Alarum!
Peter Jason
reaching unmanageable levels. The vast swell of people is
increasing by about 1million per year, and that the erection
of slums is quite uncontrolled, and these are built with the
dwellings so close together that cars and trucks cannot
enter the narrow walkways. Clearly a population bomb is
about to go off.
David H Singanas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A good portion of my maritime career came from delivery of
surplus grains to Egyptian ports. I don't know if the US continues
to feed millions of Egyptians. Sir William might know.
David H
~~~~~~~
William Black
Bombay's been growing at that rate for years and is, when you count the
suburbs, now over four times the population of Cairo.
And it has been growing in much the same way.
A vast and on-going influx of illiterates with low skill levels who live in
slums.
What stops Bombay exploding is that India is a democracy and EVERYONE gets
to vote, so the huge number of slum dwellers get influence commensurate
with their numbers.
These vast cities have no system of welfare payments and very little in the
way of social services. Nobody goes there if they're a pauper to sponge off
the state.
They go to the cities because that's where the work is...
Cairo's problems stem not from the size of the city's population but from
its tyrannical system of government. Look at the Wikipedia entries for both
cities. Cairo, not a mention of how the place is governed, Bombay, the
city administration has a page of its own...
--
William Black
David H Singanas
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yet still and all Obama and Clinton did right to duck Egyptian
internal
politics. during their recent visits. Since the US no longer has the
means to bankroll "peaceful change" overseas, it's best not to bring
up
issues requiring dollar solutions.
Cheers, David H
~~~~~
William Black
All they have to do is wait.
All tyrannies carry with them the seeds of their own destruction.
The problem is that sometimes what replaces the tyranny is another tyranny,
but I remain convinced that in the end democracy will triumph.
--
William Black
Peter Jason
"William Black" <willia...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote in
message news:h2t92k$ckd$8...@news.eternal-september.org...
Democracy has been 'triumphant' in India for some time.
Yet Ghandi could do nothing with the Muzzies who Jinnah took
off to Pakistan, raise the poverty of most of the people,
remove the caste system and wipe out child labour.
Democracy requires a certain universal education level, and
this really means compulsory education for children, which
in itself is not very democratic.
David H Singanas
> "William Black" <william.bl...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote in
> messagenews:h2t92k$ckd$8...@news.eternal-september.org...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It remains a puzzle to most of the world why democracy works so
well in the West and why it cannot be successfully exported to the
East
and Middle East except in the rare instances of India and Japan.
There are so many factors that it is hard to select one main factor
that
makes democracy the best agent for capital formation. I will have to
place the bet on "orderly and frequent transfers of power" as the
principal
ingredient of material progress. China leads the world when it comes
to
frequent, orderly changes in leadership. Since the fall of Maoist
gangs,
the Central Committee in China has been for the most part democratic.
"Violent transfer of power" is the downfall of most nondemocratic
systems.
Violence paralyzes commerce, scares off investment, and perpetuates
corruption , tyranny, and stagnation.
The United States can perpetually "bounce back" from economic
disasters
due to the frequent and orderly electoral process and of course to an
economically secure majority of inhabitants. Even at the depths of the
Great Depression, 75% of the populace was employed and provided the
safety net for the 25% who were standing in breadlines and soup
kitchens.
David H
~~~~~~~~~~~