Charlie Rose

REMant  01/13/2010 01:28 AM Report

Singapore, I believe, looks to many like an entrepot, but is really as mercantilist as China, S Korea and Japan, (despite its evolution towards finance) so it would be wrong I think to characterize his view as free-trade, but still, I wonder seriously, in any case, whether economic expansion any longer represents the future in light of the pressing need to preserve the environment. We can no longer just "grow" our way out of problems, just as the US cannot merely print money, tho it can be expected that population will diminish as economies really improve. Part of the reason I feel much recent so-called growth is illusory is because we see so much poverty, desolation and conflict everywhere despite it. This approach cannot be considered free trade, which would of necessity be more balanced. But I certainly agree with what seems to be his foreign policy perspective otherwise. Islamic fundamentalism is clearly overshadowed by the emergence of India and China. The distinction he drew between the Chinese and Russian attitudes towards the West was I thought perceptive, and I would suppose it shows in the religious difference.