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The Rothschild Coat of ArmsINTRODUCTIONIt is currently estimated that the Rothschild net worth is worth more than $350 billion when each member's personal fortunes is combined.[1] Their rise to power is somewhat indistinguishable from the rise of the financial industry they spearheaded.[2] For that, they've been both venerated and vilified. They've inspired both eager financiers and conspiracy theorists. For the latter, they've become the very embodiment Jewish evil for Europe's rampant anti-semitism of the 19th and 20th centuries.Here is a supercondensed version of their history. There are much richer narratives on the web, though they are interspersed with the aforementioned speculation. I've endeavoured to filter that as much as possible, leaving the reader with only the facts and for him to speculate to his heart's content.I did include, however, along with the text, quotes from various sources, some directly about the Rothschilds, some indirectly, others about the financial industry they spearheaded, and some from the Rothschilds themselves. Some are from primary sources, others are attributed. The quotes illustrate how the Rothschilds were - and still are - perceived, the sourced ones by their authors, and the others by those who attributed to them.As noted below, much of what follows has been used to justify anti-semitism. Indeed it has. It is nonetheless informative to consider both the facts and their narrative to understand their interplay, and how much the Rothschilds influenced the world around us as well as the world within us.Without further ado...THE ROTHSCHILDSLate 1700s till early 1800s"Money is the god of our time, and Rothschild is his prophet."Heinrich Heine, poet, close friend of James (Jacob) Rothschild [3] and of Karl Marx (and also his cousin).[4]Mayer Amschel Rothschild started out in 1763 as a rare coin dealer. In 1769 he was appointed Crown Agent to the Principality of Hesse-Hansau. In 1785 he became a banker for Wilhelm IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and handled Britain's payments to Hessian mercenaries during the French Revolution."Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws!"Mayer Amschel Rothschild, attributed by Gertrude M. Coogan (1935),[5] or maxim of the House of Rothschild as attributed by one Mr. Daniel (1914).[6]In 1812, Mayer sent his youngest son Jakob to Paris, where he opened the Banque MM. de Rothschild Frères, which later became a finance giant in Paris. By that time Mayer's third son, Nathan Mayer Rothschild, had already established himself in London since 1798 with one of Europe's most powerful banking institutions: N. M. Rothschild & Sons. From 1813 to 1815, Nathan almost single-handedly financed the British Crown and its continental allies in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1815 alone, he lent US$10.1 billion to Britain's continental allies (indexed by average earnings).[7]"Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain."Napoleon Bonaparte (1815), attributed by Robert McNair Wilson (1933).[8]Nathan learned a day ahead of everyone else that England had won the Battle of Waterloo. To capitalise on the victory, instead of buying more Crown bonds from traders, he dumped his onto the market, misleading the street to infer that England had lost. A fire-sale ensued, and Nathan bought them all back at 95% discount, multiplying his wealth 20-fold in 3 days."The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York (1863) attributed by Senator John Sherman.In 1822, along with his four brothers, Jakob was bestowed the hereditary title of "Freiherr" (Baron) by Emperor Francis I of Austria, and adopted the name James de Rothschild. That same year he was appointed consul-general of the Austrian Empire, and in 1823 was awarded the French Legion of Honor.In 1825 Nathan bailed out the Bank of England, establishing himself as Britain's lender of last resort, and in the same year, he enabled the independence of Brazil from Portugal by lending it the £2 million Portugal required to accept the independence.[9] Of that amount, Portugal owed £1.5 to Rothschild himself on a previous loan of 1823.[10]"Who hold the balance of the world? Who reignO'er congress, whether royalist or liberal?Who rouse the shirtless patriots of Spain? [*](That make old Europe's journals squeak and gibber all.)Who keep the world, both old and new, in painOr pleasure? Who make politics run glibber all?The shade of Buonaparte's noble daring? --Jew Rothschild, and his fellow-Christian, Baring."- Don Juan, George Gordon, Lord Byron, 1823.In 1835 Nathan secured a contract with the Spanish Government giving him the rights to the Almadén quicksilver mines in southern Spain, effectively gaining the monopoly of mercury in Europe. In 1845, the French government awarded the Rothschilds the contract to build the Nord line, the coutry's first major railway. Nathan's son, Lionel de Rothschild, was elected London's MP in 1847."It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and money system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, Unsourced.Late 1800s till early 1900sThe Rothschilds became increasingly involved in ever larger transactions:1871 Loaned France $1m thaler to cover part of its war reparations to Prussia.1873 Bought out loss-making Rio Tinto copper mines.1875 Financed Britain's £4m purchase of 44% of the Suez Canal.[11]1886 Founded the Caspian and Black Sea Petroleum Company.1887 Financed the establishment of De Beers.1894 Baron Mayer de Rothschild's son-in-law, the Earl of Roseberry, became British Prime Minister.In 1897 Gustave de Rothschild financed the launch of the feminist newspaper La Fronde, featuring columnist Clémence Royer, whose translation of Charles Darwin's On the Origins of the Species 31 years earlier, its first ever to French, was the first to use Darwin's theory to justify eugenics:“The data of the theory of natural selection can no longer leave us to doubt that the superior races have been produced gradually, and that consequently, by virtue of the law of progress, they are not intended to supplant the lower races by progressing, and not to mix and to be merged with them, at the risk of being absorbed in them by crossings which would bring down the average level of the species. In a word, human races are not distinct species, but they are very distinct and unequal varieties, and it would be necessary to think twice before proclaiming political and civil equality among a people composed of a minority of Indo-Europeans and a majority of Mongols or Negroes.”Clémence Royer, De l'Origine des espèces, ou Des lois du progrès chez les êtres organisés, 1866.[12]At that time, J.P. Morgan, America's richest man at the time, financed John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Edward Harriman's railroads and Andrew Carnegie's steel mills."Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing."Ralph M Hawtry, former US Secretary to the Treasury.In 1895, at the depths of the Panic of 1893, the Federal Treasury was nearly out of gold. President Grover Cleveland accepted Morgan's offer to join with the Rothschilds and supply the U.S. Treasury with 3.5 million ounces of gold to restore the treasury surplus in exchange for a 30-year bond issue.[13]"Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are the United States government's institutions. They are not government institutions. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign swindlers."Congressional Record 12595-12603 — Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency (12 years) 10 Jun 1932.In 1907, J.P. Morgan and partners cornered the overextended US private banks, and generated a bank run. Morgan offered to bring liquidity back to the market through the issuance of his own currency. He indeed reestablished confidence in credit markets and was heralded a national hero by then Princeton University's president, one Woodrow Wilson."I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs."Thomas Jefferson.Wilson recommended appointing "a committee of six or seven public-spirited men like J.P. Morgan to handle the affairs of [the] country", which Theodore Roosevelt promptly did. He created the National Monetary Committee (NMC), which included J.P. Morgan, and was chaired by who would later be John D. Rockefeller's co-father-in-law, senator Nelson Aldrich from Rhode Island."If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations."Andrew Jackson.After extensively consulting with private central bankers in England, France and Germany, Aldrich returned in 1910 and chaired a secret meeting in Jekyll Island. Other than J.P. Morgan and Aldrich, the meeting included Frank Vanderlip, then president of National City Bank of New York and Paul Warburg. Warburg had been hired by Kuhn, Lobe and Co., an investment firm, to lobby for a privately owned central bank in the US."Issue of currency should be lodged with the government and be protected from domination by Wall Street. We are opposed to…provisions [which] would place our currency and credit system in private hands."Theodore Roosevelt.On 23 Dec 1913, when most of Congress had gone home for Christmas, Woodrow Wilson, then US president, signed the Federal Reserve Act into law."A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men... We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men."Woodrow Wilson, 1913.[14]In 1919 the first Gold Fix takes place at the offices of N M Rothschild & Sons in London. In 1926 they finance London's Tube."I am afraid the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can and do create money. And they who control the credit of the nation direct the policy of Governments and hold in the hollow of their hand the destiny of the people."- Reginald McKenna, as Chairman of the Midland Bank, addressing stockholders in 1924.."If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks … will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. … The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."- Thomas Jefferson in the debate over the Re-charter of the Bank Bill (1809).Warburg's contact at Kuhn, Lobe & Co., Jacob Schiff, was his brother's father-in-law, and their grandparents had shared a house with the Rothschilds back in Frankfurt. Since then, the two families maintained a strong bond between them. In 1913, Jacob Schiff funded the Russian Revolutionaries with $20m USD to overthrow the Czar of Russia.[15] That eventually happened four years later. The Russian nobility had steadfastly refused to allow European financiers to set up a private central bank in Russia."History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance."James Madison.For this reason, in 1863, Czar Alexandre II sent part of his naval fleet to San Francisco in aid to Lincoln's battle against the South, which in turn was aided by Britain and France.[16][17]On that same year, Lincoln had issued the first USD to finance his troops, freeing the Union's finances from European-backed lenders, thus cutting short substantial revenue of Europe's private central banks. The Czar knew that a victory of the South would strengthen its backers, and enable them to have another go at Russia."The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity."Abraham Lincoln (1865) attributed by Michael Rowbotham (1998).[18]In 1865, Lincoln was assassinated."The death of Lincoln was a disaster for Christendom. There was no man in the United States great enough to wear his boots and the bankers went anew to grab the riches. I fear that foreign bankers with their craftiness and tortuous tricks will entirely control the exuberant riches of America and use it to systematically corrupt civilization."Otto von Bismark (1815-1898), German Chancellor.Seventeen years before that, in 1848, Marx and Engels had published their Communist Manifesto. Marx's grandmother was a first cousin of Nathan Mayer Rothschild's wife. Nathan's brother, James, was also a close friend of Marx's equally close friend, the poet Heinrich Heine. In 1882 the Manifesto arrived in Russia. A 35-year generation later, the Manifesto inspired the 1917 Russian Revolution that took down the Czar."Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal – that there is no human relation between master and slave."Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer.On that same year, 1917, on 2 Nov, UK's Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, had sent a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild, great-grandson of Nathan Mayer Rothschild.[19] That letter became known as the Balfour Declaration. Thirty-one years later, on 14 May 1948, Israel was proclaimed, and in 1956, it was made public that Baron James de Rothschild had left $6m Israeli liras in his will for the construction of the Knesset. It was inaugurated on 30 Aug 1966 in the presence of the baron's widow, Dorothy de Rothschild.[20][21]MK Mordechai Nurock at the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Knesset; behind him are the President, Knesset Speaker, and Dorothy de Rothschild, 14 Oct 1958.In 1938, the Austrian Rothschilds' interests were seized by the Nazis, bringing to an end more than a century at the heart of middle European banking.[22]“Today I will once more be a prophet. If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the bolshevization of the earth and this the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!”Adolf Hitler, Speech to the Reichstag, 30 Jan 1941.[23]Lustige Blätter (v. 27, 1943) suggests that the Jews controlled the Allied forces.Late 1900s till early 2000sOn 28 Nov 1961, Kennedy halted sales of silver by the Treasury Department. Two years later, on 22 Nov 1963, he was assassinated. On 15 Aug 1971, Richard Nixon terminated the gold standard, crowning the USD the de facto world currency."The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society... For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy... It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations."John F. Kennedy, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, 27 April 1961.“After visiting these two places you can easily see how that within a few years Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived. He had boundless ambition for his country, which rendered him a menace to the peace of the world, but he had a mystery about him in the way that he lived and in the manner of his death that will live and grow after him. He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.”John F. Kennedy, personal diary, 1 August 1945.[24]In 1969, former Rothschild general manager, George Pompidou was elected President of France. In 1985, Lord Victor Rothschild, former MI5 spy, advised Thatcher on the privatisation of Britsh Gas, and in 1986 penned the policy paper that spurred her nemesis: the Poll Tax. Victor was Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's father-in-law."Does 'R.F.' mean Republique Francaise or Rothschild Freres?"New York Times, 25 Jun 1967.In 1976 Victor passed his chairmanship of N M Rothschild & Sons to Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild. At the time, since 1972, Evelyn had already been chairman of The Economist, a position he held until 1989, the year he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. On 30 Nov 2000, Bill Clinton had him over at the White House to spend his honeymoon. On that same year, N M Rothschild & Sons advised the British government on 3G mobile phone licensing.[25]Evelyn is a Governor of the London School of Economics, served as Chairman of the Delegacy of St Mary's Hospital Medical School from 1977 to 1988, a Council Member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, a trustee of the Shakespeare Globe Trust, Chairman of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers since 1988, and was founding chairman of The European Association for Banking and Financial History in Frankfurt from 1990 until 2004.Victor's son Jacob Rothschild is Chairman of RIT Capital Partners plc, one of the largest investment trusts quoted on the London Stock Exchange with a net asset value of over £2 billion. In 1989, he joined forces with the Anglo-French financial tycoon Sir James Goldsmith (Oliver Stone's inspiration for Gordon Gecko in Wall Street) and Australia's wealthiest man Kerry Packer on an unsuccessful bid for British American Tobacco. In 2002 he hosted the European Economic Round Table conference at his country estate; attendees included James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, Nicky Oppenheimer, Warren Buffett and Arnold Schwarzenegger. On October 2003, Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California.Warren Buffett, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jacob RothschildOn that same year, 2003, Russia's wealthiest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky passed his YUKOS stock to Jacob just prior to his arrest. From November 2003 until his retirement in 2008, he was Deputy Chairman of BSkyB Television, and in 2006 Jacob became a Founding Partner and Advisory Board Member of the Xander Group in India, with over $2 billion USD in infrastructure, hospitality, entertainment, retail and real estate under management. In 2011, Jacob Rothschild bought 25% of former JP Morgan Investment Bank co-chief executive Bill Winters' new investment firm Renshaw Bay.[26] In 2010, Jacob purchased 5% of Genie Energy, a subsidiary of IDT Corp, for $10 million USD. In 2012, Sarah Palin hired former IDT executive Michael Glassner as her chief of staff. In 2013, Genie Energy was granted exclusive oil and gas exploration rights in Israeli occupied Golan Heights, Syria.Footnotes[1] Rothschild Family's Net Worth Explained[2] Rothschild family - Wikipedia[3] Jakob Rothschild[4] Marx to Heine, Feb 1845[5] The Money Creators[6] Hearings with Reference to Currency Legislation ...[7] The Ascent of Money[8] Talk:Napoleon I of France[9] Exhibitions ‹ Rothschilds and Brazil[10] Rothschilds and Brazil: An Introduction to Sources in the Rothschild Archive[11] Suez Canal - Wikipedia[12] De l'Origine des esp�ces, ou Des lois du progr�s chez les �tres organis�s ... Traduit ... sur la troisi�me �dition ... par Mlle Cl�mence Auguste Royer. Avec une pr�face et des notes du traducteur[13] The Golden Touch[14] The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People[15] The Remarkable True Story of the American Capitalists Who Financed the Russian Communists: Antony C. Sutton: 9781905570355: Amazon.com: Books[16] United Kingdom and the American Civil War - Wikipedia[17] France and the American Civil War - Wikipedia[18] A Study of Modern Money, Debt Slavery, and Destructive Economics: Michael Rowbotham: 9781897766408: Amazon.com: Books[19] http://www1.rothschildarchive.org/genealogy/[20] http://www1.rothschildarchive.org/business/timeline/[21] http://www.knesset.gov.il/birthday/eng/EarlyYears_eng.htm[22] Rothschild & Co[23] Hitler's Threats Against the Jews (1941-1945)[24] Prelude to Leadership[25] http://www1.rothschildarchive.org/business/timeline/[26] Rothschilds confirms backing for ex JP Morgan chief's new firm

A friend of mine put together an awesome handwritten sign outlining why she's voting for President Obama this year, I think it says almost everything you need to know:Many Americans take it for granted that President Obama has been one of the most effective Presidents since FDR. It's important to remember just how bad things were when he took office and how much he's accomplished since he's been in office.We were hemorrhaging jobs when this President took office and now we've gone from 10% unemployment down to around 8.5%. If the recovery continues on this path, we'll be back to around 5% unemployment by 2016.It's not just about jobs though, President Obama has also worked to restore America's image around the world. When President Bush was in office we were invading countries for no reason, now we've left Iraq and are in the process of leaving Afghanistan.In case you needed a few other examples of what President Obama has accomplished I put together a list below:Extended child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixesCreated an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to invest in peer-reviewed manufacturing processesRequired economic justification for tax changesImplemented "Women Owned Business" contracting programChanged standards for determining broadband accessEstablished a credit card bill of rightsExpanded loan programs for small businessesExtended the Bush tax cuts for lower incomesExtended the 2007 Alternative MinimumTax patchClosed the "doughnut hole" in Medicare prescription drug planExpanded the Senior Corps volunteer programRequired insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditionsGave tax credits to those who need help to pay health premiumsRequired large employers to contribute to a national health planRequired children to have health insurance coverageExpanded eligibility for MedicaidExpanded eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP)Required health plans to disclose how much of the premium goes to patient careEstablished an independent health institute to provide accurate and objective informationIn non-competitive markets, forced insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient careEliminated the higher subsidies to Medicare Advantage plansExpanded funding to train primary care providers and public health practitionersIncreased funding to expand community based prevention programsReinstated executive order to hire an additional 100,000 federal employees with disabilities within five years.Increased the Veterans Administration budget to recruit and retain more mental health professionalsExpanded the Veterans Administration's number of "centers of excellence" in specialty careAppointed a special adviser to the president on violence against womenFully funded the Violence Against Women ActDirected military leaders to end war in IraqBegan removing combat brigades from IraqCreated a military families advisory boardEnded the abuse of supplemental budgets for warMade U.S. military aid to Pakistan conditional on anti-terror effortsOpened "America Houses" in Islamic cities around the globeAllocated Homeland Security funding according to riskCreated a real National Infrastructure Protection PlanIncreased funding for local emergency planningExtended monitoring and verification provisions of the START I TreatyAppointed a White House Coordinator for Nuclear SecurityInitiated a grant and training program for law enforcement to deter cyber crimeImproved relations with Turkey, and its relations with Iraqi KurdsLaunched an international Add Value to Agriculture Initiative (AVTA)Created a rapid response fund for emerging democraciesGranted Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to CubaRestored funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) programEstablished an Energy Partnership for the AmericasExpanded the Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first-time mothersRequired new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.Provided affordable, high-quality child careRecruited math and science degree graduates to the teaching professionReduced subsidies to private student lenders and protect student borrowersEncouraged water-conservation efforts in the WestIncreased funding for national parks and forestsIncreased funding for the Land and Water Conservation FundEncouraged farmers to use more renewable energy and be more energy efficientExpanded Pell grants for low-income studentsPursued a wildfire management planRemoved more brush, small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfiresExpanded access to places to hunt and fishPushed for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factorsRepealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policyRestored funding to the EEOC and the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance ProgramsReformed mandatory minimum sentencesCreated a White House Office on Urban PolicyFully funded the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)Established program to convert manufacturing centers into clean technology leadersEstablished 'Promise Neighborhoods' for areas of concentrated povertyWorked toward deploying a global climate change research and monitoring systemFunded a major expansion of AmeriCorpsCreated a Social Investment Fund NetworkBolstered the military's ability to speak differentlanguagesAppointed the nation's first Chief Technology OfficerProvided grants to early-career researchersWorked to overturn Ledbetter vs. GoodyearCreated a national declassification centerAppointed an American Indian policy adviserCreated new financial regulationsIncreased funding for land-grant collegesBanned lobbyist gifts to executive employeesSigned a "universal" health care billCreated new criminal penalties for mortgage fraudRequired 10 percent renewable energy by 2012Released oil from Strategic Petroleum ReserveRaised fuel economy standardsInvested in all types of alternative energyEnacted tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid carsAsked people and businesses to conserve electricityRequired more energy-efficient appliancesCreated a 'Green Vet Initiative' to promote environmental jobs for veteransCreated job training programs for clean technologiesRequired states to provide incentives for utilities to reduce energy consumptionSupported high-speed railSupported airline service in small townsInvested in public transportationEqualized tax breaks for driving and public transitConsidered "smart growth" in transportation fundingShared environmental technology with other countriesDoubled federal spending for research on clean fuelsProvided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codesIncreased funding for the Environmental Protection AgencyRaised the small business investment expensing limit to $250,000 through the end of 2009Extended unemployment insurance benefits andtemporarily suspend taxes on these benefitsSupported network neutrality on the InternetReversed restrictions on stem cell researchKilled Osama bin LadenDoubled funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program that encourages manufacturing efficiencyIncluded environmental and labor standards in trade agreementsCreated an international tax haven watch listMade permanent the Research & Development tax creditRequired automatic enrollment in 401(k) plansRequired automatic enrollment in IRA plansCreated a consumer-friendly credit card rating systemCreated a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridgesRequired full disclosure of company pension investments to employeesProvided easy-to-understand comparisons of the Medicare prescription drug plansInvested in electronic health information systemsPhased in requirements for health information technologyRequired that health plans utilize disease management programsRequired providers to report measures of health care costs and qualityHeld hospitals and health plans accountable for disparities in careImplemented and funded proven health intervention programsPrevented drug companies from blocking generic drugsAllowed Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug pricesWorked with schools to create more healthful environments for childrenImproved recruitment of public health workersMandated insurance coverage of autism treatmentFully funded the Combating Autism Act and Federal Autism Research InitiativesDoubled federal funding for cancer researchIncreased participation in cancer-related clinical trialsFully funded the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)Set a national goal to provide re-screening for all 2-year-olds for developmental disordersCommissioned a study on students with disabilities and their transition to jobs or higher educationSet goals and timetables for implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation ActCreated a best practices list for private businesses in accommodating workers with disabilitiesLaunched educational initiative for employers on tax benefits of hiring employees with disabilitiesReduced the threshhold for the Family and Medical Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employeesProvided a $1.5 billion fund to help states launch programs for paid family and medical leaveRequired employers to provide seven paid sick days per yearStreamlined the Social Security disability approval processExpanded Veterans Centers in rural areasEstablished standards of care for traumatic brain injury treatmentMade the Veterans Administration a national leader in health reformReduced the Veterans Benefits Administration claims backlogInstituted electronic record-keeping for the Veterans Benefits AdministrationExpanded housing vouchers program for homeless veteransLaunched a supportive services-housing program for veterans to prevent homelessnessExpanded the Family Medical Leave Act to include leave for domestic violence or sexual assaultFully funded debt cancellation for heavily indebted poor countriesCreated a fund for international small and medium enterprises (SME)Launched robust diplomatic effort with Iraq and its neighborsProvided $30 billion over 10 years to IsraelLimited Guard and Reserve deployments to one year for every six yearsEnded the "Stop-Loss" program of forcing troops to stay in service beyond their expected commitmentsFully and properly equipped troopsCreated a Civilian Assistance Corps that would organize private sector professionals to help in times of needIncluded humanitarian international missions in long-term budgetingReviewed weapons programsModernized ships and invested more in small vesselsSet standards for when the government should hire defense contractorsRestored the government's ability to manage contracts by rebuilding our contract officer corpsCreated a system of incentives and penalties for defense contractsEstablish a Global Education FundStrengthened the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) aimed at stopping spread of weapons of mass destructionOrganized successful Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in 2010Expanded federal bioforensics program for tracking biological weaponsDeveloped a comprehensive cyber security and response strategyMandated standards for securing personal dataRequired companies to disclose personal information data breachesWorked to persuade the European Union to end credit guarantees to IranSeek to negotiate a political agreement on CyprusRestructured and streamlined USAIDIncreased the size of the foreign serviceUrged China to stop manipulation of its currency valuePressed China to end its support for regimes in Sudan, Burma, Iran and ZimbabweCreated a public "Contracts and Influence" databaseRequired Cabinet officials to host Internet town hall meetingsConducted regulatory agency business in publicPromoted more pre-school educationExpanded Early Head Start and Head StartReformed No Child Left BehindDoubled funding for Federal Charter School Program and require more accountabilityAddressed the dropout crisis by giving schools incentives for more dropout preventionCreated Teacher Residency Programs that will send teachers to high-need schoolsExpanded teacher mentoring programs and provide incentives for more planning timePromoted innovative ways to reward good teachersSimplified the application process for financial aidIncreased the number of high school students taking college-level coursesCreated incentives for tree planting and promote carbon sequestrationImproved water qualityRegulated pollution from major livestock operationsStrengthened federal environmental justice programsIncreased funding for organic and sustainable agriculturePartnered with landowners to conserve private landsCreated a community college partnership programIncreased funding for progams that conserve lands and habitat for select species such as the Osceola turkeySupported wetlands protectionPromoted economic development in MexicoSupported repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)Vigorously pursued hate crimes and civil rights abusesSigned the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act into lawSupported regional innovation clustersHelped low-income areas get phone and Internet serviceCreated a Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit (HOME) score for mortgage comparisonsIncreased the supply of affordable housing throughout metropolitan regionsInvested in transitional jobs and career pathway programsFully funded the COPS programImproved emergency response plansCapped interest rates on payday loans and improve disclosureExpanded public/private partnerships between schools and arts organizationsImproved climate change data recordsSupported improved weather prediction programOffered prizes for advances in consumer technologyEncouraged contests and programs to interest students in scienceIncreased research opportunities for college studentsStrengthened the levees in New OrleansDirected revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to increased coastal hurricane protectionShook loose federal money for rebuilding the Gulf Coast

Long Read“Why is India's economic growth rate lower than China's?”Indian economy poised to pick up in 2019, do better than China's: IMFThe IMF's January World Economy Outlook update says India will remain the fastest growing major economies of the world.India continues on its remarkable economic growth journeyThe Indian economy is still performing well, with foreign investment and looser regulations driving significant growth in the country. However, low living standards and a host of socioeconomic issues are impeding its ascension to ‘developed’ market status“Let the whole world hear it loud and clear. India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We shall overcome.”Those iconic words were spoken in 1991 by India’s finance minister at the time, Manmohan Singh, when the country embarked upon its most innovative economic reform yet. Since then, India has experienced extraordinary financial growth (see Fig 1), and is now the world’s sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The IMF predicts that by the end of 2018, India will have moved into fifth place, knocking the UK from the position that it has occupied since 2014Low standards of living, inadequate healthcare and corruption have prevented the country from escaping its emerging market categorisationIndia’s journey to economic ascendancy has been facilitated by a multitude of factors, including an influx of foreign investment and an end to the country’s highly restrictive licensing regulations. These changes have bolstered the country’s international economic standing, allowing it to compete with developed nations like the UK and the US for market dominance in sectors such as technological infrastructure and e-commerce.However, low standards of living, an inadequate healthcare system and high levels of corruption have impeded progress. These factors have prevented the country from escaping the confines of its ‘emerging market’ categorization and ascending to the highly coveted ‘developed’ market status.Road to modernityIndia’s autonomous economic story began in 1947, after it was granted freedom from British rule. Prior to independence, the country’s economy had been relatively stagnant, growing at around one percent per year. It began to expand slowly in the late 1940s, but any significant growth was impeded by the country’s centralised, socialism-inspired economic model.GDP growth in India remained at around 3.5 percent per year up until 1991, with per capita growth struggling at around 1.3 percent. This was down to the extensive nationalisation process that took place during the 1950s, which consolidated economic power in the hands of the state. The process began in 1951 with the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, which gave the government control over 38 key industries and 171 products, ranging from coal and precious metals to fans and sewing machines. Economic freedom in the country was extremely constrained and regional disparity was common, given that the government had the power to determine the location and size of certain industries. It was handed even more power in 1953 with the Air Corporations Act, which effectively turned the market-driven, consumer-centric civil aviation industry into a nationalised moneymaking machine.The state’s power was cemented further in 1956 with the Industrial Policy Resolution, which classified industry into three categories. Innovation and development of ‘category one’ and ‘category two’ industries was entirely driven by the state, while ‘category three’ industries were left to the private sector, although operational licences had to be obtained by citizens.$39bn Annual e-commerce sales in India in 2017$200bn Expected annual e-commerce sales in India by 20262nd Largest global start-up hub5,700+ Number of start-ups across IndiaKnown as the Licence Raj, this series of policies strangled the economy by curbing entrepreneurship and putting the country’s fiscal future entirely in the hands of state bureaucrats. Dr Ruth Kattumuri, founder of the London School of Economics’ India Observatory, told World Finance: “1956 was the first consolidated industrial policy post-independence, and it reflected the government’s socialistic focus for the development of society. The policy structure allowed the state to exercise much more power, making the country much more inward-looking, which was detrimental to growth.”India’s economic narrative continued in that same vein for the next 35 years, with the insurance, banking and coal industries also undergoing the nationalisation treatment during the 1960s and 1970s. A significant shift came, though, with the government’s statement on industrial policy in 1991. In his book 70 Policies that Shaped India: 1947 to 2017, Independence to $2.5 Trillion, economist Gautam Chikermane remarked: “If the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 was the single most important policy that shut India down, the 1991 statement on industrial policy is the overarching architecture that opened all doors.” The statement abolished the Licence Raj, opened up state-controlled industries to foreign technology investment and regulated unfair trade practices: in effect, it set India on the path to becoming the modern open economy that it is today. Chikermane told World Finance: “This was the time that India became serious about GDP growth – it has been the landmark policy of the past 25 years. The India that you see today wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for this policy.”Unpacking the nomenclatureToday, India’s economy is caught somewhere between ‘emerging’ and ‘developed’ status. In some areas, it is nipping at the heels of its market neighbors; in others, it lags well behind.India’s economy is caught somewhere between ‘emerging’ and ‘developed’ statusIndia was first classified as an emerging market by former Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O’Neill, who coined the term ‘BRIC economies’. He decreed in 2001 that Brazil, Russia, India, and China’s economies were expanding at a much faster rate than those of the G7. O’Neill posited that the BRIC nations could become the four most dominant global economies by 2050, but would have to take certain steps – including political cooperation with regards to trade agreements – in order to progress beyond emerging market status.An emerging market is defined as a country that has some characteristics of an established market, but does not satisfy all of the demands for it to be categorised as a fully developed economy. According to MSCI, a provider of index data for global markets, the characteristics of an emerging market are: significant openness to foreign ownership and ease of capital flow; good and tested efficiency and stability of the operational framework; and a minimum of three national companies that meet certain market cap and liquidity criteria.A mixed bagIndia has embraced some emerging market characteristics more willingly than others. The country’s operational framework, including elements such as political leadership, health systems, educational opportunities and scientific research, has progressed rapidly since the economic reforms of 1991. By introducing sound fiscal policies of privatisation and tax reductions, the government has allowed industry to take off in cities including Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, which had a knock-on effect on unemployment and quality of living within the surrounding areas. The digital age has also greatly benefitted India, as it has given rise to a new generation of well-educated and highly skilled professionals across STEM industries. To further promote technological development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched various campaigns, including Digital India and Startup India, to bolster digital adoption.Political corruption remains a significant concern, and one that continues to hold India’s economy backThe country is also becoming more receptive to foreign ownership, with Modi introducing changes to regulation in 2016 and 2018 to make it easier for international firms to invest in Indian businesses. Under these reforms, airlines, some defence industries and real estate brokerages may now be 100 percent foreign-owned, while investment rules in pharmaceuticals and food production have also been relaxed. The government claimed in a 2016 statement that India “is now the most open economy in the world for foreign direct investment”. Kattumuri reaffirmed this, observing: “There is a lot of variation between states, with some more open than others. Modi’s government has really pushed for FDI, in part because Modi himself comes from a state where people are really entrepreneurial, so he has invested his energy into driving private sector investment and FDI.”Political corruption, however, remains a significant concern and one that continues to hold India’s economy back. Transparency International, an NGO that works to combat global corruption, placed India 81st out of 180 countries on its 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index, due to complex tax and licensing systems, the prevalence of government bribing and state monopolisation on certain goods. According to a 2005 report by the same organisation, more than 92 percent of Indians had first-hand experience of paying bribes to public servants. The country is attempting to crack down on the practice, but the widespread nature of corruption in India means it is a lengthy process.Still on trackDespite some political reticence, India does fulfil all of the emerging market criteria. In certain categories, in fact, the country extends well beyond the confines of that definition and into developed economy territory. In order to progress to this higher status, a country must achieve a high GDP and GDP per capita, a high level of industrialisation, substantial technological infrastructure, sustainable economic development, and a high standard of living.India’s GDP is expanding at an exponential rate, having surged 8.8 percent between July 2017 and July 2018. The country is also performing extremely well with regards to other economic benchmarks including purchasing power parity, for which the World Bank ranked it third in the world in 2017. The country was also ranked first in AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index in 2017, and it has one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets, with sales expected to reach $200bn by 2026, up from $39bn in 2017.However, India’s per capita GDP trails well behind its other economic benchmarks. According to 2017 statistics from the World Bank, GDP per capita equated to $1,939 (see Fig 2), making it 140th in the world. That figure is a far cry from the $12,000-$15,000 benchmark that most economists consider to be the necessary GDP per capita for a country to be labelled a developed economy.“India is a very populous nation,” explained Chikermane, noting that the large population has a lowering effect on GDP per capita by distributing wealth over a vast number of citizens. “Our GDP is $2.6trn, which is approximately equal to that of the UK, but our population is 20 times theirs. Clearly in terms of per capita, we have a long way to go.” Inequality is also a particularly pertinent problem, as the gap between the richest and poorest residents of the country has widened significantly over the past 10 to 15 years. “The GDP per capita is an indication that India needs to focus on tackling inequality,” said Kattumuri. “This includes exploring how we can provide greater equal opportunities, and how we [can] enable more inclusive growth across different economic and social strata.”In certain areas, though, India is on par with the world’s developed economies. It is a major exporter of business process outsourcing services, IT infrastructure and software services, all of which drove $154bn of revenue in 2017. It is the world’s second-largest start-up hub, according to Startup Ranking’s latest data, with more than 5,700 such firms located in the country. India has a highly advanced technological infrastructure, underpinned by an efficient quotidian service and manufacturing economy. It has the second-largest telecommunications market in the world and, according to the International Telecom Union’s Global ICT Development Index, India will soon be in the top 10, having been 134th just two years ago.Faster and fasterIt’s clear that rapid growth is a prominent facet of the Indian economy, but the key concern for the country now is ensuring that this growth is sustainable. According to MSCI, sustainable economic development is the vital characteristic that sets an emerging market apart from a developed one. It is defined as growth that satisfies contemporary human needs, but in a manner that sustains natural resources and the environment for future generations. It is here that India falls down.Classification as a developed economy could provide India with a seat at some of the world’s most prestigious tablesThe country does not have the societal infrastructure to support the needs of its population, let alone its future citizens – particularly if population growth continues to gather speed. The greatest issue at present is lack of access to clean water, which affects more than 163 million people across the country – the highest proportion in the world, according to a new study from Water Aid. Some 64.3 million people live in extreme poverty with no access to housing or healthcare. India also has the third-largest HIV epidemic in the world, with 2.1 million people living with the disease at last count.Lack of sustainable development is also a major concern in the agriculture sector: India placed 33rd out of 34 countries in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2017 Food Sustainability Index. While the country has taken proactive steps to reduce food waste in recent years, nutrition remains a significant problem, with an extremely high rate of malnutrition and nutrient deficiency. Water availability is also problematic, as crops and livestock take a heavy toll on India’s already overstretched water system, while there remains a distinct lack of water-recycling initiatives.“I think our healthcare, our education and the social infrastructure, the human development… They all need to be looked at and we need to work on them,” said Chikermane. “The good news is that we are. For instance, two years ago India had the world’s largest number of poor people, [and] that is no longer the case. Gradually we are pulling people out of poverty. There is also a new healthcare scheme that has just been introduced to try and reach the 100 million poorest households of India. So, one step at a time, we are getting there. However, any scheme needs a huge amount of money because our budget is allocated across a very large number of people. And there are many other needs – healthcare, education, infrastructure, security, defence and so on; all these are requirements that the Indian state needs to negotiate.”Knock-on effectWhile India does exhibit many of the characteristics of a developed nation, inconsistencies across the board and a lack of societal infrastructure hold the country back from attaining the corresponding status. That’s not to say that it won’t ever get there, as many economists have predicted. However, a 2018 report by SBI, the country’s largest lender, warned: “India has perhaps now only a limited window of a decade to get into the developed country tag, or stay perpetually in the emerging group of economies. Policymakers, wake up and smell the coffee!”If India is to drive up its GDP per capita, it must reconsider the pricing of those aspects of its international relationshipsThen there’s the question of what happens on a global level when India does rise to developed economy status. It would be the second Asian country, after Japan, to achieve that accolade, which could have major implications for international markets. “I think the rise of India will be good for the world,” said Chikermane. “India tries to be more inclusive – we are open to trade, we are accepting, we have really embraced globalisation.”It could also affect business relationships between India and western nations like the UK, which is notorious for using Indian amenities such as call centres as cheap alternatives to employing British workers. If India is to drive up its GDP per capita, it must reconsider the pricing of those aspects of its international relationships. This could have knock-on effects for other countries, as they may find themselves facing the decision of paying inflated bills or risking an internal labour shortage. Moreover, if nations turn elsewhere for cheaper service in sectors such as business process outsourcing, India would lose a significant proportion of its import revenue – and the country doesn’t have many other highly developed industries to fall back on as yet. Such a move could see it knocked back down the global rankings in no time at all.There’s also the geopolitical aspect to consider. Classification as a developed economy could provide India with a seat at some of the world’s most prestigious tables, including the G7. At those summits, discussion does not solely centre on economic factors, but also incorporates political values. Although India is steadily becoming more closely aligned with the values of G7 nations, particularly with regards to LGBTQ rights, it has not wholly caught up just yet: it has come under scrutiny in recent years for purchasing weapons from Russia, and its crime rates – particularly with regards to rape, kidnapping and domestic violence – are concerningly high. Being considered a developed economy comes with wider sociocultural responsibilities: the economic aspect will not be treated in isolation, but rather as part of a holistic view of the country.Chikermane is confident that India will “rise to the occasion” in fulfilling the responsibility that comes with being a global economic power. “Given things today, I don’t see India as an aggressive player – it will be an all-embracing, peaceful power, catalysing other countries with regards to trade, FDI, and so on,” he said. With regards to India’s technological prowess and democratic values, there’s much cause for international optimism. First, though, the country must get its house in order.IndiaThe Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest, flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century, the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty, which ruled India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century.By the 19th century, Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Years of nonviolent resistance to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU, eventually resulted in Indian independence, which was granted in 1947. Large-scale communal violence took place before and after the subcontinent partition into two separate states - India and Pakistan. The neighboring nations have fought three wars since independence, the last of which was in 1971 and resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 emboldened Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008, terrorists originating from Pakistan conducted a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, economic growth following the launch of economic reforms in 1991 and a massive youthful population are driving India's emergence as a regional and global power.EconomyIndia's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Slightly less than half of the workforce is in agriculture, but services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for nearly two-thirds of India's output but employing less than one-third of its labor force. India has capitalized on its large educated English-speaking population to become a major exporter of information technology services, business outsourcing services, and software workers. Nevertheless, per capita income remains below the world average.India is developing into an open-market economy, yet traces of its past autarkic policies remain. Economic liberalization measures, including industrial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment, began in the early 1990s and served to accelerate the country's growth, which averaged nearly 7% per year from 1997 to 2017. India's economic growth slowed in 2011 because of a decline in investment caused by high interest rates, rising inflation, and investor pessimism about the government's commitment to further economic reforms and about slow world growth. Rising macroeconomic imbalances in India and improving economic conditions in Western countries led investors to shift capital away from India, prompting a sharp depreciation of the rupee through 2016.Growth rebounded in 2014 through 2016, exceeding 7% each year, but slowed in 2017. Investors’ perceptions of India improved in early 2014, due to a reduction of the current account deficit and expectations of post-election economic reform, resulting in a surge of inbound capital flows and stabilization of the rupee. Since the election, the government has passed an important goods and services tax bill and raised foreign direct investment caps in some sectors, but most economic reforms have focused on administrative and governance changes largely because the ruling party remains a minority in India’s upper house of Parliament, which must approve most bills. Despite a high growth rate compared to the rest of the world, India’s government-owned banks faced mounting bad debt in 2015 and 2016, resulting in low credit growth and restrained economic growth.The outlook for India's long-term growth is moderately positive due to a young population and corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings and investment rates, and increasing integration into the global economy. However, long-term challenges remain significant, including: India's discrimination against women and girls, an inefficient power generation and distribution system, ineffective enforcement of intellectual property rights, decades-long civil litigation dockets, inadequate transport and agricultural infrastructure, limited non-agricultural employment opportunities, high spending and poorly targeted subsidies, inadequate availability of quality basic and higher education, and accommodating rural-to-urban migration.ChinaFor centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communist Party of China under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, MAO's successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically but political controls remain tight. Since the early 1990s, China has increased its global outreach and participation in international organizations.Economy"Since the late 1970s, China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major global role. China has implemented reforms in a gradualist fashion, resulting in efficiency gains that have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. Reforms began with the phaseout of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, growth of the private sector, development of stock markets and a modern banking system, and opening to foreign trade and investment. China continues to pursue an industrial policy, state support of key sectors, and a restrictive investment regime. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis that adjusts for price differences, China in 2016 stood as the largest economy in the world, surpassing the US in 2014 for the first time in modern history. China became the world's largest exporter in 2010, and the largest trading nation in 2013. Still, China's per capita income is below the world average.After keeping its currency tightly linked to the US dollar for years, China in July 2005 moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies. From mid-2005 to late 2008, the renminbi appreciated more than 20% against the US dollar, but the exchange rate remained virtually pegged to the dollar from the onset of the global financial crisis until June 2010, when Beijing announced it would allow a resumption of gradual liberalization. From 2013 until early2015, the renminbi (RMB) appreciated roughly 2% against the dollar, but the exchange rate fell 13% from mid-2015 until end-2016 amid strong capital outflows in part stemming from the August 2015 official devaluation; in 2017 the RMB resumed appreciating against the dollar – roughly 7% from end-of-2016 to end-of-2017. From 2013 to 2017, China had one of the fastest growing economies in the world, averaging slightly more than 7% real growth per year. In 2015, the People’s Bank of China announced it would continue to carefully push for full convertibility of the renminbi, after the currency was accepted as part of the IMF’s special drawing rights basket. However, since late 2015 the Chinese Government has strengthened capital controls and oversight of overseas investments to better manage the exchange rate and maintain financial stability.The Chinese Government faces numerous economic challenges including: (a) reducing its high domestic savings rate and correspondingly low domestic household consumption; (b) managing its high corporate debt burden to maintain financial stability; (c) controlling off-balance sheet local government debt used to finance infrastructure stimulus; (d) facilitating higher-wage job opportunities for the aspiring middle class, including rural migrants and college graduates, while maintaining competitiveness; (e) dampening speculative investment in the real estate sector without sharply slowing the economy; (f) reducing industrial overcapacity; and (g) raising productivity growth rates through the more efficient allocation of capital and state-support for innovation. Economic development has progressed further in coastal provinces than in the interior, and by 2016 more than 169.3 million migrant workers and their dependents had relocated to urban areas to find work. One consequence of China’s population control policy known as the “one-child policy” - which was relaxed in 2016 to permit all families to have two children - is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world. Deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table, especially in the North - is another long-term problem. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and urbanization. The Chinese Government is seeking to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, focusing on natural gas, nuclear, and clean energy development. In 2016, China ratified the Paris Agreement, a multilateral agreement to combat climate change, and committed to peak its carbon dioxide emissions between 2025 and 2030.The government's 13th Five-Year Plan, unveiled in March 2016, emphasizes the need to increase innovation and boost domestic consumption to make the economy less dependent on government investment, exports, and heavy industry. However, China has made more progress on subsidizing innovation than rebalancing the economy. Beijing has committed to giving the market a more decisive role in allocating resources, but the Chinese Government’s policies continue to favor state-owned enterprises and emphasize stability. Chinese leaders in 2010 pledged to double China’s GDP by 2020, and the 13th Five Year Plan includes annual economic growth targets of at least 6.5% through 2020 to achieve that goal. In recent years, China has renewed its support for state-owned enterprises in sectors considered important to ""economic security,"" explicitly looking to foster globally competitive industries. Chinese leaders also have undermined some market-oriented reforms by reaffirming the “dominant” role of the state in the economy, a stance that threatens to discourage private initiative and make the economy less efficient over time. The slight acceleration in economic growth in 2017—the first such uptick since 2010—gives Beijing more latitude to pursue its economic reforms, focusing on financial sector deleveraging and its Supply-Side Structural Reform agenda, first announced in late 2015.China and India have differed markedly in growth performance over the past seventeen years. There are several reasons to explain such diverging trends, the most obvious being the success of China’s economic reforms. Compared with India, China has been able to attain and maintain very high savings and investment rates. Furthermore, China initiated the process of economic reforms as early as 1978, while India did not commence its reform push until 1991. In addition, initial conditions in China were much more conducive for higher growth. In fact, because India’s reforms were crisis induced, the initial conditions in the two countries were quite dissimilar.The economies of India and China are among the largest economies in the world. However the differences in the size, composition and other quantitative and qualitative features stand in stark contrast when comparing China and India. India, has a much smaller economy, about only a fifth of China’s. Its exports are a fraction of China’s, as are its imports. India’s economy is mostly dependent on its large internal market with external trade accounting for just 20% of the country’s GDP. This is a huge difference from China, given just how large a part of Chinas economy is due to International trade. In fact, India’s balance of payments (BoP) on its current account has been negative. However this is probably due to its ever increasing oil import bill and its overall Balance of Payments (BoP) was positive since the late 60s due to remittances from Non Resident Indians and increased foreign direct investment.However, the darker side to blistering growth rates achieved by China is captured by indices of inequality. While the current Gini Index, a measure of inequality of income/wealth, of India is 36.8, the same for China is 46.9, which is remarkably high. However China has successfully reduced the proportion of population living below the poverty line to 10% while India has 22% of its population living below the poverty line. given the sizes of both populations, the difference is massive, and finding the causes of this difference is crucial.A significant question that many economists have tried to answer is the reason behind China’s superlative economic growth. Consensus is now broadly reached with the explanation that it was a combination of several factors, not least the proactive actions of the government, coupled with already favorable historical circumstances that are responsible. China’s very strengths in these areas have been India’s weaknesses.Political EconomyThe histories of China and India have been very different and critical in explaining the growth contrast. China has been by and large a stable, centrally run state through its history with limited periods of instability and lack of a single authority. India’s history has been exactly the reverse.Since 1949 the government, under China’s socialist political and economic system, has been responsible for planning and managing national economy. Foreign trade is supervised by the Ministry of Commerce, customs, and the Bank of China, the foreign exchange arm of the Chinese banking system, which controls access to the foreign currency required for imports. Ever since restrictions on foreign trade were reduced, there have been broad opportunities for individual enterprises to engage in exchanges with foreign firms without much intervention from official agencies.INFRASTRUCTURECompared to India, China has a well developed infrastructure. Some of the important factors that have created a stark difference between the economies of the two countries are manpower and labor development, water management, health care facilities and services, communication, civic amenities and so on.. Although India has become much developed than before, it is still plagued by problems such as lack of civic amenities. In fact unlike India, China is still investing in huge amounts towards manpower development and strengthening of infrastructure.EDUCATIONIn Education, 99.1 % of Chinese children attend school for 9 years, ensuring a high level of literacy. In India, literacy is 50 to 60% . China and India face similar challenges in their higher education sector with intense competition for admission to the best institutions and universities. But China is far ahead on the supply side with nearly 100 high quality institutions and is investing heavily in creating many more, leaving India far behind. As a result China is turning out many more top quality students than India. China has opened up higher education for both private and foreign investment. Foreign investors can come in by tying up with local Chinese partners.Unlike India, China is experiencing a great deal of two-way international student traffic. China has become one of the world’s great study-abroad destinations. Currently more than 60,000 foreigners study in Chinese universities, and that number is swelling each year. China is the number-one choice for U.S. students who want to study in Asia . China is active and aggressive about becoming a major player in international education.HEALTHIn general, for both countries, infectious diseases of the past sit alongside emerging infectious diseases and chronic illnesses associated with ageing societies, although the burden of infectious diseases is much higher in India. Whilst globalisation contributes to widening inequalities in health and healthcare in both countries there is evidence that local circumstances are important, especially with respect to the structure and financing of health care and the implementation of health policy.For example, India has huge problems providing even rudimentary health care to its large population of urban slum dwellers whilst China is struggling to re-establish universal rural health insurance. In terms of funding access to health care, the Chinese state has traditionally supported most costs, whereas private insurance has always played a major role in India, although recent changes in China have seen the burgeoning of private health care payments. China has, arguably, had more success than India in improving population health, although recent reforms have severely impacted upon the ability of the Chinese health care system to operate effectively. Both countries are experiencing a decline in the amount of government funding for health care and this is a major issue that must be addressed.In China earlier extensive public provision of health and education: universal education until Class X, and public services to ensure nutrition, health and sanitation. In India the public provision of all of these has been extremely inadequate throughout this period and has deteriorated in per capita terms since the early 1990sA Close Look: Special Economic Zones (or SEZs) in India and ChinaChina pursued an inward-looking developmental strategy from the 1960s to the late 1970s.From late 1978 onward, Deng started to exert a critical role in Chinese politics and the opening of China. In May, fourteen coastal cities became “open cities.” Deng and other top leaders approved the setting up of the first SEZs in Guangdong and Fujian; they enjoyed geographic proximity to neighboring advanced economies and are coastal cities with access to sea-ports.In addition to picking the right locations for SEZs, Deng and other reformists also carefully appointed leaders to head the major SEZs. In general, these leaders tended to be open minded and possessed a wealth of political experience. Their dedication to work and their upright and honest styles helped them to avoid scandals that could tarnish the reputation of reform. Liang also cracked down hard on official corruption to defuse accusations against the SEZ.Under Liang’s leadership Shenzhen created a number of benchmarks in China’s economic reform in the early 1980s. One was the so-called “Shenzhen efficiency,” exemplified by the completion of one floor of a high-rise office building within only three days. In addition three new offices responsible for economic policies in the SEZ were placed under the jurisdiction of the Mayor’s Office: the General Office of the city government, the SEZ Development Company, and the SEZ Construction Company. This centralized and efficient economic decision process in the hand of local leaders paved the way for rapid formation and operation of the SEZ, which was much needed for the newly established zone in its very early years.First, joint ventures and foreign-owned enterprises were allowed in the SEZs, but needed special approval outside them. Second, prices and distribution of goods were not regulated by the market within the SEZs, but by central plans outside the zones Third, SEZs had jurisdiction in approving much larger investment projects than non-zone localities. Fourth, SEZs enjoyed preferential treatment in tax and tariff reductions and exemptions. For example, the corporate income tax at the SEZs was set at a preferential rate of 15 percent, even lower than the 18.5 percent in Hong Kong.25 Finally, SEZs were granted preferential fiscal arrangements.Fiscal autonomy generated tremendous fiscal incentives and exerted heavy pressure for Shenzhen to reform and develop. These privileges enabled investors to enjoy the lowest corporate income tax rates and tariffs on imports and exports, as well as a freer play of markets in SEZs. SEZs become the premier place in China for attracting FDI.Initially, Shenzhen was short of funds necessary for building streets and urban infrastructure. However, within four years, the city accomplished urban development worth 100 million yuan with only 18 million yuan of loans. It built two industrial districts as well as fifty-five streets of a total length of 100 kilometers. In comparison to India we find that Indian SEZs lack in precisely the areas in which Chinese SEZs seem to have an advantage, such as infrastructure, tackling bureaucracy, corruption, etc.While SEZs in India are generally set up all around the country SEZs in China are mostly on the coast, along one side of the country due to better connectivity to the outside world and advantages in exports.ConclusionPopular opinion is that India cannot catch up with China in the near future, at least in the next few years. China leads India in foreign investment, a key contributor to economic growth, by a margin of 10 to 1, because foreign investors, who can place their money anywhere, see more opportunities and fewer obstacles in China. Ironically, Indian democracy is viewed as a hindrance vis-a-vis the stability of China’s authoritarian regime on its liberalizing market and docile unions. India also lacks a Hong Kong and a Taiwan, next-door technology, and capital hubs that when combined with the mainland’s abundant, cheap, and productive human resources create powerful complements. China dominates in manufacturing and has the market size and spending power domestically The constraints on the growth of India’s GDP appear to be insufficient investments according to most economists, including FDI and investments in infrastructure. The most commonly cited constraints on investments is the confusion and slowness of policy change as well as confusion and tardiness at the bureaucratic levels, as contrasted with the “single mindedness” of the Chinese state.