Spaceship Earth Continues to Challenge
So where are we? I read in the newspaper today that the demand for air travel within Asia has outstripped the North American air sector for the first time. Of course the growth in this sector is coming from China and India. So where are we as Canadians within this global economy? Are we about to find out what it’s like to be bit players in the world economy dominated from somewhere a long ways away?
I asked those questions this week for a number of reasons. However, the biggest reason I ask those questions this week is because I had dinner with my good friend, editor, publisher and mentor John Gardner last Saturday night. John and I talk all the time but often we find ourselves never free enough to get together. So last Saturday night I spent a couple hours talking about the space ship Earth.
One of my favorite thought processes is to think about things from the other side of the world. In other words I try to think about the perspective about any particular issue from places off the beaten path. For the most part that means thinking about how our Third World friends would think about any particular issue. Needless to say, when I discussed the spaceship Earth with my friend and mentor John Gardner I’m always quoting something to the extent, John, that’s the Western perspective but people on the other side of the world surely feel differently.
It is no secret that my good friend John thinks that there are some very wrong things with our economic system. He is very right of course but at the end of the day that’s the way it is. My good friend often talks about economic realities as there’s going to be some type of Judgment Day, were some of these bad economic decisions come back to bite us in the butt. I’m sure my good friend John gets tired of me saying, that’s the way we feel about it here but the poor bugger making the Wal-Mart toys in China is doing better than he’s ever done before.
So when I read the statistics about the number of air passengers in Asia versus in North America I got to thinking that maybe the chickens are finally coming home to roost. For instance as Canadians we are very used to our American friends dominating our economy. I think it was former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who said something to the extent that if the Americans catch a cold, in Canada we will get pneumonia. Of course what I am wondering based on the current tone of the global economic economy is whether it will be different now that our Asian friends are getting closer to being the dominant economic force in this world?
In other words it is pretty obvious to me that the economic levers that affect our lives here in Canada are slowly moving to the other side of the world. What will this mean to the average Canadian worker and what will this mean for our banks, for our interest rates and for the prospective money jingling around in our pockets?
I wonder about this a lot. Go ahead; laugh out loud, I’m sure somewhere you think I need better things to think about. When I bring this up to my good friend John I can always tell that it’s not part of his default thought process but as we are good friends I know it has crept into his economic lexicon. It’s pretty clear when you go to the grocery store and buy a can of peaches and find out they are from China that our world is changed. Everybody can figure that out. The question of why and for how long is this type of thing going to continue needs a much bigger answer.
The short answer to all this may lay in what former Prime Minister Jean Chretien used to say. As Prime Minister he would talk about Africa in a constant upbeat fashion. He always talked about how if you could raise these people up then they would start buying goods and services from you and the economic benefits for Canadians would be enormous. So how about now and isn’t that what we’re talking about with regard to the burgeoning economic explosion on the other side of the world?
I think so. When I read that there is more demand for air travel in Asia versus here, at the end of the day that can only mean increased economic growth for Canadians. It may mean a better life for us and for some in Canada it may mean a better job. Or it may mean something else. I dunno. Spaceship Earth is changing. Who knows, maybe John and I will sip tea someday on the other side of the world. Wouldn’t that be groovy?