Mail Call: Asian Ego Rising

Is the Asian Century Upon Us?
The fundamental reason for the resilience shown during the current economic downturn by nations like India and China is their disciplined approach to saving, investment and spending habits ("Asia Rising," March 30). Need-based buying rather than stark consumerism is the hallmark of the booming Indian middle class, which is still spending around 60 percent of the GDP. The Indian economy is not insulated from global trends, but better regulation and wise management have stood it in good stead in trying times. During about two and a half decades of Indian liberalization and reform processes, we have had our share of policy failures and crisis created by stock market swindlers and scamsters, yet economic development proceeded at a brisk pace. There was some concern when one of the best private sector banks in India came under a cloud of subprime exposure soon after the bubble burst in the United States. However, it emerged from the crisis because of sound financial backup ensured by the regulatory system. It is true that when exports fall our domestic consumption levels go up in order to prop up production. While adopting various fiscal measures and laying stress on infrastructural growth will boost domestic consumption, Asian nations can't do without exports. The solution lies in creating more liberal conditions for exports in order to seize opportunities when the trends start reversing.
R. K. Sudan
Jammu, India

Countries such as India and China are floating in the waters of recession while the West is sinking because the Asian countries have traditionally saved money for the proverbial rainy day. People in the West have simply afforded unwanted luxuries on borrowed money and are today mired in monetary misery.
K. Chidanand Kumar
Bangalore, India

Premier Wen Jiabao has expressed in powerful language his unreserved concern over the fate of Chinese assets in the United States. The West should not be unduly concerned by such unprecedented assertion. As human history attests, good fortune does not favor all people all of the time. Fortune tends to rotate its favoritism; different people at different times. Perhaps it is China's turn to flex its muscle and call the shots in this century. This shouldn't be alarming, as it follows the golden rule of nature, the way of Tao.
T. B. Tee and Munti Dann
Penang, Malaysia

Outraged and Railing
Michael Kazin's "Don't Let The 'Big Men' Win," March 30) is a comfortable read about the most uncomfortable crisis of our time: a time when populism is treated by many as a dirty word. To those who say "This is just because of AIG," I say, "It's not about AIG!" As Kazin points out, it's about way more than AIG. The rage is a volcano that did not develop and erupt overnight. It's part of a pattern of excess, overindulgence and corruption going back to Enron. The expedient thing to do now is not only to manage the books, but to manage public sentiment. And for this we must demand responsibility from the media. Today, the blogosphere dwarfs TV, radio and periodicals for good or for ill. I'm in a country where doctors, lawyers and CEOs don't usually flaunt megahouses or treasure chests. I ask, why not? Most people say, with a giggle of discomfort, "Because that would be embarrassing." I remember a time when we Americans would say that.
Kathleen T. Scott
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Robert J. Samuelson, in quoting economist Joseph Schumpeter, mentions the two basic capitalist values necessary for economic success: self-enrichment and taking risks ("Rage Could End Up Hurting Us," March 30). CEOs and entrepreneurs are driven by the former. Whereas capitalism originally meant taking personal risk, nowadays it means taking risks for somebody else (savers, investors, mortgage-takers). As long as CEOs can hope for bonuses and as long as running a company into ruin is rewarded with a golden handshake, capitalism will not be able to raise the wealth for society that it otherwise could.
Thomas Heusser
Schorndorf, Germany

Eliot Spitzer's principled guide to the intersection between government and the market ("Making Up for Years of Neglect," March 30) and his recent CNN television interview with NEWSWEEK's Fareed Zakaria make it evident that he's a fine thinker who would be an asset to President Barack Obama's assembly of problem solvers. We, Asians, on the other side of the cultural divide, have always found it quaint, amusing even, that the country with arguably one of the world's largest sex industries pillories otherwise quite brilliant managers for their sexual peccadilloes. I hope that other very American trait, to forgive and forget, will kick in soon and permit Eliot Spitzer to return where he belongs—to a responsible role in government.
Stanley Pinto
Bangalore, India