She's A BRIC... House!

mexico's got tons of bricks

I can't underestimate america's capacity to shoot itself in the ass

Wait that oughta be "overestimate". Aaa my ass!

"However, I would argue that India is only at stage 1 of stepping forward.  True, there's only a small portion of the population benefiting from the shift in software technology industries to the region.  But that shift is only beginning.  Wait a little while, and we may see bigger development from increasing offshoring."

I say that with the political unstability, there is not a very good chance software companies will continue to invest in india. Sure right now they are blind and they cant see the vast problems. But say a group of freedom fighters wh oare fighting against india explode a series of bombs in the software hubs, the software companies will flee like rats.

I think that in the future, Western countries will start to become closer and more politically and economically unified, even the US, before one of the BRIC countries pose a serious challenge. I include the US because the Evangelical right is finished. Atheism/Agnosticism is also on the rise in the US, having more than doubled in the past 15 years. If a right has any hope for success in the future, it will have to have moderate views on social issues and be focused on the free-market. The only question is Aussie, you never know where their loyalties lie. One day it could be to the West and another day to Asia.

But still, with or without Aussie, a Western political unit would be down right invincible. The US is less than half the GDP of the West.

By the grace of the United States politicians Aussies maintain a semi "independant" country.

But is it agreed that the BRIC countries dont really pose a threat? I would have to admit china looks like it is a lot better economically than india. But still, I havent been there and seen the situation.

How does a country get developed when the poor keep getting poorer along with massive inflation while the rich keep getting richer and consuming more and more? There is no such thing as equality in india. People want to make sure there is a huge supply of poor people to do their everyday chores such as washing the dishes and driving them around in auto rickshaws. Sure this might have been the case in western coutnries before they were developed but the society itself here is to blame. Most people who are doing a business never pay any taxes. Taxes are collected from people who actually have a job and not a corner store. So you can see how some people are burdened with taxes and some people get a free ride. But everyone suffers with the lack of facilities. So why pay taxes at all if most people are not held accountable?

In my eyes, because of this wretched society, this country will never pose a threat to the rest of the world.

Another idiotic move by the bush administration was to give india nuclear technology to improve relations. Indians are scared shitless of the massive neighbor next door (China). And the government is basically spineless and does whatever the chinese ask of them.

> Chris_Balsz wrote:

> Without australia where would the commonwealth get its testosterone?

US is gonna kill growth and production and print money like it don't matter. So we won't count for a hundred years again>

The US will be part of the second Roman Empire by then. haha

China is very explosive especially in some regions. Also notice how a lot of the new economy needs a certain level of freedom which constantly conflicts with the current regime. How can anyone possibly predict what china will look like in 10 years? Same goes for other countries. Impossible to predict how it will end up.

I think oil/coil and other energy resources will play a major role in world economics whatever happens.

Australia is a Western country best positioned to benefit from the rise of Asia. For years, this country has been relegated to backwater status due to its vast distance from Europe where the concentration of power and wealth was and later on North America. Australia is finally going to be near the centre of it all and will prosper -hugely- in fact it already has. While the rest of the West had contracting economies even with stimulus packages put in place, Australia's actually grew if only slightly by no mere coincidence.

Thanks to increasing globalisation there isn't really a strong rational incentive for large-scale war between prominent nations (nutcase dictators or religious fanatics excepted). If China were to spend the $$ and political capital to wage war and magically take over Australia what would it do then? It would still have to develop the mines, maintain and upkeep public infrastructure, pay and feed the workers, squash the inevitable uprisings which would ensue, try and keep a newly conquered province running...etc. Or it could just continue to pay somewhat cheap iron ore prices like it's been doing so far and hope that their finished consumer goods exports to us can match or exceed the value of the resources they import. It isn't exactly a hard choice.

> wage war and magically take over Australia what would it do then?

China has a peaceful rise policy. They'll own Australia before anyone knows it.

Australa is not closer to China than Europe

http://www19.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Distance+prague+china
http://www19.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Distance+china+australia

i don't necessarily mean that Australia is in immediate threat from Chinese invasion, but China is a competitor in the region and some of Australia's competitive advantage in the relationship are diminished who Chinese influences rise. For instance, greater ownership of Australian mining assets by china means that Chinese mineral users can have more influence on brining down the contract price of minerals. Lower prices means lower profits for Australian businesses and therefore less jobs.

As for immediate geography, Asia is a huge opportunity for Australia, but much of that opportunity is centred on the mainland. Between China/Japan and Australia are countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. Australian/Indonesian relations are OK but there is still a strong element within the Indonesian population that is Anti-western and often even specifically anti-Australian, especially when the Australian public is vocal on Indonesian human rights abused in West Papua.

Malaysia is even more problematic. I know in the past Australia has had less than sensitive leaders, but Malaysia has had national leaders that have openly expressed hatred and mistrust for Australia, and they, like Indonesia, lie directly on the shipping lanes between Australia and China/Japan. Plus they are pretty protectionist when in comes to their industry.

Australia's others interest is to maintain order and stability on the Pacific Islands, which is not an easy job with uncooperative nutters being in charge of Fiji and general rampant corruption. Corruption makes it easier for criminal groups finding haven in these countries, and in turn, these countries can be financially sustained by China at very little cost to themselves in exchange for refusing to acknowledge the independence of Taiwan, something chine has been doing already and something Japan has also been doing for votes to bring back commercial whaling under the international whaling commission.