The King of Casinos is No More. Long Live the King.

The King of Casinos is No More. Long Live the King.

Posted by: on Jun 6, 2020 | No Comments

The “King of Gambling” and the “Godfather of Macau,” Stanley Ho, passed away on May 26, 2020, at the age of 98. Ho is credited with transforming the sleepy town of Macau into the most popular gambling destination in the world, ahead of even

Trump’s America Takes One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Trump’s America Takes One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Posted by: on Jul 9, 2018 | No Comments

The US has imposed 25% tariffs on Chinese imports worth $34 billion. Beijing immediately retaliated with tariffs on $34 billion worth of US imports. The Trump administration is working on a second wave of tariffs on Chinese goods

Mohegan Sun Group Wins License to Open Casino in South Korea

Mohegan Sun Group Wins License to Open Casino in South Korea

Posted by: on Mar 30, 2016 | No Comments

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, along with KCC Corp, a South Korean chemicals manufacturer, won a bid to develop the Inspire Integrated Resort at Incheon, located west of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. The Inspire Integrated Resort

MGM Resorts International Delays Opening of New Macau Resort to 2017

MGM Resorts International Delays Opening of New Macau Resort to 2017

Posted by: on Mar 23, 2016 | No Comments

MGM Resorts International has decided to delay the opening of its new resort in the Cotai district of Macau, due to gloomy market conditions. Gross gambling revenues in Macau fell 34% in 2015, to a five-year low of $28.8 billion from a year ago,

Apple vs the FBI – A Case of Privacy vs Security

Apple vs the FBI – A Case of Privacy vs Security

Posted by: on Mar 16, 2016 | No Comments

On December 2, 2015, two terrorists, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and injured 22 others in the city of San Bernardino, California. The couple were shot dead by the police in a shootout following a chase.

Visa Restrictions from China Sharply Hit Macau’s Growth

Visa Restrictions from China Sharply Hit Macau’s Growth

Posted by: on May 6, 2015 | No Comments

Macau’s growth has been sharply hit as anti-corruption regulations in China, along with a ban on smoking in the Macau casinos and visa restrictions for gambling in Macau

China’s Baccarat Connection

China’s Baccarat Connection

Posted by: on Sep 3, 2013 | No Comments

Macau and the Chinese phenomenon are increasingly becoming destinations for every lover of casino games who would like to try their luck, and bankrolls at big fortune. Most of the high-rollers venturing out here are lovers of baccarat.

Free the People, Control the Government: A Lesson from Hong Kong

Posted by: on Jun 29, 2012 | No Comments

It is often believed that countries that are small are easy to govern. It is also believed that high population impedes economic development. There is one nation that shattered these popular beliefs… Hong Kong!

David and Goliath

Posted by: on Aug 20, 2006 | One Comment

What is common to Estonia and China? Estonia is in Europe, China is in Asia. Estonia is just a dot on the map, in China you could fit 212 Estonias. Estonia’s population of 1.5 million is 6.5% of Nepal’s. China has 1.3 billion people, 56 times that of Nepal. Estonia is a

The Communists of India and China

Posted by: on Jun 13, 2005 | No Comments

What is happening in Kolkata is enough to make Marx and Lenin turn in their graves. The Indian communists of West Bengal have given up their ideology and are going out of their way to attract capital – Indian and foreign.

Kolkata boasts of India’s largest Pizza Hut outlet, as well as highest selling Sony World franchisee. As if these symbols of capitalism were not enough of a reminder of a changed world, Manabendra Mukherjee, minister of IT, in the state’s communist government can look at Westside and Pantaloon malls on Camac Street from his office.

Bengal, a bastion of India’s communist rulers for 29 years, is witnessing a sea change. The communists remain in power but their philosophy could not be more different. They have embraced pro-market reforms with a vengeance – as if to make up for all their failed policies in double quick time.

Bengal’s government encouraged Pepsi to set up its potato processing plant in the state. Currently the company is doubling its 80 crore investment. The state has now become India’s second largest grower of potatoes. Dabur too has set up a fruit processing plant. Moreover, four companies from France have shown interest in investing in food processing. The communist Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s, avowed intention is to obtain investment and he doesn’t care whether it is Indian or foreign.

Though Bengal was always India’s top rice producer, it has now become No.1 in producing vegetables and pineapples as well. This has happened because, unlike in the erstwhile Soviet Russia, farms in Bengal are privately owned and whatever the tillers produce they keep.

No wonder Bengal has stunned India with its growth rates, and turnaround in industrial and agricultural development. In the last decade its economy grew by over 7% a year, while even Karnataka – the state which has Bangalore as its pride – could only manage a 6.4% yearly increase in its domestic product. Gujarat at 6.1%, and Haryana at 5.8% were way behind.

This growth has been led by Rs.27,000 crore of private industrial investment flowing into the state in the last 13 years. This investment was higher than in Maharastra, and second only to that in Gujarat.

The communists now woo private capital as if their lives depended on it. The investment in iron and steel projects is in hundreds of crores. Kolkata exports, from minister Mukherjee’s favourite IT complex, software and BPO services valued at Rs.1,400 crores. What is happening in India’s Bengal is no different than what is taking place in Lenin’s Russia and Mao’s China.

China, especially, exhibits capitalism. Its pro-market and pro-investment policies have gone far ahead of India’s in liberating businesses from red tape and controls. Where as India grew by 6.9% in 2004-05, the figure for China was 9.5%. If we account for what has happened since 1980, China is even further ahead. Its average annual growth of 9.5% exceeded India’s 5.7% by a whopping 3.8% every year.

This extraordinary growth in China has been due to its ability to convince investors to regard it as the ultimate opportunity for profits. While in 2001-03, China garnered in excess of 10% of the global foreign investment, India could not even get to the 1% mark.

China has become the world leader in exporting textiles. The success of its private entrepreneurs sends a chill down the spines of world’s competing businessmen. In 2004 alone China exported US$ 97 billion worth of textiles. India could only manage to send abroad textiles valued at US$ 14 billion.

Textiles are not the only success story. China’s manufacturers, across the board, are bedeviling the world with their newfound aggressiveness in closing deals. They are hungry for domination in the world markets and are leaving their competitors in the dust.

It is ironic the way China has jettisoned the teachings of Marx, Lenin, and Mao. Even more ironic, though, is how, in other countries including Nepal, communists still cling to their failed ideology. Let the Nepalese communist parties send their cadres to Bengal, China and Russia. Let them understand how these places, where communism originated, function. On their return, they just might influence their leaders into embracing capitalism, markets, reforms, and hence prosperity.

The Himalyan Times