitudes have been changing in recent years.
Liberalization and outsourcing (not without its own problems, obviously) have
opened India to the west, while people are starting to realize the
westernization of China and Pakistan isn't as inevitable as was once claimed.

~~~
kranner
Don't discount that Pakistan and India have much more in common than is
obvious to someone not from the subcontinent.

~~~
nirajr
As an Indian, I can tell you some fundamental differences between India and
Pakistan:

\- India is usually very open to debate, on just about anything. \-
Radicalism, though exists in India in pockets and in different forms, is not a
chronic national disease. \- People understand the language of development now
(to a large extent) \- Knowledge and Education is very deeply valued. Its a
part of how most Indians think. \- Corruption is rampant, but media is
becoming extremely vigilant. We have a Right to Information, which has been
used to great effect recently to curb corruption and malpractices. \- Lastly,
we are a democracy in the true sense of the work. 80% of Indians are proud of
it.

We are chaotic and corrupt and crippled with hundreds of problems, but at the
same time, we're enterprising, hard-working, mostly ambitious, and mostly
open-minded.

~~~
kranner
I'm Indian too (with ex-Pak immigrant parentage), and I can't say most of
those things, except for the recent innovation of the Right to Information
Act, are all that different here than in Pakistan.

Perhaps we shouldn't argue over what we cannot quantify.

~~~
nirajr
Precisely why I'll not debate this any further :)

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FraaJad
This sounds like a press piece by NASSCOM and Indian IT majors.

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okjnboikjnb
At the moment Indians are cheap labor for US consumers, at some point Indian
consumers become the market and the US becomes irrelevent.

Riduculous of course - just like the idea that those Japanese could ever make
cars as good as Americans, or motorbikes as good as the British or cameras as
good as the Germans.

~~~
jrockway
The US outsources to India because it's cheap. We get 4 support people in
India for the price of one in the US.

When India is really up to the standards of the US, it's not going to be cheap
anymore.

~~~
FraaJad
Actually, IT labour is not cheap in India. It is quite common for IT workers
to expect 15% minimum yearly increase in salaries and not less than 30% hike
in salaries when switching jobs.

The Rupee-Dollar arbitrage is the biggest advantage Indian IT companies are
enjoying right now.

~~~
jrockway
No, it's still very cheap. People in the US aim for 30% when switching jobs.

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flacon
As an American that has spent time in India, I can say that India will be a
next major economic world power. Democracy + creativity + entrepreneurship +
skilled work force + Indian optimism + excellent English skills = huge
potential as a major economic driver in the world economy. China IMO lacks
Democracy and creativity (to some extent, why are all the major Tech startup
in China simply knock-offs of US companies? Baidu, Youku which are willing to
comply with their Gov demands).

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pilom
The best quotation from this:

"The U.S. seems sadly unprepared to take advantage of the revolution it has
spawned. The country’s worn-out infrastructure, failing education system and
lack of political consensus have prevented it from riding a new wave to
prosperity."

~~~
groaner
Ironic that this commentary should come from India, which is improving despite
the country's worn-out infrastructure, failing education system, and lack of
political consensus.

~~~
FraaJad
The difference is, India is clawing it's way out of those conditions. We can
only go up.

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known
98% revenue for Indian IT companies comes through selling _consulting_ to US
customers.

Selling software != Selling consulting

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kilomanamolik
why do people link to these? I'm always asked to login and I don't have the
patience to do so..

~~~
noahth
why do people link to these? Friedman is a cheesy, uninsightful, mostly bogus
commentator.

~~~
miked
New York State law requires that one out of every five Thomas Friedman columns
make some sense. This one bags his quota for the month.

~~~
gruseom
Not so fast. The very first sentence is wrong:

 _the French government's decision to raise its pension retirement age from 60
to 62_

That's the _early_ retirement age they're raising, to the same 62 as the US
has. The _normal_ retirement age is being raised from 65 to 67, 1 year later
than the US at 66. Oopsies.

[http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/more-
comm...](http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/more-
communications-problems-at-the-washington-post), confirmed here:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement>

Despite it all, I enjoy reading Friedman. Even though his job description is
apparently "be professionally wrong about everything for the _New York Times_
", there's something cozy and comfy about his writing. His _tone_ communicates
that the world makes sense and the moustache will explain it to you. What's
interesting is how nice it makes one feel, even when one knows the probability
of any sentence being bullshit approaches 1.

Edit: Friedman also has the merit of inspiring the greatest smackdown review
of our time. There aren't nearly enough laughs of this calibre in this world:

<http://www.nypress.com/article-11419-flathead.html>

~~~
ljegou
I agree, but the first part of the first sentence is very very true. As a
french university employee, i can confirm :/

~~~
gruseom
So there we have it: part of one sentence is true. It was known to be
theoretically possible, of course. :)

Actually, Friedman gets a bit of a bum rap because he's so fun to make fun of.
As long as you ignore all the (pseudo-)facts, some of his insights are pretty
good.

Edit: It is interesting to consider how some of this stuff makes it past
editors at a leading world newspaper, though. If people like us can google
these things in our limited spare time, what the hell are they doing?

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known
China prospered without India's dummy democracy and casteism. Indians are
brainwashed to believe that (casting a vote in elections == democracy) and a
solution to all problems.

