Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
BRICS power new world economic order
Source: Xinhua |
December 17, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WITH chilly winter winds rattling deadwood in the United States, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests endured for almost three months.
The movement bears the hallmarks of a festival, with participants setting up camps, dining and resting there, and sometimes banging drums to attract public attention, or even staging "musical and dance performances" in the open air on Broadway.
But the protesters are in no festive mood. They are decrying the greed of financial capital.
And the picture is no better across the Atlantic. Demonstrations, protests and strikes triggered by a variety of reasons have rocked a host of European countries and cities.
With Europe and the United States on the slide, emerging economies have manifested an upward trend, rising to various challenges and brimming with marked vitality.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, noted that Occupy Wall Street and other protesters concentrate their firepower on voracious bankers, but it is far from enough to simply denounce the laissez-faire practices spawned by capitalism. "We need a deeper analysis of why the capitalist system, in its current form, no longer fits the world around us," he said.
OWS incarnates a deep plight in a "new gilded age." In his satirical novel "The Gilded Age" (1873), Mark Twain depicted a society severely afflicted with poverty and unemployment but cloaked with a superficial golden layer in an age famous for creating the modern industrial economy and ensuing economic boom.
With growing inequalities between the wealthy and the poor, the United States has seemingly entered a "new gilded age," only that the oil and steel barons at the top tier of that fictional society have been superseded by financial magnates and hedge-fund managers.
Undergirding the "new gilded age" is neo-liberalism, which advocates a laissez-faire approach to economic and financial regulation.
Despite inflating economic bubbles, financial institutions grant loans to likely defaulters with the purpose of making fat short-term profits. This problematic behavior generates nothing but the mirage of a boom.
The protesters' outpouring of fury against Wall Street has, on the one hand, shattered public confidence in financial capital and exposed an awkward predicament from which the US-type financial system is finding it hard to escape.
On the other hand, the inefficiency in policy making, polarization of political parties and cyclical bouts of electoral politics have thwarted Washington's efforts to seek a cure.
Detached from the real economy, the US model of financial system cannot possibly power the recovery of the world economy. Instead, it might turn into a ticking bomb endangering economic growth and even sparking a sweeping financial crisis.
Across the Atlantic, Europe has also suffered from spates of social unrest and witnessed a series of national government reshuffles in the past year. With more nations on the Old Continent added to the ranks of the debt-ridden, the once-exemplary "European Model" is losing luster.
The maladies, whether those exposed in the United States' "new gilded age" or the debt crisis in Europe, point to the root cause of "credit overdraft," which will, in the long run, precipitate a systematic "credit crisis."
Rupture
The public outcries on Wall Street and in major European cities alike over the year have been a direct reflection of the predicament as well as an indication of a fated "rupture" between economy and society.
With developed economies mired in tangled socioeconomic troubles, emerging economies, particularly the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are striding forward.
Beyond the West, emerging economies are shedding a bright beam of hope. In 2011, the Chinese economy is projected to grow 9 percent on the previous year, followed by an estimated 8 percent and 4 percent for India and Russia, respectively. Brazil, South Africa and Chile are also making notable headway.
According to an IMF estimate, emerging economies are expected to achieve an average 6.4 percent growth rate, compared with the 1.6 percent for developed countries. Developing nations are accounting for an ever-growing share of the world economy.
Despite the grave economic situation, the United Nations said in a report that emerging economies, headed by China, Brazil and India, would continue to play a leading role in promoting world economic growth. Key Western countries, under the pressure of their shrinking presence in the global economic arena, are striving to adopt countermeasures to maintain their leading positions.
Some are even taking protectionist, interventionist and other ignoble steps to curb the rise of emerging nations. Their clumsy attempts are doomed to fail, or even boomerang.
Paul Kennedy, a historian at Yale University and author of "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers", said that the world is "crossing a watershed." He argued the world is in the process of major historical transitions that will mark the end of an era.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman Jim O'Neill, who coined the term "BRIC," said: "After 10 years of emerging market growth, it is time for a new world order - with the BRICs taking their rightful place at the top table."
The movement bears the hallmarks of a festival, with participants setting up camps, dining and resting there, and sometimes banging drums to attract public attention, or even staging "musical and dance performances" in the open air on Broadway.
But the protesters are in no festive mood. They are decrying the greed of financial capital.
And the picture is no better across the Atlantic. Demonstrations, protests and strikes triggered by a variety of reasons have rocked a host of European countries and cities.
With Europe and the United States on the slide, emerging economies have manifested an upward trend, rising to various challenges and brimming with marked vitality.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, noted that Occupy Wall Street and other protesters concentrate their firepower on voracious bankers, but it is far from enough to simply denounce the laissez-faire practices spawned by capitalism. "We need a deeper analysis of why the capitalist system, in its current form, no longer fits the world around us," he said.
OWS incarnates a deep plight in a "new gilded age." In his satirical novel "The Gilded Age" (1873), Mark Twain depicted a society severely afflicted with poverty and unemployment but cloaked with a superficial golden layer in an age famous for creating the modern industrial economy and ensuing economic boom.
With growing inequalities between the wealthy and the poor, the United States has seemingly entered a "new gilded age," only that the oil and steel barons at the top tier of that fictional society have been superseded by financial magnates and hedge-fund managers.
Undergirding the "new gilded age" is neo-liberalism, which advocates a laissez-faire approach to economic and financial regulation.
Despite inflating economic bubbles, financial institutions grant loans to likely defaulters with the purpose of making fat short-term profits. This problematic behavior generates nothing but the mirage of a boom.
The protesters' outpouring of fury against Wall Street has, on the one hand, shattered public confidence in financial capital and exposed an awkward predicament from which the US-type financial system is finding it hard to escape.
On the other hand, the inefficiency in policy making, polarization of political parties and cyclical bouts of electoral politics have thwarted Washington's efforts to seek a cure.
Detached from the real economy, the US model of financial system cannot possibly power the recovery of the world economy. Instead, it might turn into a ticking bomb endangering economic growth and even sparking a sweeping financial crisis.
Across the Atlantic, Europe has also suffered from spates of social unrest and witnessed a series of national government reshuffles in the past year. With more nations on the Old Continent added to the ranks of the debt-ridden, the once-exemplary "European Model" is losing luster.
The maladies, whether those exposed in the United States' "new gilded age" or the debt crisis in Europe, point to the root cause of "credit overdraft," which will, in the long run, precipitate a systematic "credit crisis."
Rupture
The public outcries on Wall Street and in major European cities alike over the year have been a direct reflection of the predicament as well as an indication of a fated "rupture" between economy and society.
With developed economies mired in tangled socioeconomic troubles, emerging economies, particularly the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are striding forward.
Beyond the West, emerging economies are shedding a bright beam of hope. In 2011, the Chinese economy is projected to grow 9 percent on the previous year, followed by an estimated 8 percent and 4 percent for India and Russia, respectively. Brazil, South Africa and Chile are also making notable headway.
According to an IMF estimate, emerging economies are expected to achieve an average 6.4 percent growth rate, compared with the 1.6 percent for developed countries. Developing nations are accounting for an ever-growing share of the world economy.
Despite the grave economic situation, the United Nations said in a report that emerging economies, headed by China, Brazil and India, would continue to play a leading role in promoting world economic growth. Key Western countries, under the pressure of their shrinking presence in the global economic arena, are striving to adopt countermeasures to maintain their leading positions.
Some are even taking protectionist, interventionist and other ignoble steps to curb the rise of emerging nations. Their clumsy attempts are doomed to fail, or even boomerang.
Paul Kennedy, a historian at Yale University and author of "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers", said that the world is "crossing a watershed." He argued the world is in the process of major historical transitions that will mark the end of an era.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman Jim O'Neill, who coined the term "BRIC," said: "After 10 years of emerging market growth, it is time for a new world order - with the BRICs taking their rightful place at the top table."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
