Why America Is Great and So Many Other Countries, Well, Aren't (Yet)!

I've made the case multiple times herein, and ad nauseam in client review meetings, that the miracle that a country housing merely 4% of the world's population commands far and away the world's largest economy has to do largely with its openness to foreign markets, to foreign consumers and to foreign investors. Of course I'm talking about the U.S.A..

The opposite of this phenomenon -- how a country that houses a massive 20% (nearly) of the world's population can remain mired in far too-much poverty, weak infrastructure and a general dearth of personal freedoms and opportunity -- has to do largely with its isolationist tendencies. Here I'm referring to India.

While India's leader (Modi) is trying -- as best as he can while serving his own political self interests -- stories such as the one titled Traders Call Nationwide Strike on Sep 28 Against Walmart-Flipkart Deal I ran across in Bloomberg this morning remind me of why America is so great and the Indias and the Chinas of the world, to this point, simply are not.

This excerpt tells of the lunacy I'm talking about:  emphasis mine...

... the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) will approach the government to annul the deal as it violates press note 3 of 2016, which clearly says that no foreign direct investment will be allowed in e-commerce.

The CAIT is attempting to leverage existing protectionist legislation for its own sake over the well-being of Indian consumers (all 1.3 billion of them)...