US — pressrun.net

Saturday, January 30, 2010 By Abhijit

Should we follow US? State capitalism works: Tony Tan

Asian banks have a "once in a lifetime" opportunity of taking a bigger share of the global banking market and perhaps even overtake some of the big Western banks, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) deputy chairman Tony Tan tells the Financial Times at the World Economic Forum in Davos. (The Financial Times wrongly calls him chairman: that position is held by Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.)

You can see him being interviewed by Gillian Tett of the Financial Times here.

Here are some excerpts from the interview (here in full):

“For the GIC, we see no lack of opportunities in the developing world,” he said.

“I think Asian countries will now look again at whether we want to be (following the US),” he said, pointing out that even in the US there was a rethink of laisser faire economics. “State capitalism, interference by the state, has served (some countries) well,” he said.

Filed Under: Singapore, World Today Tagged With: asia, asian, banks, davos, GIC, golden age, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, singapore press holdings, sph, state capitalism, straits times, tony tan, treasury bills, US, world economic forum

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 By Abhijit

Grin and bear it — for a long time

In the current recession, here's a sunny classic that's depression-proof: Dean Martin singing King of the Road, written by Roger Miller and a hit for him in 1965. One needs such tonics with the US headed into its worst recession since 1982, according to the Financial Times, and sagging Asian economies not very likely to get any lift from China.The Economist says:

According to the Asian Development Bank, 60 percent of Asia’s exports (not including Japan’s) still go to America, the European Union and Japan. A decline of one percentage point in America’s growth rate, the bank calculates, knocks 0.3 percentage points off Asia’s. That may be optimistic.

This could be the Big Bear, which prowls into the market maybe once in a generation and hangs around for a long time, says the Economist's Buttonwood column:

It is beginning to look as if we are in the middle of another of those great phases, what commentators call a secular, as opposed to a cyclical, bear market. Broadly speaking, the 20th century can be divided into six phases; bear markets from 1901-21, 1929-49 and 1965-82 and bull runs from 1921-29, 1949-65 and 1982-2000.

Filed Under: Music, World Today Tagged With: bear, dean martin, economist, king of the road, recession asia, US

Thursday, October 2, 2008 By Abhijit

Indo-US deal despite 13 Democrat ‘no’ votes

Hurrah! The US Senate has approved the Indo-US nuclear deal, which now only has to be signed by its architect, President George Bush. All three senators in the presidential race — Republican John McCain, Democrat Barack Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden — voted for the deal.

It only goes to show America does not forget its friends that the agreement was passed just before the Senate took up the much more pressing issue of the US economy and voted for a revised $700 billion bailout plan.

The Indo-US agreement was supported by 86 of the 100 US senators. All the 13 senators who voted against the agreement are Democrats, including Tom Harkin, from Iowa. He was rumoured to have been vetted by Omaha, who eventually picked Biden as his running mate. Senator Edward Kennedy, undergoing treatment for cancer, did not vote.

The New York Times has the full roll call showing how each senator voted.

Why deal important

Though Indian nationalists and communists opposed the agreement saying it was a sellout to the US, India should be happy that President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh succeeded in reaching the agreement. The BBC explains its significance:

Filed Under: World Today Tagged With: energy, india, nuclear, US

Monday, July 23, 2007 By Abhijit

Keeping the communists happy

Pratibha Patil was elected India’s first woman president by the legislators (ordinary citizens don’t get to vote). But she wasn’t the first choice of the ruling Congress party.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi chose the 72-year-old political veteran only after the leftists (read:
communists) objected to other candidates, said the BBC.

The Congress government can’t ignore the communists.

It’s somewhat like the US relationship with China. Their
economies have become so interdependent neither can ignore the other. From
Apple to Boeing, almost every US multinational uses components made in China.
And both countries gain. China is booming, using some of the dollars earned to buy
US Treasury bonds, while US consumers benefit from the low prices of Chinese
goods.

A similar relationship has sprung up between the Congress
party and the communists. They may jockey for power in some of the Indian states,
just as the US and China have their differences, notably over Taiwan. But they have common interests. The Congress
party has a socialist heritage and under Indira Gandhi was close to the
Soviets.

Now Congress heads a coalition government in Delhi. It could
not form a government on its own, having won only 145 seats in the last general
election in 2004. The Lok Sabha, or the Indian House of Representatives, has
545 seats. The traditionally pro-Beijing Marxists, who won 43 seats, and the
pro-Russian Communist Party of India, which won 10, did not join the coalition
government but support the Congress. They can’t support the nationalist
right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, which won 138 seats.

Congress naturally has to keep its allies happy. And that includes
the communists, who have gained influence disproportionate to their power.

The
communists are strong in only three of the 28 Indian states: Kerala, Tripura
and West Bengal. Yet they have their say on every major issue from education to
the choice of a president.

Congress, of course, has to consult even smaller fry –
regional parties and the like. And it
did not lose anything by choosing Patil as president. After all, she
is a Congress party member and a friend of the Gandhis. Still, if she got the job because the communists
objected to other Congress candidates, then it was no different from the tail wagging the dog.

Filed Under: World Today Tagged With: china, india, pratibha patil, US

Wednesday, December 6, 2006 By Abhijit

Singaporeans almost as rich as Americans and Japanese

The US, Britain and Japan are three of the world’s richest countries. The US has a per capita wealth of $143,727, according to a United Nations survey based on data from the year 2000. But Singapore is not far behind with a personal per capita wealth of $113,631. In fact, Singapore ranked sixth among the 18 countries for which complete houshold balance sheets were available, right behind the Netherlands (fourth) with a per capita wealth of at $120,086 and Italy (fifth) with $119,704.

In comparison, Australia has a per capita wealth of $90,906, Canada, $89,252, China $11,267, Taiwan $100,009, Denmark $66,191, Finland $38,754, France $93,729, Germany $89,871, India $6,513, Indonesia $7,973, New Zealand $55,823, Poland $24,654, South Africa $16,266, Spain $92,253, Portugal $53,357 and the Czech Republic 32,431. (Not all these countries’ complete houshold balance sheets were available.)

There is greater concentration of wealth in the US, home to 37 per cent of the world’s richest individuals, than in Japan, which accounts for 27 per cent. I did not come across corresponding figures for Singapore. Still, the survey makes interesting reading.

According to the survey, the world’s richest 2 per cent of the adults own more than half of all household wealth. Anyone who wants to see the complete survey can download the PDF file from the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research website.

Filed Under: Singapore, World Today Tagged With: britain, japan, singapore, United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research, US, USA, wealth

Monday, July 4, 2005 By Abhijit