The Problem with the Economy Class

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D.”— Steve Jobs

The Problem with Economy Class: It is an odd thing about people that no matter what their theories of revolution might be, in the real world, they first blame their equals for their misery. Generally, consumerism is filled with useless products, but I have respect for the business class seat even though it is just an ugly overrated chair, 20 to 22 inches wide, whose greatest distinction is that it can go entirely flat. But it’s true value is not in the flatbed. It’s not the joy of inequality, either, which is a small part of the price. Some people do love the idea of being seen in it; that awkward moment in smaller aircraft when economy passengers have to shuffle past. But the true value of business class largely comes from the misery of not having it.

I Think India Can Do It: My guess is that the most important reason for widespread skepticism about India’s growth prospects is something that most people are too polite to say, except behind the shield of anonymity on a platform like X. A lot of people just don’t believe that Indians, as a people, have what it takes to build a modern high-tech economy. When I express optimism about India’s growth, someone always chimes in to say that Indians have low national IQ.

How Many Years Behind China Is India: Evaluating the two countries on metrics such as GDP per Capita adjusted for PPP, Manufacturing Value Add as a Percentage of GDP, Employment Share in Agriculture, Investment as a Share of GDP, Economic Complexity, PISA Scores, Science & Technology, and a bunch of other metrics that you may not have actively looked up while comparing the two economies.