Unlike China's more diversified economy, Russia's wealth is dependent on oil and gas, whose market price has remained high for several years now. While Gazprom ponders a takeover of Centrica in the UK, it pressurised BP and Shell to sell it controlling stakes in two vast projects back in Russia. There are many further examples of sharp corporate practice.
Yeah, because China is not at all dependent on its eport-based model - exports done in a shocking percentage by foreign owned corporations (60%, I think) - and exports of, to a big extent too, useless junk.
And of course, Russia has evil State or evil State-owned companies acting, so it's bad per se. No economic or political sense to take back control of strategic resources when possible. Nothing like the government of Singapore-owned Temasek and the government of China owned CDB that took a stake in Barclays, a deal he gushed over. And need I mention that the only reason that Gazprom did not take over Centrica is that the UK government would not tolerate it (oh, it would be a "review on competition grounds", but the message came through all right). In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Britain's indulgence of Russian and Chinese business models is undermining what is left of liberal democracy
Russia and China are adopting British business models. And the article does say clearly that what undermines liberal democracy is the actions of The West™. Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?
exports done in a shocking percentage by foreign owned corporations (60%, I think)
You must mean the shippers and agents, surely? Or have I missed missed something rather important? You can't be me, I'm taken
While the extraordinarily rapid growth of the Chinese economy has often been noted, it is less often realized how much of that growth actually reflects the role of foreign corporations. According to Morgan Stanley's chief economist Stephen Roach, 65 percent of the tripling of Chinese exports -- from $121 billion in 1994 to $365 billion in mid-2003 -- is "traceable to outsourcing by Chinese subsidiaries of multinational corporations and joint ventures."
Even more impressive:
The famed Chinese gross export sector - 40% of GDP - also has an unexpected characteristic: 90% of it arises from the efforts of foreign owned firms, revealing a striking lack of presence of Chinese enterprises and thus a greater independence of action from central government. http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/12/blog_spotlight_.html
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/12/blog_spotlight_.html
