Most investors know by now that the economic center of the world is in the process of shifting from West to East. Transfers of funds to pay for crude oil imports are a big part of this shift as far as America is concerned. You can not pay out over seven hundred billion dollars a year to oil exporting nations without creating a huge balance of payments problem.
The following list of "tallest, biggest, and largest" shows in a down to earth basic way the results of the global economy shifting its center. These interesting facts are from an author named Ferrez Zagawriteit. Just look at some of these. Some are trivial and some are important. However, all together they paint a pretty stark picture for Westerners staying on top of the economic heap in the 21st century :
1) World's tallest building - Dubai, UAE
2) Largest publicly trading company - Beijing, China
3) Biggest oil refinery - Under construction in India
4) Largest passenger airplane - Airbus - Europe
5) Largest investment fund on the planet - Abu Dhabi, UAE
6) Biggest movie industry - Bollywood, India. (Not Hollywood)
7) Largest Ferris wheel - Singapore
8) Largest casino - Macau. (Macau actually just passed Las Vegas in gambling revenues.)
9) The Mall of America in Minnesota was once one of the largest shopping malls in the world. Now it does not even make the top 10.
Only ten years ago the US would have topped these categories. It's not only that this wealth transfer shift is taking place it's the speed at which it is occurring that is unsettling from a Western point of view.
If you are an American who hasn't traveled outside of the United States recently, or at all, should you take a trip to Asia or , say Dubai, UAE, you will likely be quite taken back by the cutting edge infrastructure being constructed. One personal example hit me right in the eyes about four years ago. I flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from Koh Sumui, Thailand.
Since I departed from as small airport I was on a smaller aircraft which landed at the previous international airport. The airport was a very run down old fashioned facility that was almost deserted as most traffic had already been transferred to the fantastic new Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
After spending four delightful days in a great city I departed from KLIA to Bangkok. Wow! What a difference in airport infrastructure. KLIA is a gleaming facility that is one of the world's best airports. In fact, it is the first airport anywhere to receive Green Globe 21 (GG21) certification, and hence, it is the first environmentally friendly airport in the world.
This type of "leapfrog" from old style facilities to the best and most advanced in the world is common in Asia and in the Arab Gulf States. While America politicians still tell lies to Americans about America having the best and greatest of everything in the world the evidence that this is no longer the case is rapidly developing for anyone who opens their eyes and mind. The fantastic development that occurred in Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympic Games is a good example of how fast things are changing.
The rapid shift in the center of global economic activity presents many outstanding investment opportunities for the internationally inclined investor. If your investment universe is limited to old line US blue chip stocks you have best note that some of the blue chips, like the automotive companies, are looking more black and blue than blue chip.
Go East, young man. A new world is coming.
Learn more about the shift in global economic power and the coming energy crisis and its consequences for the way we will live and work at Crisis News Analysis
