Guest Column
We used to teach India. Now India is teaching us.
We used to teach India. Now India is teaching us.
By Bill Gunderson
America used to teach India and Brazil about freedom and prosperity. Now they are teaching us.
Their stocks markets are soaring, all because their people are figuring out that 50 years of complicated plans and
endless explanations are not the answer.
That is a message we in America have to hear as well.
We used to teach India. Now India is teaching us. Good!
The stock market works both ways: Current events tell us about the stocks. But stocks also tell us about the world:
What people are really doing. Not just what some wish they were doing.
And right now, the soaring markets in two of the larger countries in the world, India and Brazil, are screaming: ‘Our
people want more freedom, less government. More opportunities, fewer guarantees. We’ve seen 50 years of
schemes and dreams and complicated social planning that have done nothing but suffocate people yearning to grow.
We‘ve had enough.’
Start with Brazil: Last month, Brazil hosted the World Cup. The country had seven years to prepare, yet many of the
facilities were not finished by the time the world’s biggest sporting event began. Brazil’s greatest hero Pele recently
scorched the corruption and incompetence of the people who allowed this to happen.
The ruling clique’s desperate answer as it prepares for the upcoming elections? Crank up welfare benefits. Obama
phones, anyone?
Take the ObamaCare rollout and the deceitful delays in Veterans Hospital care. Multiply them by 10 or 20 or even 100
and that is what much of the world has been laboring under. Dreams, then excuses when it all falls apart.
“Come on dude, that was two years ago” is their mantra when confronted with their latest regular catastrophe.
But there is too much information today. The old lies don’t work anymore. If they ever really did. And in Brazil, most
indicators say the people are ready to throw the rascals out. Just like they did in India.
They want we in America have. Or had. And they know their Western-educated pseudo socialists cannot give it to
them. They will have to get it for themselves.
That is why investors are flocking to India and Brazil and other emerging markets and leaving the United States. They
are not necessarily saying the United States is bad. But that India and Brazil are better.
It is easy to say the recent landslide election of a new president in India will make all the difference. But that is the tail
wagging the dog.
The fact is India is a country full of entrepreneurs ready to burst. Brazil is a nation of young people, ready to be
unleashed. Ready for freedom.
Just the way the people in the United States used to be, remember? Before we had headlines like: Record numbers
of people on disability. Record numbers of unemployed people not looking for work. And the Huffington Post wants a
new employment law they are calling “menstrual leave.”
Really?
We now talk about American exceptionalism the way people in Brooklyn talk about the Dodgers: They were great, and
coming back any day now.
In 1961, the prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was at the White House when President Kennedy told him
about a great new program called the Peace Corps and how Americans will soon be descending on India. Nehru
replied: “Yes, I am sure they will learn a lot.”
Just so.
Bill Gunderson is a wealth manager, financial talk show host and writer.
He was named the top Columnist in San Diego for two years in a row by the San Diego Press Club, and once by the
Society of Professional Journalists. Gunderson is a frequent guest on national news shows talking about everything
from solar energy (bad investment) to emerging markets (good investment!).
America used to teach India and Brazil about freedom and prosperity. Now they are teaching us.
Their stocks markets are soaring, all because their people are figuring out that 50 years of complicated plans and
endless explanations are not the answer.
That is a message we in America have to hear as well.
We used to teach India. Now India is teaching us. Good!
The stock market works both ways: Current events tell us about the stocks. But stocks also tell us about the world:
What people are really doing. Not just what some wish they were doing.
And right now, the soaring markets in two of the larger countries in the world, India and Brazil, are screaming: ‘Our
people want more freedom, less government. More opportunities, fewer guarantees. We’ve seen 50 years of
schemes and dreams and complicated social planning that have done nothing but suffocate people yearning to grow.
We‘ve had enough.’
Start with Brazil: Last month, Brazil hosted the World Cup. The country had seven years to prepare, yet many of the
facilities were not finished by the time the world’s biggest sporting event began. Brazil’s greatest hero Pele recently
scorched the corruption and incompetence of the people who allowed this to happen.
The ruling clique’s desperate answer as it prepares for the upcoming elections? Crank up welfare benefits. Obama
phones, anyone?
Take the ObamaCare rollout and the deceitful delays in Veterans Hospital care. Multiply them by 10 or 20 or even 100
and that is what much of the world has been laboring under. Dreams, then excuses when it all falls apart.
“Come on dude, that was two years ago” is their mantra when confronted with their latest regular catastrophe.
But there is too much information today. The old lies don’t work anymore. If they ever really did. And in Brazil, most
indicators say the people are ready to throw the rascals out. Just like they did in India.
They want we in America have. Or had. And they know their Western-educated pseudo socialists cannot give it to
them. They will have to get it for themselves.
That is why investors are flocking to India and Brazil and other emerging markets and leaving the United States. They
are not necessarily saying the United States is bad. But that India and Brazil are better.
It is easy to say the recent landslide election of a new president in India will make all the difference. But that is the tail
wagging the dog.
The fact is India is a country full of entrepreneurs ready to burst. Brazil is a nation of young people, ready to be
unleashed. Ready for freedom.
Just the way the people in the United States used to be, remember? Before we had headlines like: Record numbers
of people on disability. Record numbers of unemployed people not looking for work. And the Huffington Post wants a
new employment law they are calling “menstrual leave.”
Really?
We now talk about American exceptionalism the way people in Brooklyn talk about the Dodgers: They were great, and
coming back any day now.
In 1961, the prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was at the White House when President Kennedy told him
about a great new program called the Peace Corps and how Americans will soon be descending on India. Nehru
replied: “Yes, I am sure they will learn a lot.”
Just so.
Bill Gunderson is a wealth manager, financial talk show host and writer.
He was named the top Columnist in San Diego for two years in a row by the San Diego Press Club, and once by the
Society of Professional Journalists. Gunderson is a frequent guest on national news shows talking about everything
from solar energy (bad investment) to emerging markets (good investment!).