Independence day, zindabad!
A few decades ago…the great Jawaharlal Nehru said…’when the world sleeps…India wakes up to her freedom’
I was wondering (see the world time map) which part of the world was sleeping at 12am Indian time? The early birds in the east were awake…Europe and US was awake…i guess Nehru meant
‘now that you are awake…please go back to sleep..my family needs to be paid a billion US $ for every minute I spent in jail…’ so they are having fun.
Not sure when was India’s mood so despondent…with Dr., Kapil, Sonia, PC running the country, and every Indian wanting to support the Jan Lok Pal bill. I am not so optimistic about the bill as I wish I could be. Reforms are needed in the judiciary, police, press, cricket, our own attitude…..it is not funny.
Look at the London riots – a friend just back from Europe says…’this is just the beginning’ . Imagine from the early 1900 you have only seen prosperity. Poverty meant famine in India, Bangladesh…etc. Each generation had a ‘right’ to a good job. Banks looted the world and brought it ‘home’. Government said it was all right to loot the world…then things changed. Last 10 years jobs are flying out. Low end jobs are taken away by the Indians, Bangladeshis….and there is no middle class. Can you believe the health support structure encourages childbirth OUTSIDE marriage. LOL. So when a kid loots, he brings it to an empty room. The parents are elsewhere and oblivious of what the kid is doing. The government destroyed the family. Now the destroyed family is destroying the government.
We need public accountability, and personally I need accountability towards the country. I wish I could do something. Not sure what.
Honestly I feel as a country we are at a low ebb of our mood…..praying for Anna Hazare..but feeling we need much more…much more..NOW from all of us.
IndianHayek
“Banks looted the world” – this notion that the first world of today became rich by looting rest of the world is an absurd fallacy. How could someone become rich by looting the already poor. I don’t know. I guess this thought makes people like you feel good for some reason
“I wish I could do something” -sure. I’d say stop spreading fallacies for one. You may also want to rethink your faith on Anna Hazare. Unless you want India to regress to become like soviet Russia.
“Reforms are needed in the judiciary, police, press, cricket, our own attitude” – we need economic liberty and reforms in every other area will follow suit.
Sukumaran
I was shocked to hear that Economic History is not a part of the economic graduation syllabus in Mumbai university. In your previous post you have said English is not taught well…
Seen the impact of that in some of the comments some geniuses are making. Banking history is too far fetched – and America’s role in the second world war (victor writes History) is obviously not known to many. And some of these jokers advising you on whom to support and which broker to use, to me sounds amusing at best.
I guess you should use your edit button more, far more often.
subra
look I have said time and again, I am no Ayn Rand ‘bhakt’ but I did manage to read a lot of her stuff – was always amused by her. Her followers do not know the difference between a company controlled by
-a) owners b) employees c) representatives of owners and shareholders
d) vested interest…
So most of them do a cut paste..frankly it is for the readers to judge what they want to read. I RARELY write for other blogs – yahoo, rediff, moneycontrol -being large is an exception..L O L
IndianHayek
I think you should skip Ayn Rand. Start reading Adam Smith, Ludwig Von Mises & Friedrich Von Hayek.
Btw, A cut-paste of the “truth” is always better than originally crafted “lies”.
Ashish
Not commenting on the economical history part (consider myself naive in that field) – i support argument that reform is required in us as people of this world (not just country). We may pledge support to people by clicking facebook buttons but unless the change begins in us we would be dummies controlled by buttons of politicians, all sots of media, markets etc.
subra
If all of us accept responsibility for ourselves….the government will not be able to recruit! So while I agree with you Ashish, we are all patriots who like to pay less to the government. This happens because there are guys there WHO WANT MOST OF US WHO HAVE A CHOICE TO PAY LESS TO THE GOVT..so that they can be enriched.
We are dummies. We believe a Rs. 500 note is a Rs. 500 note. We believe that 8% p.a paid by a A GOVERNMENT BANK OR POST OFFICE is real return. We believe that PPF, LIC are risk free investment. We believed that nationalisation will cure all ills (1969). We now have a bunch of believers who believe that PRIVATISATION will cure all ills.
amusing..
Ashish
What’s a cure? Every country, economy has its own sets of problems. People aren’t happy either is US or in Zimbabwe or anywhere in-between. And yes in lot of respects we have become dummies with rarely independent thoughts. Not just finance – an a lot of fields we keep on doing things just because everyone else does.
Suresh
How could some one become rich by looting the poor. Brilliant.
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/European_Imperialism16.htm
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/European_Imperialism17.htm
Lets verify the facts for ourselves.
Since our constitution, admin, judiciary are still a legacy of the Brits is it any wonder that the establishment best represented by the honest doctor and his cohorts continue what the Brits did to such devastating effect – to wit continue to transfer Indian wealth to European Banks (notably Swiss!) No wonder they swear by ‘democrazy’ and the ‘constitution’. How else to justify their loot to the ‘natives’? Happy Brown Slavery Day.
ritukant
@ IndianHayek:
Can you please elaborate on the 2 statements you made:
“Banks looted the world” – this notion that the first world of today became rich by looting rest of the world is an absurd fallacy. How could someone become rich by looting the already poor. I don’t know. I guess this thought makes people like you feel good for some reason
– Why is it an absurd fallacy? How do you define “poor”?
“I wish I could do something” -sure. I’d say stop spreading fallacies for one. You may also want to rethink your faith on Anna Hazare. Unless you want India to regress to become like soviet Russia.
– Why supporting/following Anna Hazare would lead India to become Russia (you probably meant USSR)?
IndianHayek
@ritukant, why dont you do a google search for “Fixed Quantity of wealth fallacy” or “zero sum game fallacy”. Its simple. If this notion were true, how can one explain the riches of countries like South Korea, Hongkong, Singapore that remained poor till a few decades ago. For that matter, India after the 1990s has also grown rich. When I say rich or poor, I mean the per-capita income of the flesh & blood people living in those countries.
Corruption is not a problem but only a symptom of too much governmental powers. Mr. Hazaare seeks not to eliminate these powers but to transfer it to the Jan Lokpal bureaucracy who he believes somehow will be staffed by people holier than others. This is crazy. His worldview appears to be staunchly “socialist” more socialist than the present govt& the freaking National Advisory Council. I’ve heard his “team of supporters” talk absolute nonsense.
subra
Ritukant,
there was an author who said ‘use your mind and the power of reasoning’ – and she said this is the basis of all human growth. She said if a capitalist ran a business, he will make sure that the capitalist will do a good job, so that his GOODWILL keeps going up and his next 200 generations can continue the business. Sadly this is not true. I have not meant a single MD who thinks of the client. He thinks of his esop, and his making money till he is around. Capitalists like our great owners of 2 airlines ensure that the Civ Av minister systematically destroys IA. And our petroleum minister destroys IOC, HP, BP and ONGC.
History of world banking – even today in the fin service sector is only BANKINg..and the kind of things the so called famous banks have done is too well documented. To quote Adam Smith about creation of wealth is funny. When RM came from Africa and Asia, the chemical patents are stolen from Germany (during war times you need not respect patent laws) and you can bomb your way into oil states…it is easy to get rich. London riots are an indication that Europe and US thinks the rest of the world owes them a living. The rest of the world is waking up. Sadly for them. Converting a Rs. 3 kg of potato to a Rs. 450 kg lays chips, is not a zero sum game, but restricting Indian sugar being exported to US is part of Ayn Rands brilliant adaptation by her adoptee country.
Surio
@Subra,
Most of the fun is in the comments, as I see!
@IndianHayek (Interesting handle, BTW),
I am also an Austrian economics school follower, but I take Subra’s view that following this or that ideologue is not in the best interests of a person’s growth. I am also an individualist, but Ayn Rand is amusing, no more. To base everything on Randian world view model would definitely be silly.
Most modern economics uses GDP, and based on that it is clear that “fixed wealth” is not a fallacy. Hence Subra and most so called ‘jingoists’ are right about the Imperial powers robbing “Parthasarathy” to pay “Paul” and “Peter”! The term ‘Opportunity cost’ comes to mind here. However, this cat is now truly out of the bag and the global elite understands that this truth is getting uncomfortable, so the yardsticks have been changed to GDP per capita to obfuscate the matter.
Perhaps where you and I agree is in the topic of Hazare. But then again, I am a Gandhian anrchist who is more interested in self-sufficiency, what about you?
@all,
You want a counterpoint about HK, Korea and Japan’s new-found wealth and why it is not different as IndianHayek claims, then please read Ha-Joon Chang.