Charles Munger is a friend and associate of Warren Buffett. His words are listened to with great respect just like those of the latter. Recently, he made a scathing attack on Indian model of development while addressing the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corp. The relevant excerpt is given below. (as noted by Adam Blum)
On Li Kuan Yew and comparison to India : “That’s a very intelligent question and not saying others weren’t – Yew was the best nation builder who ever lived. He took a Malarial swamp with no resources surrounded by a bunch of Muslims who hated him and literally spat out Singapore because they didn’t want the place. There were no assets and tons of corruption. And Yew created modern Singapore. No one has had success like it so fast. He gets a lot of credit for creating modern China. They saw that and said ‘the hell with this. We don’t care if the cat is black or white, we just care that it catches mice.’ Deng Xiaoping copied Yew. I have two busts of someone else in my house - Yew and Ben Franklin. Now, I would rather work with the Chinese than the Indians. The caste system, the overcrowding, there in India. It’s hard to get anything done, and they have taken the worst aspects of democracy that Yew avoided. India is a fabulous people, but the system of poverty and corruption and the crazy democratic thing where anyone who screams can stop all progress – it mires them. The steel giant Posco takes lousy iron and coal and uses it as an input - a province in India had a bunch of lousy iron and coal and agreed to supply Posco, and the contract was canceled because people protested and were screaming in the streets. India is grossly defective, because they took the worst aspects of our culture, allowing a bunch of idiots to scream and stop everything. And they copied it - Malaysia and China and Singapore would’ve done the Posco deal. India forged its own chains and put them on themselves.”
For comprehensive notes, please use the link http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/02/charlie-munger-speaks-2017-daily-journal-annual-meeting-long-notes-full-video/?all=1
On Li Kuan Yew and comparison to India : “That’s a very intelligent question and not saying others weren’t – Yew was the best nation builder who ever lived. He took a Malarial swamp with no resources surrounded by a bunch of Muslims who hated him and literally spat out Singapore because they didn’t want the place. There were no assets and tons of corruption. And Yew created modern Singapore. No one has had success like it so fast. He gets a lot of credit for creating modern China. They saw that and said ‘the hell with this. We don’t care if the cat is black or white, we just care that it catches mice.’ Deng Xiaoping copied Yew. I have two busts of someone else in my house - Yew and Ben Franklin. Now, I would rather work with the Chinese than the Indians. The caste system, the overcrowding, there in India. It’s hard to get anything done, and they have taken the worst aspects of democracy that Yew avoided. India is a fabulous people, but the system of poverty and corruption and the crazy democratic thing where anyone who screams can stop all progress – it mires them. The steel giant Posco takes lousy iron and coal and uses it as an input - a province in India had a bunch of lousy iron and coal and agreed to supply Posco, and the contract was canceled because people protested and were screaming in the streets. India is grossly defective, because they took the worst aspects of our culture, allowing a bunch of idiots to scream and stop everything. And they copied it - Malaysia and China and Singapore would’ve done the Posco deal. India forged its own chains and put them on themselves.”
For comprehensive notes, please use the link http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/02/charlie-munger-speaks-2017-daily-journal-annual-meeting-long-notes-full-video/?all=1
1 comment:
India, such a diverse country, should have adopted presidential style of democracy. The argument for a British coated Representative democracy was to protect the diversity. But it allows too many stake holders in decision making. The so-called 'activists' use this and the 'Not In My Backyard Syndrome' of people to their advantage. And the recent addition is the News hungry Corporate mainstream media and Half-baked overenthusiastic Social Media.
It's so easy to become a star in politics, these days. If I go to Jantar Mantar and display placards against PM or to Marina and display placards against CM, I will be the star in national media and state media in respective cases. If the statements are strong/controversial, police will definitely take some action and that will dramatize even more.
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