RE: post 10 by Kapil.

Yes, an excellent point. I once said to one of my Bulgarian students (all of whom spoke English): "you are a member of the world cultural elite because of your education" (which was based on the American system).

The hatred of McDonald's is quite irrational and is not related to its actual products, which, as you say, are local in nature. Obviously, the anti-McDonald's movement is based on something deeper.

Most of India's GDP is based on services? I have not looked it up, but I doubt it. The U.S. has only recently reached the mark of services being the largest single sector of the GDP. I believe it is over 50%. I think Krugman's discussion of this in Pop Internationalism is a good one.