I think the Chinese obsession towards low cost should be the new model in the Western world, especially when it comes to the government.
The governments of countries like the United States and Canada need to IMMEDIATELY and URGENTLY focus on the following:
- stop spending excessively and lavishly;
- provide transparency on every penny spent (Canada: learn from America – http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx);
- provide timely access to data before decisions to spend are voted upon and
- It should be a criminal offense to spend funds without checks and balances
If not, I will continue to be skeptical about the government and I will continue to warn investors on the risks of investing in nations with inefficient or incapable governments. In the end, the invisible hand will punish excess if selected politicians aren’t ethical enough to solve this issue themselves.
