JANUARY 27 / It's what the president knows that just ain't so

HERE's why China and India have strong economies, according to President Obama:

Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in the new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They're investing in research and new technologies. (Barack Hussein Obama, State of the Union Address (As Prepared), January 25, 2010) 

In fact, both China and India became prosperous when . . . 

. . . they rejected communist (China) and socialist (India) economic policies and opened their economies to the market. Don't believe me? 

China's economy since the 197s has changed from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major role in the world economy . . . . Reforms began with the phasing out of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, creation of a diversified banking system, development of stock markets, rapid growth in the private sector, and opening to foreign trade and investment. 

India is developing into an open-market economy . . . . Economic liberalization, including industrial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment, began in the early 1990s and has served to accelerate the country's growth, which has averaged more than 7% per year since 1997.

These quotations are from the CIA Factbook entries for China and India. If you don't believe that source, try Wikipedia (China, India). And if you don't believe Wikipedia, try any mainstream historical economic analysis of your choice. 

The point is that China and India prospered by loosening statist controls on their economies.

The irony is that Mr. Obama cites countries that are moving away from central planning to argue for more central planning in the United States of America.

Comments

[Ace]

In other words, education ain't the answer. But if President Obama knows education isn't the answer, why, oh why, would he promote education above a free market? Might his war chest contain vast riches from educational institutions and their associated unions and other supporters? In turn, the president and his allies seek to increase the "access" to college (i.e., they seek to increase spending on education), increasing the demand for institutions and professors and other support personnel, increasing the size of his war chest.