Difference between '...go East' and '...go the East'...

[leuleu]

My examples and questions are:

1) Some of the ailments of the West have come East?
-> why not 'the East'?

2) ... a number of sturdy pillars: hard work, high savings rates and Confucian values.
-> why not 'hard-working'?
-> The difference between 'saving rates' and 'savings rates'?

Thank in advance.
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'Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.' (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

[Yankee]

1) Some of the ailments of the West have come East?
-> why not 'the East'? To me, your original sentence isn't quite right. You could say either 'come east' (no capitalization because 'east' is simply a direction) or 'come to the East' (East is a name).

2) ... a number of sturdy pillars: hard work, high savings rates and Confucian values.
-> why not 'hard-working'? 'Hard-working' is an adjective, but the rest of your list consists of nouns, so 'hard work' is appropriate.
-> The difference between 'saving rates' and 'savings rates'? The plural 'savings' is used to talk about money that you save at the bank.

Thanks in advance.
You're welcome.

[leuleu]

'Some of the ailments of the West have come East?'

I think there's a deep meaning behind the phrase 'come East'. For ex., there's a transition of something from the Westto the East .
Once, I heard a phrase that is 'Go, Go West', something like that.
So...?
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'Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.' (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

[prezbucky]

I think that Amy is right in this instance -- "east" in this case is used to convey direction.

Hence, "Some of the ailments of the West have come east."

the West is a place; if you were to put "the" before "east", it would become "the East".

"Some of the ailments of the West have come to the East."
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.