Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 15 Jan 2017 22:51

Overall positive on India:
http://www.bloombergquint.com/markets/2 ... -ashburton

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 16 Jan 2017 14:30

Capitalism at work, wealth accumulates at the top and poors are left holding the bag.

India's rising income inequality: Richest 1% own 58% of total wealth

DAVOS: In signs of rising income inequality, India's richest one per cent now hold a huge 58 per cent of the country's total wealth -- higher than the global figure of about 50 per cent, a new study showed on Monday.
The study, released by rights group Oxfam ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting here attended by rich and powerful from across the world, showed that just 57 billionaires in India now have same wealth ($ 216 billion) as that of the bottom 70 per cent population of the country.

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 16 Jan 2017 15:39

^^^ yes round up the kulaks and the class enemies, long live communism!!!
Some folks are dyed in wool commies under the garb of liberals and will never change

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 16 Jan 2017 20:50

vina, please keep electioneering off this thread.

vina · Post by **vina** » 17 Jan 2017 05:43

Exhibit of the Economic Affairs Baboon "brilliance" and the CBDT Baboon's make-it-up-as-you-go rule by "fartwas" issued by "circular" . India's Crazy Tax (note , domestic guys have it worse with the Baboons).

With these kind of idiocies,India which is already a very tough and complex place to do business, becomes an IMPOSSIBLE place to do business (by which I mean a clean above board business, it is precisely for this reason the black money and flout the laws and manage the "politics" is the only one that flourished here historically). But no. Chief of Baboon troop cant fix these basic bread and butter issues , but will go on a quixotic crusade and Amazon US and hiss out threats like a low grade bollywood thug / enforcer.

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 17 Jan 2017 08:52

Demo Chickens coming home to roost?

IMF cuts India's growth rate to 6.6% due to note ban

NEW DELHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut India's growth forecast for the current fiscal by one percentage point, citing demonetisation woes. It sees India ceding the tag of the world's fastest growing major economy to China in FY17.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... aign=cppst

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 17 Jan 2017 10:26

Chickens are also associated with another parable about hatching and counting.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 17 Jan 2017 12:57

A decade of crony capitalism by the Congress has been mainly responsible for this astonishing figure.Snake-Oil Singh will ever be remembered as the chowkidar who slept with his eyes wide open,allowing every possible and impossible act of brigandry by robber barons both desi and firang,to have been used in the grand theft of India's wealth under Congress/UPA rule. Rapacious bandicoots like Kalmadi still dare to raise their head despite disgrace wanting to hold onto their Olympic posts!

Nevertheless,the NDA has its work cut out too and greater transparency in govt. working should happen.We need less bureaucracy but little is changing in the corridors of babudom.Unless the GOI is ruthless with babudom and its set ways,the cancer of corruption will only spread despite the chaemo dose of demonitisation. With the banks now having swallowed up all our money and we are drip-fed of just 24K/week,how is the economy going to survive? Bankers are too busy trying to dole out cash to the populace to do anything more meaningful .Where is the new policy on loans for small and med. entrepreneurs and industries? These which make up the bulk of the population and keep the wheels of the economy spinning,are in dire straits. AS usual the poor will get scr*wed,while the obscenely rich 1% who own 58% of India's wealth,will keep laughing all the way to the banks ...yet again!

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 17 Jan 2017 19:39

A bit of a counter-view:
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/01/ox ... m-poverty/
"What Oxfam won’t tell you about capitalism and poverty"

The statistical trick is to look at net wealth, not gross wealth. So China has no people in the poorest 10pc but America has lots – why? Because Americans take on a lot more debt. As Felix Salmon points out, Oxfam is asking us to believe that a Harvard law student is poorer – far, far poorer – than a penniless Chinese peasant. An Oxfam intern would have more wealth than the poorest 200 million people.

Ben Southwood of the Adam Smith Institute makes the following observation:
Oxfam is once again misleading everyone with its punchy wealth inequality stats By Oxfam’s measures, the poorest people in the world are recent Harvard graduates with student debt piles. The bottom 2bn don’t have zero wealth, but rather about $500bn of negative wealth. The poorest person in the world is richer than the next 30pc put together. Having negative wealth may actually be a sign of prosperity, since only people with prospects can secure loans. But there is a bigger issue with the narrative: more meaningful measures show greater equality. Those in the middle and bottom of the world income distribution have all got pay rises of around 40% between 1988-2008. Global inequality of life expectancy and height are narrowing too – showing better nutrition and better healthcare where it matters most. What we should care about is the welfare of the poor, not the wealth of the rich.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 18 Jan 2017 10:57

ILO (International Labor Organization) report:
(PDF file) http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public ... 541211.pdf

{In Asia} Southern Asia has created most of the new employment, with employment expanding by 13.4 million in 2016, underpinned by population-driven labour force growth. The majority of this new employment was created in India.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 19 Jan 2017 10:08

Unrelated specifically to India, but ............

What if the state provided everyone with a basic income?

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 19 Jan 2017 10:17

This basic income rubbish is already around in India for the last two-three months.

Yesterday I was invited as an invitee to attend a meeting of top bankers in which it was said that there is no market/demand for steel in India. If this is true then there is something seriously wrong.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 19 Jan 2017 15:05

http://www.financialexpress.com/opinion ... al/513366/

Interesting views.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 20 Jan 2017 13:16

Trump has promised to revive the US economy by axing govt. approvals by "70%" ,cutting taxes too to just 15% for corporate tax,and cutting down on babudom.The GOI must in the budget also drastically cut the layers of red-tapism .which spawns corruption,which like "tapeworms" is destroying the Indian nation.Demonitisation has harmed the economy seriously.It will take years to recover. I don't know whether Jaitley is observing Trump's policies at all,but mere sops and platitudes in the budget will prove disastrous for both the country and the party.

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 22 Jan 2017 15:06

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/arti ... tleground/
Walmart vs. Amazon: Is India the Next Battleground?
Dec 05, 2016
Amazon is on overdrive in India. Earlier this year, the world’s largest online retailer became the second-largest online marketplace in the country by shipments and gross merchandise value. (Flipkart remains number one in India.) It also announced an additional $3 billion investment, taking its total investment in India to $5 billion; it launched its popular subscription-based program Amazon Prime to drive customer loyalty; and it announced that it would be soon be introducing its Prime Video service. Recently, in October, the firm launched its “Global Store” for Indian customers enabling them to buy products sold on its U.S. website while paying in Indian currency. Prior to this, while customers from India could buy on Amazon’s U.S. website, they had to pay in dollars.
Amit Agarwal, Amazon India’s vice president and country head, says that “enhancing shopping experience” for customers is “one of the key pillars” for the company. With the Global Store, customers in India will have direct access to thousands of international brands and a starting selection of over 4 million global products. While initially the Global Store will have products from the U.S., over time, products from other key markets such as the U.K., Germany and Japan are also expected to be listed. India, which is one of the fastest growing e-tail markets around the globe, is the third country after China and Mexico to get the Amazon Global Store. This move will no doubt help Amazon compete more vigorously against Flipkart.
More importantly, perhaps, it will also help strengthen the company’s arsenal against the imminent entry of Walmart — the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer and its arch rival.
Amazon, though, is silent on Walmart’s reported entry into this segment. “We are not competition-focused, but customer-obsessed,” says Agarwal. “Our goals and our targets are only focused on our building a better experience for our customers and sellers.”
Walmart’s Entry: A Matter of Time
According to media reports, Walmart is all set to join the Indian e-tail party soon. While the company is reported to be talking to several Indian e-tailers like Snapdeal and Shopclues, the strongest buzz is around Walmart entering into a strategic alliance with Flipkart or making an investment in the company, possibly to the tune of $1 billion. While both Walmart and Flipkart refuse to comment on what they term as “speculations,” Rajneesh Kumar, senior vice president and head of corporate affairs at Walmart India, says: “E-tail is undeniably a very big change and is here to stay. Understandably, that is where the consumer is going. We believe the next five years will belong to those who commit to provide an omni-channel experience to customers.”
Walmart currently has 21 cash & carry wholesale format stores, called Best Price, across nine states in India. This number is expected to increase to 70 over the next three to five years. According to Kumar, currently all stores (which are open only to commercial and institutional customers) provide an omni-channel shopping experience to the members. “B2B e-commerce is a major driver of growth for us in India,” says Kumar. He adds: “For us, India is a long-term commitment. It is a growing economy and hence an important market. We continue to look at all opportunities and keep scanning the business environment on how we can serve our business members better.”
Industry observers and experts believe that it is only a matter of time before Walmart makes a foray into online retail in India through some kind of an investment or partnership with a leading Indian e-tailer. Kartik Hosanagar, Wharton’s professor of operations, information and decisions, whose research focuses on the digital economy, in particular Internet media, Internet marketing and e-commerce, notes: “Walmart has been interested in India for quite some time now. They explored a partnership with Bharti but that fell through. [In 2007, Walmart had entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Bharti Enterprises. The partnership broke off in 2013.] Internet companies that are more used to a different pace and greater transparency are a better partner for Walmart.”
Hosanagar believes that Walmart’s India strategy will borrow heavily from its China experience: It will “partner with local companies that have better local knowledge.” He points out that in China, Walmart started with a small investment in Yihaodian. Later, it purchased Yihaodian in its entirety. And more recently, it has partnered with JD.com, including selling Yihaodian to JD.com. “This way, it has partnered with China’s second largest e-commerce company to take on Alibaba (the e-commerce leader in China). This also allows Walmart to focus on its offline stores and simply set up an online store on JD.com.”
Hosanagar also points to Walmart’s recent acquisition of Jet.com in the U.S. for $3.3 billion. He notes that even though Jet.com is unproven, Walmart was willing to pay a considerable amount because “it finally found a proven [individual, Jet.com co-founder] Marc Lore, who is willing and capable of taking on Amazon.com.” A partnership with a player like Flipkart will seek to do the same in India, says Hosanagar. “Think of it as an alliance of the ‘Amazon-worrieds.’”
Ankur Bisen, senior vice president for retail at Technopak Advisors, considers Walmart’s reported moves in India to be in line with its global strategy. He says: “With the acquisition of Jet.com in the U.S., Walmart has put e-commerce at the heart of its growth strategy. It wants to protect its status as a dominant global retailer and recognizes the need to align with the rapidly changing world of retail. It also signals that it will not shy away from either building this capability in-house or pursuing acquisition opportunities, or both.” In India, Bisen notes, Walmart has organically built a cash & carry business that has “grown reasonably well” and has also started piloting “multi-channel options” in this business. Says Bisen: “This is in line with Walmart’s global approach of re-modeling brick businesses into multi-channel businesses.”
.....

Gautam

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 26 Jan 2017 09:01

http://www.bloombergquint.com/business/ ... p-in-india
Apple Sets Its Own Terms To Set Up Shop In India
Krishanu Mukherji
January 25, 2017, 9:09 am
Cupertino-based Apple Inc. told the Indian government on Wednesday that it was ready to manufacture iPhones in the country, but on the condition that it gets waivers including a customs duty concession on import of components, people privy to the discussions told BloombergQuint on the condition of anonymity.
Senior executives from Apple, including Global Vice-President Priya Balasubramaniam, met officials from the ministries of commerce, information technology, and finance, where they presented a detailed roadmap on the company’s plan to set up a manufacturing unit in India. The government is yet to take any decision on the matter, said the same people quoted above, adding that the company's proposal would be examined by concerned government departments, including the department of revenue, which is the nodal body for any duty waivers.
Apple has shown its intent to move some units out of China citing the rising cost of production in that country, and has narrowed down on India as its destination of choice thus far.
India is also the fastest growing market for Apple, and given the relatively low cost of labour and production, it fits the bill for the company to set up operations in the count.
....

Gautam

Bheeshma · Post by **Bheeshma** » 26 Jan 2017 10:39

Apple has no market in India and I hope GoI tells them to ****** off. They can help Trump by bringing back jobs to US.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 26 Jan 2017 11:06

Apple is welcome to set up and work within an SEZ where they can avail of all available customs and duty holidays. All transactions into the SEZ are deemed exports out of India, and out of the SEZ into the country as imports into India. Plus they get IT waiver for upto 15 years, plus customs waiver. They don't get any of these waivers for production for the domestic market, though.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 26 Jan 2017 11:43

All Apple's manufacturing in the country ends up being is a screw driver turning operation.

The technical part of manufacturing which are the chips are all coming from overseas.

Bheeshma · Post by **Bheeshma** » 26 Jan 2017 11:45

Exactly why they can be told to STFU and get lost.

shyam · Post by **shyam** » 26 Jan 2017 11:56

Bheeshma wrote:Apple has no market in India and I hope GoI tells them to ****** off. They can help Trump by bringing back jobs to US.

If they want access to Indian market, follow GoI terms. May be GoI should follow Trump and slap significant duty to imported items.

schinnas · Post by **schinnas** » 26 Jan 2017 12:39

Modi sankar is courting UAE heavily for infrastructure investments in India. Given that most labor and white collar management in UAE infra companies are anyways Indian expats, (say unlike Chinese infra companies), this is good for India and a win win for both countries.

Saudi also has a huge sovereign fund, but it's better to get investments from UAE and Singapore given the role of Saudis in promoting fundamentalism in India. UAE is much more progressive that way and serves as a positive role model to other Gulf countries.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 26 Jan 2017 12:56

schinnas wrote:Modi sankar is courting UAE heavily for infrastructure investments in India. Given that most labor and white collar management in UAE infra companies are anyways Indian expats, (say unlike Chinese infra companies), this is good for India and a win win for both countries.

Saudi also has a huge sovereign fund, but it's better to get investments from UAE and Singapore given the role of Saudis in promoting fundamentalism in India. UAE is much more progressive that way and serves as a positive role model to other Gulf countries.

saudi/UAE

like choosing which knife you want to be stabbed with

both are going to fund fundamentalism anyway.

schinnas · Post by **schinnas** » 26 Jan 2017 13:02

Facts would be nice to have along with such strong views!

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Jan 2017 16:10

Well, UAE was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan during the 1990s, as far as I remember. Saudi and Pakistan were the other two.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Jan 2017 16:16

The Modi government has been lobbying global agencies to lift India's sovereign rating from the lowest investment grade, citing the introduction of simpler tax and bankruptcy laws, easing inflation and a pledge to narrow Asia's widest budget deficit.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... aign=cppst

schinnas · Post by **schinnas** » 26 Jan 2017 19:50

A_Gupta wrote:Well, UAE was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan during the 1990s, as far as I remember. Saudi and Pakistan were the other two.

That is part of geo politics....for example, Russia is now supporting Taliban and is OK with a Taliban administration in Afghanistan now. Of all the key Gulf Sunni dictatorships now, UAE seems to be the most liberal and progressive. Much better than Bahrain and Saudi. We have to choose the best of the lot. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by painting everyone with the same brush and expecting India to thrive in isolation.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Jan 2017 21:08

schinnas wrote:
A_Gupta wrote:Well, UAE was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan during the 1990s, as far as I remember. Saudi and Pakistan were the other two.
That is part of geo politics....for example, Russia is now supporting Taliban and is OK with a Taliban administration in Afghanistan now. Of all the key Gulf Sunni dictatorships now, UAE seems to be the most liberal and progressive. Much better than Bahrain and Saudi. We have to choose the best of the lot. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by painting everyone with the same brush and expecting India to thrive in isolation.

I wasn't pronouncing on whether India ought to partner with UAE or not. I was responding to the comment "Facts would be nice to have along with such strong views!", and my point is that facts are available. Bahrain didn't recognize the Taliban, for instance, and actually participated in the US coalition to overthrow the Taliban after 9/11.

If Russia backs the Taliban, it risks its relations with India, and in the long run Russia loses more than India; Russia is in an alliance of convenience with Iran in Syria, but will piss Iran off if it backs the Taliban and so on, but that is a subject for different thread.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 27 Jan 2017 01:55

I disagree with the 'they're doing "screwdriver work". no need!' line of thinking. Long back we missed the E/SE Asian manufacturing bus when Nehru turned his nose at low level grunt work they were rapidly taking up, disparagingly calling it grunt work the same way. Such elitist thinking is uncalled for.

Economic activity is economic activity. Even if arguably turning a screwdriver, they're doing organized work that's paid, and follows the labor laws of the land, i.e. minimum wage and benefits. Further, the process of setting up and operating and SEZ on a daily basis employs thousands of people at minimum.

Similarly, I have no problem with the Gulf oil sheiks investing in India. There are two different dynamics here. When we have to buy their oil, we have really no cards to play against them, short of threatening to buy from another supplier. That other supplier may be part of OPEC and may simply see it as a chance to screw us while we cut our own nose to spite our face.

However, when it comes to fixed asset investments in India, it's a completely different power dynamic. The assets are nailed to the ground in India. Unlike stock being sold at the click of a button, they can't ship out fixed assets, either at all, or without tremendous cost, time and litigation involved. When they park their money in fixed assets in India, we have power over them in a manner that an oil transaction doesn't remotely give us. That's the case with FDI in general.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 27 Jan 2017 03:43

I have never understood why there is so much disdain for 'screwdriver-weilders' on BRF.

A 'screwdriver-weilder', who is most likely a matriculate, holds a steady job, supports a family including old parents. His children go to school instead of being out working at age 12. He does not have time to riot, steal, or do 'goonda-gardi'.

Even if he adds only a few percent of value to the finished product, that is Indian money being spent in India, supporting Indian families. Would you guys rather have that Indian money support families in China, Russia, US, or Europe?

And, given that Indians are clever and hardworking by nature, 'screwdriver-wielders' graduate over time to being welders, painters, machinists, foremen, and sometimes even factory owners.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 27 Jan 2017 03:57

There are tons of people graduating out of polytechnics that would be a good fit or 'screw driver turning' jobs in organized labor. Been to a few ITI in rural TN that is jampacked full of students who don't fit into the engg/medical route - but still want education and organized labor job

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 27 Jan 2017 04:08

I think NaMo/ Parrikar understand the need, and want MII in the first phase to turn millions of unemployed youth into 'screwdriver-weilders'. Move up the value chain will come over time. We have 50 years of catching up to do in terms of industrial employment.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 27 Jan 2017 04:09

Kakkaji wrote:I have never understood why there is so much disdain for 'screwdriver-weilders' on BRF.

A 'screwdriver-weilder', who is most likely a matriculate, holds a steady job, supports a family including old parents. His children go to school instead of being out working at age 12. He does not have time to riot, steal, or do 'goonda-gardi'.

Even if he adds only a few percent of value to the finished product, that is Indian money being spent in India, supporting Indian families. Would you guys rather have that Indian money support families in China, Russia, US, or Europe?

And, given that Indians are clever and hardworking by nature, 'screwdriver-wielders' graduate over time to being welders, painters, machinists, foremen, and sometimes even factory owners.

The worry for some people is about falling into the middle income trap. Screw driver giri is fine as long as the IP is with Indians and the product is Indian. The multinationals will only be too keen to move on to the next cheapest country once Indian wages rise. I guess it is too early for us to worry about middle income trap or screw driver giri, but we should be making plans to rise up the value chain and stop exporting Indian designed and developed products. At least, Indian companies should be competitive in our market in the medium term.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 27 Jan 2017 04:33

Way too early to worry about the middle income trap. I think India would need to quadruple its GDP to enter that stage, and at a steady 8% growth per year, that is 18 years away, half the career of a screwdriver-wielder.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 27 Jan 2017 05:19

The {Oxfam} study said there are 84 billionaires in India, with a collective wealth of USD 248 billion, led by Mukesh Ambani (USD 19.3 billion), Dilip Shanghvi (USD 16.7 billion) and Azim Premji (USD 15 billion). The total Indian wealth in the country stood at USD 3.1 trillion.Jan 16, 2017

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Econom ... 044486.ece

Since India's GDP is around USD 2.5 trillion, that would make India's GDP/wealth ratio about 0.8.

In contrast, US GDP is around USD 19 trillion and wealth is USD 88 trillion for a GDP/wealth ratio of about 0.22.

China's GDP around USD 11 trillion and wealth around USD 23 trillion for a GDP/wealth ratio of about 0.48.

If wealth is primarily the value of productive assets, then aren't Indian assets undervalued? If wealth is primarily non-productive assets, then of what practical value are they? I mean, imagine the statement "India is not wealthy primarily due to a lack of non-productive assets".

=--------
PS, further puzzle: India's stock market value is roughly equal to one year of India's GDP (USD 2.5 trillion). Indians are said to hold collectively 20,000 tons of gold, which at USD 35million a ton amounts to USD 700 billion. So these two things alone give assets of $3.2 trillion. What about real estate, and the value of businesses in the unorganized sector?

You see why it is important? The rhetoric is that India's development is very uneven, the billionaires have $248 billion of India's $3100 billion wealth. But if India's wealth is much more than $3100 billion, then the force of the argument begins to diminish.

E.g., somewhere I've read the head of Oxfam India saying India should give up its obsession with GDP growth and concentrate more on equality.

BTW, the estimate of Indian wealth (and all other countries' wealth) used in the Oxfam report is, as far as I can tell, Credit Suisse.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 27 Jan 2017 06:21

A_Gupta wrote:Way too early to worry about the middle income trap. I think India would need to quadruple its GDP to enter that stage, and at a steady 8% growth per year, that is 18 years away, half the career of a screwdriver-wielder.

I feel it is a legitimate concern. 18 years is a short time to produce globally competitive products. China is at that stage, but it is by and large not globally competitive. It still depends heavily on exports of trinkets or raw material like steel that too probably selling below cost. Can our companies be competitive at least within India in 20 years?

Anyway I don't see third world countries catching up with the developed countries in per capita income. I see incomes in developed countries reducing to third world levels. That does not necessarily mean reduced standard of living. Its just that the world will reach a some what uniform per capita income and uniform standard of living at some point in the future.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 27 Jan 2017 06:32

^^^ 18 years is currently a wildly optimistic scenario. Let India produce 8% growth consistently for 5 years first.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 27 Jan 2017 06:33

A_Gupta wrote:Way too early to worry about the middle income trap. I think India would need to quadruple its GDP to enter that stage, and at a steady 8% growth per year, that is 18 years away, half the career of a screwdriver-wielder.

Exactly. Like someone in Dharavi worrying about how to organize the 60" flatscreen in his living room in future. Let's worry about getting over the 'low income with lots of new people entering the workforce' trap for now.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 27 Jan 2017 06:40

A_Gupta wrote:^^^ 18 years is currently a wildly optimistic scenario. Let India produce 8% growth consistently for 5 years first.

Even if we make it 25 yrs the point still remains. Screwdiver giri is good but we should at least graduate to catering the domestic market our selves.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 27 Jan 2017 06:46

Suraj wrote:
A_Gupta wrote:Way too early to worry about the middle income trap. I think India would need to quadruple its GDP to enter that stage, and at a steady 8% growth per year, that is 18 years away, half the career of a screwdriver-wielder.
Exactly. Like someone in Dharavi worrying about how to organize the 60" flatscreen in his living room in future. Let's worry about getting over the 'low income with lots of new people entering the workforce' trap for now.

China got over that and now laying off millions of steel and coal workers. Do we want to avoid unemployment and unrest now only to cause it later. There has to be a road map to avoid such a situation. Screwdriver giri is fine for now but there must be a plan to absorb those same people into screw driver giri from foreign companies to domestic companies.