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ABANDONING COMMUNISM FOR CAPITALISM
China and Russia have mostly abandoned state control of the economy, instead shifting towards free market models, with some state control and a high-degree of state power (should they wish to intervene). The governments of both economies still retain state-controlled mega-firms, such as Gazprom (RU) and PetroChina (CH), the latter of which recently was pronounced the largest company on earth (US$1trillion). Though both countries are far from capitalist, it is comparable with other developed economies (eg. not nearly as laissez-faire as Hong Kong, but comparable to the US).
TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT & SAVING MILLIONS
Laws within the states are meticulously planned so that they favour the wealthy and powerful, as to not let peasants and the poor obstruct the advances of the nation (take it as you will). They largely put their faith in the trickle-down effect Milton Friedman described, which is when GDP grows, the positive effects (eg. rising standards of living) will ‘trickle’ down to the bottom of the economy, given enough time. For example, China, at its economic peak, lifted 1 million Chinese peasants out of poverty a month (that is one monstrous economic machine!).
MEDIA CONTROL, WITH AN EXAMPLE
This is where China and Russia differs greatly. China is powerful enough to either tell the truth to their citizens or censor everything – everyone knows what they’ve been doing. On the other hand, Russia opts to control the media through the Kremlin, which effectively controls 80% of the media in RU. Both of these devices allow them to end external and internal disturbances. For example, Japan recently issued a warning on a particular type of Chinese product as a political attack (claiming there were too-high levels of some dangerous substance). Almost immediately afterwards, China issued a warning claiming the SK-2 cosmetics brand contained dangerous levels of metal. Riots and protests ensued; anti-Japanese sentiment flared. A few days later the Japanese Govt retracted the statement, claiming it was an internal error — politics is often frivolous! For Russia, considering most ex-KGB (President Vladimir Putin is ex-KGB and surrounds himself with ex-KGB) members now run the country it’s not surprising to see this happening.
‘VETO POWER’ OVER BUSINESS ACTIONS WITHIN THE STATE
Should the political leaders of both nations feel that their power or ‘national security’ has been compromised by a business venture within their nation, they can simply snuff it out. This applies to foreign ventures to, such as when President Putin (RU) stopped a oil exploration and extraction venture, of which British Petroleum (BP) had already spent hundreds of millions of dollars, because they didn’t like the thought of overseas firms investing in Russian interests. Apparently national security was compromised. China is far less devious in this field of control, with them simply telling overseas investors outright that overseas citizens cannot hold a majority or even a large minority stake in a firm (stockmarket).
FOCUS ON PRODUCTION, BUT SHIFTING TOWARDS TERTIARY SECTORS
The primary and secondary sectors (i.e. production of goods & services) is the current focus of both economies. However, their governments have realised that although it is important to the domination of their political parties not to shift production overseas, that services [tertiary sector] are higher up the add-value chain and will better enrich their economies. There is still a massive – but waning – focus on primary sector production (eg. oil). Read More

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I used to work for an insurance company that has out-sourced some of their IT, claims and processing work. What is keeping India from just starting their own companies in these fields, selling these products to Americans at a fraction of what American companies charge and running American companies out of business. Read More

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Will wordpress read the database? Is it just not compatible? Anything I can do?
Please advise, and give me sources, so I can present it in a meeting. Read More

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Communist nations like China and India are slowly coming out of poverty and improving the lives of their people. America and other western economies are slowing or, in some cases, retracting. Why is this happening? Could high prices of gas and raw materials be a factor, caused by high demand of China’s and India’s middle class? Read More

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Why don’t you buy a call center in India.
If I say much more I’m going to go into a racist rant. Read More

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help would be great thanks Read More

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i don’t believe either one of them do
china
Factories shut as crisis hits Chinahttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/…
China: Up to 26 million rural migrants now joblesshttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090202/ap_o…
Fear and hope in the Year of the Ox
With millions of workers losing their jobs and dire predictions of social unrest, the Chinese bubble appears to have burst. The BBC’s Michael Bristow in Beijing considers what 2009 will bring for the world’s most populous nation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/…
Chinese growth slows as trade slipshttp://www.financialpost.com/story.html?…
Leading Indicators Show Continuing Economic Slowing http://www.chinastakes.com/story.aspx?id…
is this current enoughhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti…
China’s official data mask severity of slump
35 minutes ago
BEIJING (AP) — It is China’s disconcerting secret: Its economic slump is much deeper than official data show.
The government says the economy grew by 6.8 percent in the final quarter of 2008, but that is based on an outdated system that measures growth against the same period a year earlier.
Compared to the previous quarter, the method used by most major economies, growth was about 1 percent at an annual pace and possibly zero, economists say.
russia
Gazprom sways as Russia plays hardball
Gazprom, which just a year ago was vowing to become the world’s biggest company, is sinking fast as the global meltdown hits hard and the Kremlin uses it as a pawn in its geopolitical battles — most recently in the gas dispute with Ukraine.
The state-backed gas export monopoly is bleeding an estimated $140 million a day in the energy war with Kiev. Experts say the company is being forced to sacrifice its interests to the government’s political aims, threatening its profitability as it teeters under huge debt.
As the spat between Russia and Ukraine moves into its third week, Gazprom’s ambition to become the world’s largest company by market capitalization by 2014 seems a mirage. The company’s share price has plunged 70 percent since last January, sending it tumbling from the No. 3 spot among the world’s biggest companies to 35th.
Since Russia shut off gas supplies to Ukraine on Jan. 1 and to Europe six days later, Gazprom has lost $1.1 billion in export revenue, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said Wednesday.http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti…
Russia Devalues Rublehttp://www.tradetnt.com/russia-devalues-…
Rouble at record low as Russia faces up to cheap oil http://www.financialmirror.com/News/Busi…
Russia close to economic collapse as oil price falls, experts predictRussia faces possible devaluation of the rouble and a severe drop in living standards next yearhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov… Read More

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I have to write about the decline/fall of the Ming dynasty of China. I’m not sure what exactly to work with, so I need some good, acccurate information… I’d like some good sources too, please. .edu, .net, or .gov websites would be best. thanks! Read More

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Mainland Lenders Ordered to Halt Interbank Deals with U.S. Firms
By Jane Cai and Adam Chen
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
Thursday, September 25, 2008http://www.scmp.com
BEIJING — Mainland regulators have told domestic banks to stop lending to United States financial institutions in the interbank market in a bid to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, industry sources said yesterday.
The ban from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) applied to interbank lending of all currencies to US banks but not to banks from other countries, a source said.
The CBRC was not available for comment yesterday.
The decree appears to be Beijing’s first attempt to erect defences against the deepening US financial meltdown after the mainland’s major lenders reported billions of US dollars in exposure to the credit crisis.
Lending transactions on the mainland interbank market totalled 10.65 trillion yuan (HK$12.17 trillion) last year, according to the People’s Bank of China.
In the first eight months of this year, transactions totalled 10.11 trillion yuan, up 104 per cent from a year earlier.
At the end of last year, the mainland interbank market had 717 members, including banks, securities companies and trust companies.
Another banking source said the CBRC issued the ban after obtaining data about the exposure of mainland banks to bonds issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings.
Top officials said they were keeping a close watch on the crisis and warned mainland financial institutions to be cautious in their daily business and overseas expansion.
“The international transaction volume of Chinese banks is not big. Those concerning subprime loans are probably lower than US$10 billion,” deputy central bank governor Ma Delun wrote this week in the China Business Post, a People’s Bank of China-affiliated newspaper.
But the deteriorating situation in the US has shocked top officials.
Mr Ma said that among the unexpected developments was the effect the crisis was having on normal assets, not just problematic assets; its impact on the whole credit market, not just single products; and its effect on Europe and other nations, not only the US.
The exposure of seven listed mainland banks to bonds related to Lehman Brothers totalled US$721 million.
Mainland banks had US$9.8 billion in exposure to US subprime loans at the end of last year and US$25 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by June 30. Read More

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