Behind the Boom of the BRICs
The BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are of interest to international investors, but that’s a different topic. These countries are also preparing to host increased numbers of travelers. China commissioned I. M. Pei to design its new Suzhou Museum and Rem Koolhaas for the CCTV tower in Beijing. Meanwhile a Ritz Carlton resort hotel is coming to the island of Hainan. In Brazil, Philippe Starck is designing a new Ipanema hotel, while the state of Minas Gerais will soon have a new arts center. Russia is building an eco-friendly Moscow City Tower designed by Sir Norman Foster while the new Grand hotel and Spa Rodina have just opened on the Black Sea. India’s middle class has grown 20% in two years, and India is inaugurating safari tours to its game parks.
The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs in a paper “Dreaming with BRICs, The Path to 2050,” which predicted that these four countries would surpass Europe, though not the U.S., by 2050. But here’s something to think about. Is this what Goldman Sachs really expects will happen or is it what they want to happen? Is it perhaps a warning to the democracies of Europe that their economic demise may be in their generous “social nets” consisting of universal health care, maternity leave, unemployment insurance and pensions? Such luxuries aren’t part of the BRIC recipe for success. For more on this point of view, see
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2005/02/bric_ascendant_.html