balization. Globalization is unquestionably a democratic concept that puts all mankind on the same platform. In Economics we have a special sentence to describe this process of equalization: we call it ‘Democratization of Wealth’ . The distribution of wealth throughout all nations would be a flawless concept – in a perfect world, that is. But as the younger readers IYoung readers may barely remember this, but only a short fifteen years ago or so the world looked much, much differently. The political landscape consisted of two powerful, monolithic assemblies of nations: us - the ‘Free World’ - and them – the ‘Communist Bloc’. The United States and Western Europe formed the bulk of the countries of the Free World while Soviet Russia, Eastern Europe and Maoist China formed the bulk of the Communist Bloc. As to the remainder of the countries which did not belong either to the Free World nor to the Communist Bloc, they were collectively referred to as the Third World – which included those nations such as Saudi Arabia who were aligned with the Free World on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and with the Communist Bloc on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And then there was the Fourth World – also known as the No Brand World – which neither the Free World nor the Communist Bloc wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole.

Then somebody in Russia began to whisper the words glasnost and perestroika (it was Gorbachev who started first), then somebody in Germany began to yell Vereinigtes Deutschland and to make a long story short in the round of five years there was no more Iron Curtain and no more Soviet Russia. It was the remarkable end of an era of political attrition and economic division lasted more than fifty years, and the onset of a new period in the history of humanity now referred to as globalization. Globalization is unquestionably a democratic concept that puts all mankind on the same platform. In Economics we have a special sentence to describe this process of equalization: we call it ‘Democratization of Wealth’ . The distribution of wealth throughout all nations would be a flawless concept – in a perfect world, that is. But as the younger readers I

et Russia, Eastern Europe and Maoist China formed the bulk of the Communist Bloc. As to the remainder of the countries which did not belong either to the Free World nor to the Communist Bloc, they were collectively referred to as the Third World – which included those nations such as Saudi Arabia who were aligned with the Free World on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and with the Communist Bloc on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And then there was the Fourth World – also known as the No Brand World – which neither the Free World nor the Communist Bloc wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole.

Then somebody in Russia began to whisper the words glasnost and perestroika (it was Gorbachev who started first), then somebody in Germany began to yell Vereinigtes Deutschland and to make a long story short in the round of five years there was no more Iron Curtain and no more Soviet Russia. It was the remarkable end of an era of political attrition and economic division lasted more than fifty years, and the onset of a new period in the history of humanity now referred to as globalization. Globalization is unquestionably a democratic concept that puts all mankind on the same platform. In Economics we have a special sentence to describe this process of equalization: we call it ‘Democratization of Wealth’ . The distribution of wealth throughout all nations would be a flawless concept – in a perfect world, that is. But as the younger readers I

and with the Communist Bloc on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And then there was the Fourth World – also known as the No Brand World – which neither the Free World nor the Communist Bloc wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole.

Then somebody in Russia began to whisper the words glasnost and perestroika (it was Gorbachev who started first), then somebody in Germany began to yell Vereinigtes Deutschland and to make a long story short in the round of five years there was no more Iron Curtain and no more Soviet Russia. It was the remarkable end of an era of political attrition and economic division lasted more than fifty years, and the onset of a new period in the history of humanity now referred to as globalization. Globalization is unquestionably a democratic concept that puts all mankind on the same platform. In Economics we have a special sentence to describe this process of equalization: we call it ‘Democratization of Wealth’ . The distribution of wealth throughout all nations would be a flawless concept – in a perfect world, that is. But as the younger readers I

omebody in Germany began to yell Vereinigtes Deutschland and to make a long story short in the round of five years there was no more Iron Curtain and no more Soviet Russia. It was the remarkable end of an era of political attrition and economic division lasted more than fifty years, and the onset of a new period in the history of humanity now referred to as globalization. Globalization is unquestionably a democratic concept that puts all mankind on the same platform. In Economics we have a special sentence to describe this process of equalization: we call it ‘Democratization of Wealth’ . The distribution of wealth throughout all nations would be a flawless concept – in a perfect world, that is. But as the younger readers Ibalization. Globalization is unquestionably a democratic concept that puts all mankind on the same platform. In Economics we have a special sentence to describe this process of equalization: we call it ‘Democratization of Wealth’ . The distribution of wealth throughout all nations would be a flawless concept – in a perfect world, that is. But as the younger readers I was referring to before may have began to discover already, Planet Earth is not a perfect world. There is a hidden cost to globalization that is beginning to manifest itself more and more in our daily lives. Increasing interest rates which are now beginning to affect, first and foremost, the real estate market are possibly one of the best examples of it. Not because real estate is a special market per se, but because real estate involves the buy and sell of big-ticket items.

Here is the problem: there are on the world stage new economic players, which by and all in itself is not a new phenomenon. Since the early Nineteenth century, many countries have, at different times, emerged as major forces on the international economic scene. During the 1830s, productivity gains associated with the Industrial Revolution launched the United Kingdom as an economic powerhouse. Germany and the United States followed in the latter part of the Nineteenth century, by adopting the new technology of the time, as did Russia for a while before the First World War. Through the 1950s and 1960s, Japan emerged from the Second World War to become a major economic power. Then Korea took off in the 1970s, followed by other so-called "Asian tigers" during the 1980s and 1990s. Now, it is China's turn. And India is not far behind.

What differentiates China and India from these other countries is their sheer size. Together, these two countries represent close to 40 percent o