Most of the East Asian economies and some other developing economies in Latin America and Africa followed export-oriented development strategies that were dependent on continuing growth in the North. Yet the Northern economies, bludgeoned by the current crisis of capitalism, now face a future of stagnation or low growth. For the advanced developing economies to now shift and follow an alternative strategy of achieving growth by relying on domestic consumption seems logical, but this is easier said than done. The social classes and enterprises that formed around a 30-year-old strategy can stymie an effective transition, as has been the case of China. This is not surprising since a shift of development strategy is not simply a change in policy but involves a redistribution of income and economic power if the rural and urban lower classes are to be equipped with purchasing power to be the new sources of demand.