Anyone know what makes a free enterprise economy work?

[The Mechanic]

I remember a few decades ago that we said the same thing about Japan. They had taken over the supply of many types of good especially electronics. The had cornered the market in ship building and had started to produce cars with more gadgets as standard than most western manufacturers had in their options lists.

Then the South Koreans took over and now it is Malaysia and China that are producing everything under the sun. These places only prosper because they have either a superior work ethos, innovative technology (Japan) or a much lower labour cost (China, Malaysia, India). Take those factors away and they become just another struggling economy, just like Japan is now. The worrying factor is that, historically, wars have been started by nations desperate to feed a growing population. China and India have such populations and will continue to struggle to feed them. They also have nuclear weapons.