What happens if the Chinese suddenly all start consuming a lot more? Seems to me they'll buy themselves some cars and airplane tickets. More infrastructure spending would be necessitated. You don't hear anyone (anyone that matters, like, economists) nag about the airports and highways China is building. No doubt that slice of infrastructure spending amounts to something when you sum it up.
So, that's why I thought the piece was a rather amazing display of economic stupidity.
It is going to be sufficiently challenging to simply provide the basics that a modernizing peasantry in India and China will want without compounding the problem by allowing deliberately shoddy merchandise that is junk in half or less of its reasonable lifetime. But that implies that criteria other than next month's and years corporate statements are to be seriously considered. Flopenhagen showed how far we have to go yet. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
