Polly Toynbee in the comments thread to her piece this morning:
The scare was that Japan would conquer the world. Then the Asian
Tigers, Korea, Malaysia etc. What stopped them? Their inflexible social
structures and their lack of good governance. What Europe has is
rock-solid uncorrupt governance with totally reliable legal systems and
therefore a solid guarantee of all property rights for investors. India
has the most severe infrastructure problems that will slow its growth,
with governments unable to invest enough. China has profound problems
too. Democracy is the only guarantor for business.
Eh? Japan and the Tigers: the scare was there all right but their failure to conquer all was and is nothing to do with inflexible social structures and lackof good governance. It’s to do with hte fact that the scare was bollocks.
Making things that we wish to purchase is not a reasonable interpretation of the word "conquer" which is why said scare was bollocks in the first place.
And what’s this downer on Japan anyway? I thought Poll was an egalitarian…..and Japan is even more so than Sweden.
Err, we have rock solid uncorrupt governance? L’Escroc? Cash for Honours? Notwork Rail? Swan Hunter? Italy? The EU budget?
Finally, no, democracy is not a guarantor for business. The Rule of Law is, not the same thing at all.
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