Thanks for pointing to a nice article. And US Pres. Bush is busy talking about us eating more (when it is shown that americans eat 5 (five) times more than we do). I particularly thought that Murti's reference to american penchant for gas guzzling vehicles WITH NO REFERENCE TO INCREASED EMERGING MARKETS APPETITE was very interesting, and thought provoking.
The way I interpret this is: We start with such a low base on the consumption curves that even though our y-on-y increase SEEMS high, we are just making our presence felt on a global scale against the consumption patterns of the developed world.
In other words, it is the developed world that has to learn to tighten their belts in most everything they consume. Aint' that a switch? Just imagine how difficult it will be for generations that grew up on 'problems of plenty' to even accept this reality?! And how difficult it'd be for their politicians to even support such measures that'll go against the deeply ingrained nature of the lifestyles of their masses?!
IRAQ had no WMD's, it was an oil war. I wonder who's next? We know now to what extent they can go to preserve their lifestyles. Dr. Ravi Batra had said that the dollar's value will be America's achille's heel. Wonder what Murti thinks about the value of the gold? Dr. Batra had suggested moving in gold way back in late 80s...
Paresh
