风萧萧_Frank
以文会友
李光耀教我认识世界的 12 件事
“考虑到它的起点，新加坡的记录比美国好得多，这并非偶然。 在那里，权力集中在一个才华横溢的人李光耀身上，他就是新加坡的沃伦巴菲特。”
— 查理·芒格
新加坡似乎注定要失败或屈从于一个更强大的邻国。 这个国家是迄今为止东南亚最小的国家，自然资源也不多。 李光耀不这么认为。 “他的愿景，”亨利·基辛格 (Henry Kissinger) 写道，“是一种不仅可以生存，而且可以通过卓越而获胜的国家。 卓越的智慧、纪律和独创性将替代资源。”
为了让您了解李光耀取得的巨大成功，当他接任时，人均收入约为 400 美元，而现在，仅在大约两代人的时间里，人均收入就超过了 50,000 美元。
以下是我从李光耀那里学到的关于世界的 12 件事，以及我们目前许多疾病的根源阅读李光耀：大师对中国、美国和世界的见解。
1... 您需要自由交流想法。 “中国将不可避免地在绝对 GDP 方面赶上美国。 但它的创造力可能永远无法与美国相提并论，因为它的文化不允许思想的自由交流和竞争。”
2... 技术将改变治理的运作方式。 “技术将使（中国的）治理体系过时。 到 2030 年，70% 或 75% 的人口将居住在城市、小城镇、大城镇、特大城镇。 他们将拥有手机、互联网和卫星电视。 他们将消息灵通； 他们可以自己组织起来。 你不能像现在这样管理他们，你只能安抚和监督少数人，因为人数会非常多。”
3... 不要试图在一个从未有过民主的国家建立民主。 “我不相信你可以将陌生且与他们的过去完全脱节的标准强加给其他国家。 因此要求中国成为民主国家，在其 5000 年有记载的历史中从未数过人头； 所有的统治者都以天子的权利来统治，如果你不同意，你就砍头，不数头。”
4... 欢迎世界上最好的东西。 “纵观历史，所有成功的帝国都接纳并接纳了其他种族、语言、宗教和文化的人民。”
5... 这是关于结果，而不是承诺。 “当你拥有一个大众民主国家时，为了赢得发言权，你必须付出越来越多的努力。 为了在下次选举中击败对手，你必须承诺付出更多。 因此，这是一个永无止境的拍卖过程——以及成本，即由下一代支付的债务。 如果总统给他们的人民下了猛药，他们就不会连任。 因此，存在拖延、推迟不受欢迎的政策以赢得选举的趋势。 因此，预算赤字、债务和高失业率等问题已从一届政府转移到下一届政府。”
6... 政府不应该有一个简单的出路。 “美国和欧洲政府相信他们总是有能力支持穷人和有需要的人：寡妇、孤儿、老人和无家可归者、弱势少数群体、未婚母亲。 他们的社会学家阐述了这样一种理论，即困难和失败不是由于个人的性格，而是由于经济制度的缺陷。 因此，慈善成为“权利”，靠慈善生活的耻辱感消失了。 不幸的是，福利成本的增长速度超过了政府提高税收来支付的能力。 增税的政治成本很高。 政府通过借款为当代选民提供更高的福利，并将成本转嫁给尚未成为选民的后代，从而采取了简单的出路。 这导致了持续的政府预算赤字和高额公共债务。”
7... 什么影响生活水平？ “一个人的生活水平取决于许多基本因素：首先，与人口相关的资源。 . .; 二是技术水平和产业发展水平； 三是教育培训标准；
8... 国家竞争力的最重要因素……“一个国家的人力资源质量是决定国家竞争力的最重要因素。 正是人们的创新精神、企业家精神、团队合作精神和职业道德赋予他们锐利的竞争优势。 三个属性在这场竞争中至关重要——寻找新机会和承担有计划风险的企业家精神。 原地踏步必将走向灭亡。 . . . 第二个属性，创新，是创造新产品和增加价值的过程。 . . . 第三个因素是良好的管理。 为了发展，公司管理层必须开拓新市场并创建新的分销渠道。 经济是由企业家推向市场的新知识、新科学技术发现和创新驱动的。 因此，虽然学者仍然是经济进步的最大因素，但他只有动动脑筋才能做到这一点——不是学习名著、经典和诗歌，而是捕捉和发现新知识，致力于研究和实践。 开发、管理和营销、银行和金融，以及无数需要掌握的新学科。”
9... 在历史上赢得自己的位置……“一个国家的伟大不仅仅在于它的大小。 人民的意志、凝聚力、毅力、纪律和领导者的素质确保了它在历史上的光荣地位。”
10... 软弱的领导人依赖于民意调查。 “我从来没有过分关注或沉迷于民意调查或民意调查。 我认为领导者是软弱的领导者。 如果您担心自己的评级会上升还是下降，那么您就不是领导者。 你只是在捉风……你会去风吹的地方。 . . . 在被爱和被恐惧之间，我一直相信马基雅维利是对的。 如果没有人害怕我，我就毫无意义。 当我说些什么时……我必须非常认真地对待。”
11.... 我们从根本上具有竞争力。 “人类并非生而平等。 他们非常有竞争力。 像苏联和中国共产主义这样的制度都失败了，因为它们试图平衡利益。 然后没有人工作足够努力，但每个人都想得到和其他人一样多的东西，如果不是更多的话。”
12... 历史的价值：“如果你不了解历史，你就会想短期的。 如果你了解历史，你就会考虑中长期。”
12 Things Lee Kuan Yew Taught Me About the World
https://fs.blog/lee-kuan-yew/
“It’s no accident that Singapore has a much better record, given where it started, than the United States. There, power was concentrated in one enormously talented person, Lee Kuan Yew, who was the Warren Buffett of Singapore.”
— Charlie Munger
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Singapore seemed destined for failure or subservience to a more powerful neighbor. The country is by far the smallest in Southeast Asia and was not gifted with many natural resources. Lee Kuan Yew thought otherwise. “His vision,” wrote Henry Kissinger, “was of a state that would not simply survive, but prevail by excelling. Superior intelligence, discipline, and ingenuity would substitute for resources.”
To give you an idea of the magnitude of success that Lee Kuan Yew achieved, when he took over, per capita income was about $400 and now, in only about two generations, it exceeds $50,000.
Here are 12 things I learned from Lee Kuan Yew about the world and the source of many of our present ills reading Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World.
1.You need a free exchange of ideas. “China will inevitably catch up to the U.S. in absolute GDP. But its creativity may never match America's, because its culture does not permit a free exchange and contest of ideas.”
2.Technology will change how governance operates. “Technology is going to make (China’s) system of governance obsolete. By 2030, 70% or maybe 75% of their people will be in cities, small towns, big towns, mega big towns. They are going to have cell phones, Internet, satellite TV. They are going to be well-informed; they can organize themselves. You cannot govern them the way you are governing them now, where you just placate and monitor a few people, because the numbers will be so large.”
3. Don’t try to install a democracy in a country that has never had one. “I do not believe you can impose on other countries standards which are alien and totally disconnected with their past. So to ask China to become a democracy, when in its 5,000 years of recorded history it never counted heads; all rulers ruled by right of being the emperor, and if you disagree, you chop off heads, not count heads.”
4. Welcome the best the world has to offer. “Throughout history, all empires that succeeded have embraced and included in their midst people of other races, languages, religions, and cultures.”
5. It’s about results, not promises. “When you have a popular democracy, to win voices you have to give more and more. And to beat your opponent in the next election, you have to promise to give more away. So it is a never-ending process of auctions—and the cost, the debt being paid for by the next generation. Presidents do not get reelected if they give a hard dose of medicine to their people. So, there is a tendency to procrastinate, to postpone unpopular policies in order to win elections. So problems such as budget deficits, debt, and high unmployment have been carried forward from one administration to the next.”
6. Governments shouldn’t have an easy way out. “American and European governments believed that they could always afford to support the poor and the needy: widows, orphans, the old and homeless, disadvantaged minorities, unwed mothers. Their sociologists expounded the theory that hardship and failure were due not to the individual person’s character, but to flaws in the economic system. So charity became “entitlement,” and the stigma of living on charity disappeared. Unfortunately, welfare costs grew faster than the government’s ability to raise taxes to pay for it. The political cost of tax increases is high. Governments took the easy way out by borrowing to give higher benefits to the current generation of voters and passing the costs on to the future generations who were not yet voters. This resulted in persistent government budget deficits and high public debt.”
7. What goes into a standard of living? “A people’s standard of living depends on a number of basic factors: first, the resources it has in relation to its population . . .; second, its level of technological competence and standards of industrial development; third, its educational and training standards; and fourth, the culture, the discipline and drive in the workforce.”
8. The single most important factor to national competitiveness … “The quality of a nation’s manpower resources is the single most important factor determining national competitiveness. It is a people’s innovativeness, entrepreneurship, team work, and their work ethic that give them the sharp keen edge in competitiveness. Three attributes are vital in this competition—entrepreneurship to seek out new opportunities and to take calculated risks. Standing still is a sure way to extinction. . . . The second attribute, innovation, is what creates new products and processes that add value. . . . The third factor is good management. To grow, company managements have to open up new markets and create new distribution channels. The economy is driven by the new knowledge, new discoveries in science and technology, innovations that are taken to the market by entrepreneurs. So while the scholar is still the greatest factor in economic progress, he will be so only if he uses his brains—not in studying the great books, classical texts, and poetry, but in capturing and discovering new knowledge, applying himself in research and development, management and marketing, banking and finance, and the myriad of new subjects that need to be mastered.”
9. Earning your place in history … “A nation is great not by its size alone. It is the will, the cohesion, the stamina, the discipline of its people, and the quality of their leaders which ensure it an honorable place in history.”
10. Weak leaders rely on opinion polls. “I have never been overconcerned or obsessed with opinion polls or popularity polls. I think a leader who is, is a weak leader. If you are concerned with whether your rating will go up or down, then you are not a leader. You are just catching the wind … you will go where the wind is blowing. . . . Between being loved and feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I am meaningless. When I say something … I have to be taken very seriously.”
11. We are fundamentally competitive. “Human beings are not born equal. They are highly competitive. Systems like Soviet and Chinese communism have failed, because they tried to equalize benefits. Then nobody works hard enough, but everyone wants to get as much as, if not more than, the other person.”
12. The value of history: “If you do not know history, you think short term. If you know history, you think medium and long term.”
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Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World offers Yew’s timeless wisdom.
