The West and the Rest in a One-Model-Fits-All World: The Decline and Fall of Just About Everyone

[marmar]

from TomDispatch:



The West and the Rest in a One-Model-Fits-All World
The Decline and Fall of Just About Everyone

By Pepe Escobar


More than 10 years ago, before 9/11, Goldman Sachs was predicting that the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) would make the world economy’s top ten -- but not until 2040. Skip a decade and the Chinese economy already has the number two spot all to itself, Brazil is number seven, India 10, and even Russia is creeping closer. In purchasing power parity, or PPP, things look even better. There, China is in second place, India is now fourth, Russia sixth, and Brazil seventh.

No wonder Jim O’Neill, who coined the neologism BRIC and is now chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has been stressing that “the world is no longer dependent on the leadership of the U.S. and Europe.” After all, since 2007, China’s economy has grown by 45%, the American economy by less than 1% -- figures startling enough to make anyone take back their predictions. American anxiety and puzzlement reached new heights when the latest International Monetary Fund projections indicated that, at least by certain measurements, the Chinese economy would overtake the U.S. by 2016. (Until recently, Goldman Sachs was pointing towards 2050 for that first-place exchange.)

Within the next 30 years, the top five will, according to Goldman Sachs, likely be China, the U.S., India, Brazil, and Mexico. Western Europe? Bye-bye!

A System Stripped to Its Essence

Increasing numbers of experts agree that Asia is now leading the way for the world, even as it lays bare glaring gaps in the West’s narrative of civilization. Yet to talk about “the decline of the West” is a dangerous proposition. A key historical reference is Oswald Spengler’s 1918 essay with that title. Spengler, a man of his times, thought that humanity functioned through unique cultural systems, and that Western ideas would not be pertinent for, or transferable to, other regions of the planet. (Tell that howler to the young Egyptians in Tahrir Square.) ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175445/tomgram%3A_pepe_escobar%2C_will_asia_save_global_capitalism_/#more (story follows a brief intro)

[dkf]

1. Mexico number 5? Where does that come from?

[izquierdista]

3. From being 1/3 of the U.S.

Mexico's fate is tied to the U.S., sharing that long common border. Land-wise and population-wise, it is approximately 1/3 the size of the U.S., and as time goes on and the cultures mix, it is going to look like 16 or 17 poor states. Who knows, if they get their act together, they may look like 16 or 17 rich states.

[dkf]

4. It's funny to think that we are going to pull anyone up when I only see us going down.

Unless we shift manufacturing there because China gets too expensive. I guess that would make sense. No jobs for us though.

[izquierdista]

6. Think of it as moving to the average

Every mansion in Beverly Hills that hires a maid from Oaxaca is doing their part. And with NAFTA, you are right, no more good paying union jobs until our cousins south of the border get dissatisfied and organize and demand them.

[xchrom]

2. India will move to #3 sometime within a year or so. Nt

[Demeter]

5. What Leadership?

Down the road to Hell? Without even any good intentions?

US leadership by its reigning criminals is not "leadership". It's license.