What is Digg?279 Comments
- dojonz, on 04/29/2008, -3/+77The crown prince of Nigeria want's me to help him recover some money - and he's giving me 10%!!
- evan119, on 04/29/2008, -28/+87no
- Clad, on 04/29/2008, -9/+64Yeah, they are the fastest growing economies because if they produce $6 a day they just tripled their GDP.
- jongos, on 04/29/2008, -8/+59Some people can be extremely closeminded here. As a an American web developer moving to Uganda for a start-up venture, I assure you that there are plenty of opportunities to be had there. Just because in the west you've been bambarded by images of starving babies with distended tummies doesn't mean that that's the only reality of Africa. By no means is Africa Asia now, but 30 years ago your parents may have said the same things about China (and Africa too for that matter). Now China and the other BRIC countries are poised to shift the world balance of economic power.
That said, you should temper your disbelief, Africa just may surprise you. - inactive, on 04/29/2008, -13/+54fastest growing? does that mean it went from no economy to trading beads for whiskey?
- KFantasy017, on 04/29/2008, -6/+41So Africa is just like Asia, except for more political turmoil that could completely undermine the growth of the continent.
- WhatsUpWithJack, on 04/29/2008, -11/+43and America is the next Soviet Russia.
- thefezman, on 04/29/2008, -2/+28It's quite simple. You sold $1 worth of goods last year, and this year you sold $10. Hey look, 1000% growth!!!
- refreshers, on 04/29/2008, -18/+41When did Asia become full of AIDS?
- kansai22, on 04/30/2008, -1/+18Throughout a lot of Africa rich (white) investors move in, exploit the local population, rape women, build political prisons and kill women and children. Then the locals freedom fighters demand equal treatment, protest, tear down the political prisons and stop the murder of women and children. Rich white investors that exploit the people and land are ran out. The rich white investors are upset so they get their European governments to put economic sanctions or give them high interest loans through the IMF and World Bank. Dictators that are supported by weapons sold by rich whites take power the economy crumbles, government has no control. Rinse and Repeat
- sovereign3, on 04/30/2008, -1/+16It's disheartening some of the comments on Digg. Has anyone here even been to Africa? Or even MET an African?
Africa is a huge and very diverse continent (the most diverse continent on the planet). We're bombarded with these images of a barren landscape full of starving children that have flies buzzing around their faces, but not all of Africa is like that. In fact, Africa now is far more peaceful and prosperous than it was 20 years ago. The trajectory for Africa is towards stability and prosperity. Within our lifetimes we will see an Africa that is vastly different from the one we know now and personally, I look forward to it. - EpicSelekta, on 04/29/2008, -1/+15I'm surprised that they didn't mention South Africa or Egypt, both of which are very stable African countries which stand a decent chance of becoming thoroughly industrialized. As for the rest of the continent, well, sucks.
- lester1024, on 04/29/2008, -11/+25Throughout a lot of Africa rich (white) investors move in, build up city's, roads, hospitals and schools. Then the locals rebel, tear down buildings, hospitlals etc. Rich white investors are ran out, the economy crumbles, government has no control. Rinse and Repeat
- EarlOfLade, on 04/30/2008, -5/+19Wow...
A bunch of right wing Americans who has never been outside their own state are suddenly experts on Africa. Diggers never fail to surprise me with their lack of knowledge. - veeshy, on 04/29/2008, -2/+15International investors are starting to pay attention too.
Haha, I guess their spam blockers failed and they are expecting $20 million dollars in pirate gold. - aschocobo, on 04/30/2008, -7/+19are these the same "rich white investors" who stepped their boots all over the Africans' faces for over 500 years?
- thewindfish, on 04/30/2008, -2/+14***** reading the article and thinking before we comment, let's just mock Africa! Digg, whoo!
- sovereign3, on 04/30/2008, -0/+11You're naive if you believe that Africans feel that "rich" white investors will be their economic saviors. Africans have a far too sensitive past with Europeans and whites in general to trust going into business with them again. The Chinese, by far, are the biggest investors in Africa-- especially in resource rich countries like Sudan. Middle Eastern countries, by virtue of their location, are also keen to doing business in Africa. These so-called rich, white investors are not going to be the barometer of economic success in Africa.
- EpicSelekta, on 04/30/2008, -1/+11What about South Africa, Egypt, or Nigeria? South Africa has managed to stay stable as a country, and according to the World Bank, they jumped from 24th to 20th largest GDP in only a year. That growth combined with a large poor workforce tells me that they're a potential new China. Egypt just industrialized and their massive population (Cairo is the size of New York, and there are 17 million people in the metropolitan area) gives a substantial workforce. Nigeria is experiencing massive growth and also has a large population as well as massive resources.
Plenty of countries to lead the pack :) - sanman, on 04/30/2008, -0/+9I think Africa will be the next Africa
- rmxz, on 04/29/2008, -2/+10In previous places I've worked, I've seen success outsourcing to Canada (a software development team in Vancouver, it was very cost effective back when their dollar was cheaper, anyway - a bit costly today) and Mexico (one of our customers did this) and central america (a friend moved his HR consulting / executive search company to Costa Rica). Being in the same time-zone is pretty nice for communication; and Costa Rica and Canada have no language barriers with US companies.
I'd predict Central America as the next Asia as far as outsourcing goes. - RoflcopterFUEL, on 04/29/2008, -1/+9I don't see why China, N. Korea, and Vietnam would not be stable. Even Burma with it's rioting, the military does a pretty good job of maintaining stability.
- kansai22, on 04/30/2008, -1/+9So soon as you look up the AIDs rates in Thailand, China, and Cambodia.
- inactive, on 04/30/2008, -2/+9When your mom went there to look for work.
- inactive, on 04/30/2008, -1/+8Actually people were saying the same things about China less than 10 years ago.
I agree , Africa has huge potential. Its a shame that with all that coast line they dont take advantage and create some fantastic resorts. (been to Kenya, years ago it was really nice) - casuallyevil, on 04/30/2008, -3/+10You're right.... a growing economy is terrible for Africans. They should just continue starving and fighting each other. We can't have factories opening and providing jobs or additional tax revenue building roads and water treatment facilities. They should continue to rely on unsustainable agricultural practices for their wealth, and let the rest of the world build manufacturing and finance empires, just because we don't want them to be exploited.
For those unfamiliar with sarcasm, people that equate economic activity with slavery and exploitation ARE RETARDED and completely backwards. Read a damn book. - Kovalchuk71, on 04/29/2008, -2/+9Who's "they"? Oh you mean the British, French, Portugueese, Italiens, and other colonial empires?
- aschocobo, on 04/30/2008, -1/+8aww. stupid diggers, can make comments about a place they know absolutely nothing about but can't handle the truth.
- inactive, on 04/29/2008, -3/+10China is going to own Africa in 30 years. They're investing in countries there like crazy. I worked for a company that dealt with this, and tons of Chinese companies are drilling and mining and building there.
Smart move, too. Africa is very resource rich. The west should stop funneling billions to dictators bank accou... err, "charity", and instead invest there. It helps the natives far more and we get something in return to boot. - Aldhelm, on 04/30/2008, -2/+8Has an African I can tell you. No! Africa isn't the next Asia. In the 1950s when the British and the French were leaving Africa and Asia both of these continents were equally rich. Now Asia is several times richer then Africa.
Why? Because of corruption and bad leaders. Africa is so corrupt that I bet you that you can't start a business in Kenya or Nigeria without being forced to pay money to keep someone happy. Africa has it all a lot of resources that the West and Asia need like metals and Oil. The only problem is that they are unstable and when they are stable their governments ***** it up. I'll give you several examples.
Kenya: Heavily corrupt. An enterperenur who wants to start a Taxi business will be forced to pay the Police off at least once a week.. The government ministers for some reason unknown to everyone have German cars. An Infamous incident was during a meeting about corruption. After the meeting was over there was a HUGE traffic jam because to many German cars were trying to leave at the same time. The leaders also suck. Kibaki stole this years election and he got away with it.
Ethiopia. The ***** nation in Africa. It has been getting AID money from USA,Canada,UK,Europe and even the Soviet Union. This country should be the light of Africa but it isn't. The politicians keep stealing and Ethiopians keep having to many children. The current state of Ethiopian economy is some weird form of capitalist/communist economy that is heavily inefficient. Ethiopia sucks so hard that my home country Somalia which has been in a state of civil war for the last 17 years has more people connected to the internet and doing international transactions on computers (pirated XPs of course). Somalia is a country where the only real investment is in guns and bullets.
South Africa and Zimbabwe: The richest country in Africa is SA and Zimbabwe used to be rich. Has a Black African I'm disgusted that White people in Africa managed to build strong and wealthy countries despite the fact that they faced harsh sanctions from the international communities. Now that the Whites have lost power they crashed. Zimbabwe's economy was in ruins way before the Land reforms. That just killed the last remaining vigour it had. South Africa has been steadily declining for years. Africans keep voting for Black Africans just to spite white people.
The only way Africa could become the become of the world is if population growth is arrested and good leaders are elected. Until then it will be the ***** stain of the world.
p.s. I find it funny that my home country Somal - EndlessRain, on 04/30/2008, -3/+9This time it's the Chinese moving in and build infrastructure, then locals rebel, tear ***** down and run the Chinese out. In 50 years maybe the Indians move in and repeat the cycle. Later on in 100 years maybe the white will give them another try.
- aschocobo, on 04/30/2008, -2/+8i don't give a ***** what the ***** you are. it amazes me that so many people are so much in denial about the suffering Africans went through at the hands of the Europeans, while at the same time calling Africans ungrateful savages. it seems almost surreal to tell the truth.
- toowired77, on 04/30/2008, -2/+8Africa is the richest continent on earth when it comes to natural resources. Do not discount the Africans working and living in the west. Once the continent enjoys political stability, we will see a reverse in the brain drain. The key is to ignore the west and look to the east. The Chinese are not interested in spreading their religion and culture in Africa, which will make our relationship with them much better than the previous colonial relationships. Its just a matter of time. To all Africans on digg: ignore these haters. They have no inheritance on our land.
- aschocobo, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6no, Africa is not similar to Asia now, obviously. but currently, Africa is similar to the Asia of 20-30 years ago, which is the premise of the entire article, which obviously most of the people commenting on this page haven't read.
...digg really is starting to make me sick. it used to be that an intelligent conversation could be had, now thanks to digg's poularity, mainstream morons have turned this place into 4chan jr. its sad, really - fyreboltx, on 04/30/2008, -2/+8Oh no way! He asked me first! I already gave him my bank account number so ***** you! ;-)
- poopdigger, on 04/30/2008, -2/+8wow, a sensible person
- PhilLesh69, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6Basically. High growth rates, when starting from basically nothing, isn't the same as an established economy growing at 4 or 5%.
If you have a GDP of a hundred million dollars, and increase it by 100% every year, that's astonishing growth, but compared to a 13 trillion dollar economy with 5% growth you are talking about a 55 billion dollar difference. The hundred million dollar economy gained 10 billion dollars, while the 13 trillion dollar economy gained 65 billion dollars. - notoneofus, on 04/29/2008, -1/+7A large part of this growth depends on ongoing Chinese investment. As goes the Chinese economy, so follows the economy of the African continent.
- inactive, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6The Indians have already gone into Africa and been kicked out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Indians_ ... - hmunkey, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6I agree, because Asian cultures have many other factors, such as high savings rates, hardworking people, and emphasis on education. Africa lacks all of this, except maybe hardworking people.
- synwolf, on 04/30/2008, -1/+6The smart ones invest now.
- bluethundr, on 04/29/2008, -4/+9In America, Digg reads YOU!
- inactive, on 04/30/2008, -2/+7YES we Americans know just what is right for everyone.Keep in mind Africa was well off for thousands of years with absolutley NO MONEY. I wonder how they did it?
- sovereign3, on 04/30/2008, -0/+5I'm glad to see that the Digg community is so enlightened about development in Africa. Jokes about Nigerian scams and the idea that somehow white investors are "coming to the rescue" of Africans are not conducive to the point.
The fact of the matter is this: economic development is cyclical and it spreads from high-capital nations to low-capital nations. Fifty years ago much of Asia was a basket case. However, it had low costs of labor that lured European and American investors to the nation to produce goods. These goods led to an export based economy that transferred its goods to capital-intensive economies. In return, the less developed Asian nations were able to acquire capital in the form of learned skills and foreign currency reserves (from high amounts of exports to developed nations).
This trend occurred because much of Asia was a labor-intensive workforce. It was cheap to manufacture there. Today, Asia is less labor intensive, while much of Africa remains labor-intensive. This will (said: can) draw international investors to the nation to do business as labor is cheap. The pattern that occurred in Asia will repeat itself in Africa. - MrCrumbles, on 04/29/2008, -3/+8Tuesday is the new Friday guys, get hip to it.
- Tweekster, on 04/30/2008, -0/+5You are an idiot
- KargeOfTylenol, on 04/29/2008, -2/+7You're thinking of Asia, which is in fact the former current Russia.
- gogog0, on 04/30/2008, -4/+9China has so much money in Africa its scary. Once Africa stabilizes the countries will basically be Chinese colonies.
- nullcodes, on 04/29/2008, -2/+6Africa can definitely be the "next Asia", heck the proclaimed so called "next West" China is already investing heavily in Africa.
- aschocobo, on 04/30/2008, -9/+13when did digg become full of morons?
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