Alan Greenspan on Iraq and China

[Riaz Haq]

Former US Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspan has been promoting his book "The Age of Turbulence" for the last couple of weeks. Among other things, he is talking about his reasons for supporting the Iraq invasion and his assessment that the Chinese stock market is a bubble waiting to burst. On the question of his support for Iraq invasion, he explains that he was convinced Saddam Husain would block the Strait of Hormuz if not removed from power and that would have severe consequences for the world economy. I think he's just flat wrong on this reasoning. Other than the US or Europeans, the only power that had the capacity to close the Strait is Iran. The removal of Saddam has, in fact, strengthened Iran significantly and made it more likely that the Strait would be closed and oil supplies choked off in the event of war in the Persian Gulf involving Iran.
On the question of Shanghai stock bubble, he is more qualified than most but I still think he is wrong. The Chinese economy is very strong and growing rapidly. China is the factory of the world and it is developing a very large consumer class of its own with a pent-up demand not too different from the US consumer demand right after WW II. So the Chinese markets are backed up a strong economy to justify high valuation of its stock.

[Riaz Haq]

Here are "Ten Things for India to Achieve its 2050 Potential", brought out by Jim O'Neill, Head Global Research at Goldman Sachs, and Tushar Poddar, V-P Research, Asia Economic Research Team at Goldman Sachs India, as reported by India's Economic Times:

1. Improve governance

2. Raise educational achievement

3. Increase quality & quantity of universities

4. Control inflation

5. Introduce credible fiscal policy

6. Liberalize financial markets

7. Increase trade with neighbors

8. Increase agricultural productivity

9. Improve infrastructure

10. Improve environmental quality

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/3137357.cms