My first post about globalization!

If you haven't heard about the rise of China and India, I have one question for you: How do you get your internet connection while living under that rock?

The articles I'm reading about China and India, the big stars of the Davos economic summit, are very encouraging. Although China has been the poster child for authoritarian capitalism for the past four-plus years, it looks like India's might is starting to be taken seriously as well.

India rocks. It's a pluralistic, open, democratic society with a thriving knowledge-based economy and values that seem similar to ours in the West - I don't know about you, but that's exactly the kind of economic superpower I'd like to have around. I admit to being just about the biggest India cheerleader you can find this side of the Pacific Ocean, so it warms my heart to see observers predicting that India's economic rise may be more sustained and fundamentally sound than China's. Rock!

Of course, there are the inevitable naysayers, who spout vaguely-worded prophecies of doom about how the fundamental principle of globalization - that rich countries and poor countries both benefit - might "have an increasingly hollow ring." This, of course, is directed more at India than China, since that's where outsourcing mainly happens these days (India's English proficiency, excellent top universities, and open business culture make it the only developing country that can really compete with the U.S. in high-tech).

But I say pish-posh to all that rot. Yes, bazillions of brilliant hungry low-wage Indian graduates flooding the market is going to make it slightly tougher for us to get good jobs (for a decade or two, anyway; wage growth in India is already starting to level the playing field). In the end, though, it's worth it. The competition will force us to make much-needed improvements in our education system, clean up our finances, and stay on the cutting edge.

And in the end, we will all benefit from a stronger, richer, more dynamic India. Just because we Americans compete with Indians for employment doesn't mean the United States is competing with India. In fact, I think the two countries may be witnessing the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.


BONUS READING GUIDE
Here's another column from the folks who think the Democratic Party's woes are about bad tactics, not bad strategy. If we fought the battles as well as the Republicans, they say, we'd win the war. Too bad it isn't true. Look at the Republicans - their tactics are horrible! The 1995-96 government shutdown? The Clinton impeachment? "Mission Accomplished"? The Republicans languish in the polls all year (like now), then come election time they're still sitting on top of all the branches of government. Better tactics couldn't hurt Democrats, to be sure. But in politics, like in war, technology beats tactics 9 times out of 10.