Let us start with the world’s perception of India, now listed as “one of the 20 most dangerous places to visit.”
This danger is palpable every time we go out on the streets. Over 1,00,000 people die on Indian roads every year. That is about 275 per day. The Mumbai mayhem took 195 lives, far less.
The lesson: Our threats are all “on the ground.”
Thus, there can be no solutions from our “The State On High.”
And what is our The State On High contemplating? You guessed it: A new federal agency, more hubs for the NSG… . This means a big budget for some bureaucrats to spend. It is extremely doubtful whether we will ever be safe all over India because of this new agency in Dilli Door Ast. As I said: Our threats are all “on the ground” – like traffic. Think of Manipur, think of Srinagar. Think!
I therefore find the Times of India’s editorial of today disturbing, as it points the finger directly at at “Pakistan” – like Indira Gandhi’s famous “foreign hand.” Do not forget that the editor of this paper recently called for a “Marshall Plan for Pakistan.” The editor does not see our The State as a failure. He sees “Pakistan” as the “source” of our problems. Like pot calling the kettle black. His leader article is titled “Save Pakistan To Save Us All.” I think we would be better off trying to save ourselves.
From Kashmir, the story that touched my heart says that the people are voting with just one wish: No War.
So say “No” to war between India and Pakistan.
And say “No” to the ToI too.
Bloody nonsense.
The lesson repeated: All our threats are “on the ground.” We must help ourselves and fix things on the ground. Beginning with the traffic – our daily threat.
The ToI is talking “on high” – how the US, the UK et. al. are going to co-ordinate with “New Delhi” (some tired baboos) to fight terror. This is the secure pie in the sky. We would be better off looking at the ground – which is dangerous.
So I was pleasantly surprised to read that a group of high-tech entrepreneurs in Bangalore (or is it Bengaluru?) suggested to the chief minister, in jest, that all should be allowed to own machine guns. But why in jest?
Here is Ratan Tata saying he had information on an attack being planned on the Taj. Could he have not installed machine guns in strategic locations? All he had was guards with batons and dogs – and they died. The dog too.
Note that a car is also a dangerous weapon: it can kill. But we are all happy when superfast cars like the Audi R8 get sold in India. Ditto for guns. They can kill. They also keep you safe. If people are not killing each other with knives, they will not shoot at humanity in random, just for fun – which is what these terrorists are doing.
There is also a “gun culture” – a kind of code of honour, like dueling, not shooting in the back, and so on. Just as there is etiquette while driving.
So how can we all be safe?
Antidote says:
1. Say No To War.
2. Say No To A New Federal Agency – to be run by another “budget maximizer.”
3. Fix the streets – on the ground.
4. Get A Gun, Dude.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Guns-4-Us
The news today has it that there is going to be an all-party meet in which the main item on the agenda will be the setting up of a new federal agency to combat terrorism.
We already have many federal agencies – the IB, RAW, CBI, CRPF, BSF etc.
Are we safer as a result?
And I simply loved this piece by Mythili Bhusnurmath lamenting the fact that the beat constable system has stopped working.
So let us note the extent of State Failure in providing basic security.
180 districts out of 600 are run by Naxals – that is about one-third of the territory.
Secessionism and extremism are rife in Kashmir and the North-East.
And the beat constable system no longer works.
Hence we have little choice. We must arm ourselves and employ armed private security guards for securing our homes, offices, shopping malls, hotels et. al. We cannot rely on our The State for this – and especially not so at the federal level. Can New Delhi make the people of Assam feel secure?
Note that there was a 10-hour delay in sending the NSG to Mambai. Why not have city militias under the control of mayors in every big city and town? And why not have many “gated localities” too, where security is provided by a private firm? My only contention is that the guns should be on our side. Private people and private security agencies must be armed.
The alternative is our The State from On High, setting up a new federal agency.
There couldn’t be a worse idea than that.
We already have many federal agencies – the IB, RAW, CBI, CRPF, BSF etc.
Are we safer as a result?
And I simply loved this piece by Mythili Bhusnurmath lamenting the fact that the beat constable system has stopped working.
So let us note the extent of State Failure in providing basic security.
180 districts out of 600 are run by Naxals – that is about one-third of the territory.
Secessionism and extremism are rife in Kashmir and the North-East.
And the beat constable system no longer works.
Hence we have little choice. We must arm ourselves and employ armed private security guards for securing our homes, offices, shopping malls, hotels et. al. We cannot rely on our The State for this – and especially not so at the federal level. Can New Delhi make the people of Assam feel secure?
Note that there was a 10-hour delay in sending the NSG to Mambai. Why not have city militias under the control of mayors in every big city and town? And why not have many “gated localities” too, where security is provided by a private firm? My only contention is that the guns should be on our side. Private people and private security agencies must be armed.
The alternative is our The State from On High, setting up a new federal agency.
There couldn’t be a worse idea than that.
Friday, November 28, 2008
On The News Today
What are the newspapers in Pakistan saying, while Indian politicians, well before any serious investigations have even begun, have started blaming “Pakistan” – as thought all the people, all the traders, all the farmers, and the Army, the ISI and the PPP and other “political parties” are ONE?
In one word: The Pakistani newspapers are all calling for “an end to the blame game.”
Read this report, evocatively titled “India gives Pakistan a dirty look.”
An extract:
It is ironical that the attacks came after the two-day talks between the Home secretaries of Pakistan and India where cooperation in fighting terrorism came under discussion, the paper [The Dawn] said, adding it is only logical to challenge the militancy through a joint endeavour. The daily advocated that the two countries should not indulge in a blame-game. “It helps no one except the terrorists and it is time everyone realized this simple fact of life.”
I therefore find the fuss about summoning the ISI chief to India total humbug. This is an age of telecom, video-conferencing and all that. Both nations have a vibrant media. Why call the ISI chief (or his representative) for closed-door discussions in South Block? Why not conduct an open video conference – open, that is, to the media and, thereby, to all the people? If our boys have hard evidence, let them show it; and then let us wait for the response. The totally secret Spy Vs. Spy stuff must end. Recall my earlier post on stumbling upon an LTTE camp in Tamil Nadu, under the patronage of our spies.
In our press, I found the Express edit on the “deadly confusion” in our military-security establishment extremely pertinent. It therefore stands to reason that we must all be armed to defend ourselves.
Note: Another ship has been taken over by Somali pirates, with 25 Indians in the crew. The news report says:
“So far this year, 97 ships have been attacked and 40 hijacked, including the seizure of a Saudi supertanker loaded with USD 100 million worth of crude oil earlier this month.
Pirates demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms are currently holding 15 ships, with nearly 300 crew, Choong said.
Warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia, the US and NATO have started patrolling the vast maritime corridor, escorting some merchant ships and responding to distress calls.”
Merchants ships are not allowed to carry weapons by law today, Would piracy not be better checked if each merchant vessel carried weapons? All these navies could not protect this particular ship.
So be brave. Bear arms. And be safe and secure.
In one word: The Pakistani newspapers are all calling for “an end to the blame game.”
Read this report, evocatively titled “India gives Pakistan a dirty look.”
An extract:
It is ironical that the attacks came after the two-day talks between the Home secretaries of Pakistan and India where cooperation in fighting terrorism came under discussion, the paper [The Dawn] said, adding it is only logical to challenge the militancy through a joint endeavour. The daily advocated that the two countries should not indulge in a blame-game. “It helps no one except the terrorists and it is time everyone realized this simple fact of life.”
I therefore find the fuss about summoning the ISI chief to India total humbug. This is an age of telecom, video-conferencing and all that. Both nations have a vibrant media. Why call the ISI chief (or his representative) for closed-door discussions in South Block? Why not conduct an open video conference – open, that is, to the media and, thereby, to all the people? If our boys have hard evidence, let them show it; and then let us wait for the response. The totally secret Spy Vs. Spy stuff must end. Recall my earlier post on stumbling upon an LTTE camp in Tamil Nadu, under the patronage of our spies.
In our press, I found the Express edit on the “deadly confusion” in our military-security establishment extremely pertinent. It therefore stands to reason that we must all be armed to defend ourselves.
Note: Another ship has been taken over by Somali pirates, with 25 Indians in the crew. The news report says:
“So far this year, 97 ships have been attacked and 40 hijacked, including the seizure of a Saudi supertanker loaded with USD 100 million worth of crude oil earlier this month.
Pirates demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms are currently holding 15 ships, with nearly 300 crew, Choong said.
Warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia, the US and NATO have started patrolling the vast maritime corridor, escorting some merchant ships and responding to distress calls.”
Merchants ships are not allowed to carry weapons by law today, Would piracy not be better checked if each merchant vessel carried weapons? All these navies could not protect this particular ship.
So be brave. Bear arms. And be safe and secure.
For An Armed Citizenry
The terrorist strikes in Mumbai have got UndieTV's top brass going on an on about how the governments of Pakistan and India are going to get all these terror groups under control. Fond hope - and so statist. Prannoy Roy, a Rajiv Gandhi acolyte, Barkha Dutt et. al. are revealing their "knowledge" of terror and politics, and international affairs, but all this is like the proverbial pie in the sky. The State From On High Will Look After Us.
Prannoy Roy just announced a "War on Terror" - to be fought by our The State. Sounds familiar? Like Uncle Sam?
Down on the ground: If each honest man is to be safe, he must have his own gun.
Every honest woman should have one too.
They should be trained in weapons handling, with regular weekly practice.
That is how Switzerland is secure - and remains secure while staying out of war.
I sincerely doubt whether such a brazen strike by just 25 armed men would have caused so much damage and lasted so long if all decent Mumbaikars had guns of their own.
In fact, if they did have guns, such an attack would have perished at the thought itself. It would not have been even contemplated.
Ok, this time the NSG commandos did the hatchet job. But why forget the Congress mobs that killed thousands of innocent Sikhs in 1984, while the Delhi Police stood by, as lackeys of the Gandhis?
It surely cannot be that we honest citizens have no guns, while a monopolistic agency of our The State has all the guns?
Such a monopoly is bound to be misused - as in Delhi in 1984.
"We Don't Get Fooled Again"
So every honest man earns his (hard) money through voluntary exchanges in markets, courageously bears arms to defend himself and his properties and liberties - and that is how we become a land where "the mind is without fear and the head is held high."
Otherwise, we remain a nation of slaves.
Read about the district of Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, where our The State provides no security through its monopolistic police, and no roads either - another monopoly - and how armed bands of robbers roam the countryside with unlicensed weapons. And, when the honest people demand gun licenses, our The State insists on vasectomy!
So if you get a gun, you have no children to bequeath the gun to.
Yeah! We Don't Get Fooled Again.
Also read my earlier post: On The Right To Bear Arms.
Prannoy Roy just announced a "War on Terror" - to be fought by our The State. Sounds familiar? Like Uncle Sam?
Down on the ground: If each honest man is to be safe, he must have his own gun.
Every honest woman should have one too.
They should be trained in weapons handling, with regular weekly practice.
That is how Switzerland is secure - and remains secure while staying out of war.
I sincerely doubt whether such a brazen strike by just 25 armed men would have caused so much damage and lasted so long if all decent Mumbaikars had guns of their own.
In fact, if they did have guns, such an attack would have perished at the thought itself. It would not have been even contemplated.
Ok, this time the NSG commandos did the hatchet job. But why forget the Congress mobs that killed thousands of innocent Sikhs in 1984, while the Delhi Police stood by, as lackeys of the Gandhis?
It surely cannot be that we honest citizens have no guns, while a monopolistic agency of our The State has all the guns?
Such a monopoly is bound to be misused - as in Delhi in 1984.
"We Don't Get Fooled Again"
So every honest man earns his (hard) money through voluntary exchanges in markets, courageously bears arms to defend himself and his properties and liberties - and that is how we become a land where "the mind is without fear and the head is held high."
Otherwise, we remain a nation of slaves.
Read about the district of Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, where our The State provides no security through its monopolistic police, and no roads either - another monopoly - and how armed bands of robbers roam the countryside with unlicensed weapons. And, when the honest people demand gun licenses, our The State insists on vasectomy!
So if you get a gun, you have no children to bequeath the gun to.
Yeah! We Don't Get Fooled Again.
Also read my earlier post: On The Right To Bear Arms.
A Very Dangerous Sign (Updated)
I find it particularly disturbing that a great deal of the media are echoing Narendra Modi's sentiment that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai bear the imprint of Pakistan.
UPDATE: This is now the "official view," having been echoed by the foreign minister Pranab "baboo" Mukherjee as well as prime minister Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi, who not only said that these attacks were launched from Pakistan, but also "warned" Pakistan that they would have to pay a "cost" for harbouring such groups. Read the news report: They blame the Pakistani spy agency ISI. So it is Spy Vs. Spy once again.
NOTE: There is a lame duck democratic government here in India and there is a similar one there in Pakistan too..
In both nations the governments are out of touch with the people - and, if I may add, this is true of Bangladesh as well.
It is in the interests of ALL the ordinary people in all three nations that there be free international trade and all the government kleptocracies recede.
SO PLEASE NIP THIS NONSENSE IN THE BUD BEFORE WE HAVE WAR
NOTHING IMPROVES THE HEALTH OF THE STATE MORE THAN WAR
And we must not drink to the health of our The State.
We must daily raise a toast to Liberty.
What is "Pakistan"? Is it the Army there? Or the ISI that plays Spy Vs Spy with our spies? Or is Pakistan all the jehadis?
To Libertarians, Pakistan is all those Pakistanis who earn their keep through honest gains in markets.
They are all honest Individuals, with a Capital I, leading moral lives.
They are our Friends.
Terrorists are individuals too, and some small groups - and they are outlaws who should be isolated and dealt with.
So say NO to War.
And do note that Modi's government has conferred a grant of Rs. 1 crore to the first of kin of all those deceased.
The public treasury is baap ka maal.
UPDATE: This is now the "official view," having been echoed by the foreign minister Pranab "baboo" Mukherjee as well as prime minister Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi, who not only said that these attacks were launched from Pakistan, but also "warned" Pakistan that they would have to pay a "cost" for harbouring such groups. Read the news report: They blame the Pakistani spy agency ISI. So it is Spy Vs. Spy once again.
NOTE: There is a lame duck democratic government here in India and there is a similar one there in Pakistan too..
In both nations the governments are out of touch with the people - and, if I may add, this is true of Bangladesh as well.
It is in the interests of ALL the ordinary people in all three nations that there be free international trade and all the government kleptocracies recede.
SO PLEASE NIP THIS NONSENSE IN THE BUD BEFORE WE HAVE WAR
NOTHING IMPROVES THE HEALTH OF THE STATE MORE THAN WAR
And we must not drink to the health of our The State.
We must daily raise a toast to Liberty.
What is "Pakistan"? Is it the Army there? Or the ISI that plays Spy Vs Spy with our spies? Or is Pakistan all the jehadis?
To Libertarians, Pakistan is all those Pakistanis who earn their keep through honest gains in markets.
They are all honest Individuals, with a Capital I, leading moral lives.
They are our Friends.
Terrorists are individuals too, and some small groups - and they are outlaws who should be isolated and dealt with.
So say NO to War.
And do note that Modi's government has conferred a grant of Rs. 1 crore to the first of kin of all those deceased.
The public treasury is baap ka maal.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Our Democratic Charade
Our The State’s Election Commission is working overtime in Delhi to ensure that no booze is distributed among voters by political parties. “Voters cannot be wooed thus,” says the EC. So it is alright to offer rice at 2 rupees a kilo, and various other freebies, but a drink is not kosher.
The EC has also instructed all liquor vends not to sell more than 4 bottles to anyone – but as this news report says, the people are quite happy buying 2 bottles first and coming back 20 minutes later to buy 3 more!
The EC has also asked the Excise (ugh!) officialdom to keep an eye on 26 border points to see that no liquor is “smuggled” into Delhi – and we thought this was one country. The Excise (ugh!) officialdom has seized 1300 bottles. That’s a lot of booze for one big Excise-EC party.
Of course, polling day will be a “dry day” – and tipplers I interviewed the other night said they didn’t want to vote; they just wanted their booze. They wanted to set up a Daaru Party! I couldn’t help, since I am with the Ganja Party.
But the news gets curiouser and curiouser: it seems that the people of Delhi are not drunk and disorderly at all, while two EC officials “exchanged fisticuffs” and a police case has been registered! Wonder what bad stuff the EC guys were smoking.
Who will guard the guardians? This is a very old question in Politics.
In the meantime, read “A Disturbing Encounter” by Ramesh Ramanathan, which talks about an Indian taxi driver in Dubai, where there is no democracy – and why he thinks this is far better than conditions in democratic India.
The EC has also instructed all liquor vends not to sell more than 4 bottles to anyone – but as this news report says, the people are quite happy buying 2 bottles first and coming back 20 minutes later to buy 3 more!
The EC has also asked the Excise (ugh!) officialdom to keep an eye on 26 border points to see that no liquor is “smuggled” into Delhi – and we thought this was one country. The Excise (ugh!) officialdom has seized 1300 bottles. That’s a lot of booze for one big Excise-EC party.
Of course, polling day will be a “dry day” – and tipplers I interviewed the other night said they didn’t want to vote; they just wanted their booze. They wanted to set up a Daaru Party! I couldn’t help, since I am with the Ganja Party.
But the news gets curiouser and curiouser: it seems that the people of Delhi are not drunk and disorderly at all, while two EC officials “exchanged fisticuffs” and a police case has been registered! Wonder what bad stuff the EC guys were smoking.
Who will guard the guardians? This is a very old question in Politics.
In the meantime, read “A Disturbing Encounter” by Ramesh Ramanathan, which talks about an Indian taxi driver in Dubai, where there is no democracy – and why he thinks this is far better than conditions in democratic India.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
On Terror... And A New Politics
As news of the horrendous terrorist strikes upon Mumbai comes in, bloggers are also working overtime: Amit Varma at India Uncut gives us an eye-witness account; and Manuwant at Indiavikalp has a series of posts.
All I can offer is our tourism minister Ambika Soni’s statement yesterday saying that, with the financial crash worldwide, tourists would come to India to “find peace.” I wonder if there is any peace left anywhere in India. In the meanwhile, the minister should note that in Goa, where tourists typically rent scooters, there is on average one death on the roads every day. Peace, minister?
One wonders how we can deal with this phenomenon of rampant terrorism. Tougher laws and better policing are not enough. And it is doubtful whether a stronger State – which will be more high-handed too – is the answer.
Perhaps a politics that encourages all our people to earn honest money in completely free markets will gradually wean misguided people away from terrorism. Further, co-operation between the people and the law will also increase. People will have faith in a government that leaves all peaceful trades alone.
Note that our politicos are only making political capital out of this.
Theirs is not a politics that seeks to establish a moral consensus among a people.
So let this not be an event that results in a stronger State.
Rather, let there be a call for a new politics: a politics of morality, of Liberty, of peace and prosperity.
And do read my old article: The Purpose of Politics.
All I can offer is our tourism minister Ambika Soni’s statement yesterday saying that, with the financial crash worldwide, tourists would come to India to “find peace.” I wonder if there is any peace left anywhere in India. In the meanwhile, the minister should note that in Goa, where tourists typically rent scooters, there is on average one death on the roads every day. Peace, minister?
One wonders how we can deal with this phenomenon of rampant terrorism. Tougher laws and better policing are not enough. And it is doubtful whether a stronger State – which will be more high-handed too – is the answer.
Perhaps a politics that encourages all our people to earn honest money in completely free markets will gradually wean misguided people away from terrorism. Further, co-operation between the people and the law will also increase. People will have faith in a government that leaves all peaceful trades alone.
Note that our politicos are only making political capital out of this.
Theirs is not a politics that seeks to establish a moral consensus among a people.
So let this not be an event that results in a stronger State.
Rather, let there be a call for a new politics: a politics of morality, of Liberty, of peace and prosperity.
And do read my old article: The Purpose of Politics.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
For A Free Market For Knowledge
My earlier post, “Encourage Working Children,” has already got 16 comments, so I would like to return the discussion to the main space and also take it two steps further. I am serious when I say that the schools system must be closed down.
First: the extension of the “division of labour” – that we all specialize, the butcher, the baker and the brewer etc. – is accompanied by a “fragmentation of knowledge” such that each Individual requires just one fragment to survive.
The implication: Specialization in the market catallaxy is a means by which not only is our need to labour reduced, our individual requirement of knowledge is also reduced.
In an earlier age, you would have had to know the crops and the seasons, how to look after and milk your cow, how to build your house, and so much more. Now, if you just play your guitar on MTV you have “money for nothing and chicks for free.”
Secondly, there is a large area in all our minds called “rational ignorance.” We choose NOT to know a lot. I do not know how to repair my car – nor do I want to. Nor, of course, do I need to – because there are trained mechanics upon whose far superior knowledge I can rely. And I am sure none of these mechanics have ever heard of Hayek.
Put these two together and you have the answer: As all knowledge is fragmented, let it be sold thus. Let there be no broad, generalized “education system.” So learn English from a firm that possesses this knowledge while also selling it in conditions of intense competition. The goal should be to SHORTEN the time required for a kid to enter The Market. Even the tired professions like medicine, engineering and law, so much favoured by the present “education system,” can surely be rigged out so that the required training is delivered in a short time period. And, of course, there is apprenticeship. A young apprentice at Mercedes Benz will learn more about automobile engineering than any IIT can teach him.
So let us clearly differentiate our libertarian “education policy” from that of Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi.
He champions The System.
We want The System closed down.
A Free Market For Knowledge.
Stay tuned: I plan to podcast on this topic in a few days.
First: the extension of the “division of labour” – that we all specialize, the butcher, the baker and the brewer etc. – is accompanied by a “fragmentation of knowledge” such that each Individual requires just one fragment to survive.
The implication: Specialization in the market catallaxy is a means by which not only is our need to labour reduced, our individual requirement of knowledge is also reduced.
In an earlier age, you would have had to know the crops and the seasons, how to look after and milk your cow, how to build your house, and so much more. Now, if you just play your guitar on MTV you have “money for nothing and chicks for free.”
Secondly, there is a large area in all our minds called “rational ignorance.” We choose NOT to know a lot. I do not know how to repair my car – nor do I want to. Nor, of course, do I need to – because there are trained mechanics upon whose far superior knowledge I can rely. And I am sure none of these mechanics have ever heard of Hayek.
Put these two together and you have the answer: As all knowledge is fragmented, let it be sold thus. Let there be no broad, generalized “education system.” So learn English from a firm that possesses this knowledge while also selling it in conditions of intense competition. The goal should be to SHORTEN the time required for a kid to enter The Market. Even the tired professions like medicine, engineering and law, so much favoured by the present “education system,” can surely be rigged out so that the required training is delivered in a short time period. And, of course, there is apprenticeship. A young apprentice at Mercedes Benz will learn more about automobile engineering than any IIT can teach him.
So let us clearly differentiate our libertarian “education policy” from that of Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi.
He champions The System.
We want The System closed down.
A Free Market For Knowledge.
Stay tuned: I plan to podcast on this topic in a few days.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Science Versus Social Science
Alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have published a study which says that they have contributed 20 lakh crore to the Indian economy. I strongly doubt the veracity of this motivated and inflated claim.
Actually, till “liberalization” in the 1990s, India was a low-tech country. With open borders, knowledge developed overseas was made available to us. And this is not just in high-tech areas, even kitchen appliances of good quality were not available in India during socialist times.
So, I say no cheers for the IITs – and I give 3 loud cheers for free trade.
Secondly, while the IITs and IIMs have been there since the 60s, the precise area where we Indians have failed is “social science.” We have got our Economics, Political Science, Law and Public Administration completely screwed up. And if we want to get them right, we must invest in private institutions that study and teach liberal social science.
IITs and IIMs were set up by our The State. And they achieved nothing. There is no IIT-IIM professor who knows anything about liberalism. You don’t find any in the public debate. They are all “government servants.”
The real challenge facing India is not technology – which we can easily import.
The real challenge is getting the economy and the polity (including the judicial system and the civil services) working properly, after 60 years of socialist abuse.
We need "social science."
Actually, till “liberalization” in the 1990s, India was a low-tech country. With open borders, knowledge developed overseas was made available to us. And this is not just in high-tech areas, even kitchen appliances of good quality were not available in India during socialist times.
So, I say no cheers for the IITs – and I give 3 loud cheers for free trade.
Secondly, while the IITs and IIMs have been there since the 60s, the precise area where we Indians have failed is “social science.” We have got our Economics, Political Science, Law and Public Administration completely screwed up. And if we want to get them right, we must invest in private institutions that study and teach liberal social science.
IITs and IIMs were set up by our The State. And they achieved nothing. There is no IIT-IIM professor who knows anything about liberalism. You don’t find any in the public debate. They are all “government servants.”
The real challenge facing India is not technology – which we can easily import.
The real challenge is getting the economy and the polity (including the judicial system and the civil services) working properly, after 60 years of socialist abuse.
We need "social science."
Wanted: Some Spine
Yesterday was a “dry day,” so Satyajit Dey (of the Liberal Youth Forum of India) and I went to my club, the Delhi Gymkhana, for a drink or two.
Although it was quite cold, the two of us took our positions around the outdoors bar – because we wanted to smoke with our drinks. Thanks to ramadoss.
But there were no ashtrays – ramadoss once again.
So we littered the floor – and made extra work for the sweeper.
It was then that I conducted an “experiment with truth.”
I ordered a packet of cigarettes – Gold Flake Kings, nothing less.
The cigarettes arrived – but no ashtray!
We made more work for the sweeper.
Getting to the point: Senior civil servants run the club. These are the people who are supposed to resist “political interference” in their work. They are supposed to stand up to politicians. They are not supposed to be lackeys of our The State. They are supposed to show some SPINE.
Why then do they allow the same political interference in a private club?
As we sipped our drinks and enjoyed some fish fingers, we found ourselves peeping into the Non-Smoking Bar – a non-smoking bar that is over 25 years old.
There is a lesson in this for the managing committee of the club. I hope they get it.
There is also an earlier post on the club here.
Although it was quite cold, the two of us took our positions around the outdoors bar – because we wanted to smoke with our drinks. Thanks to ramadoss.
But there were no ashtrays – ramadoss once again.
So we littered the floor – and made extra work for the sweeper.
It was then that I conducted an “experiment with truth.”
I ordered a packet of cigarettes – Gold Flake Kings, nothing less.
The cigarettes arrived – but no ashtray!
We made more work for the sweeper.
Getting to the point: Senior civil servants run the club. These are the people who are supposed to resist “political interference” in their work. They are supposed to stand up to politicians. They are not supposed to be lackeys of our The State. They are supposed to show some SPINE.
Why then do they allow the same political interference in a private club?
As we sipped our drinks and enjoyed some fish fingers, we found ourselves peeping into the Non-Smoking Bar – a non-smoking bar that is over 25 years old.
There is a lesson in this for the managing committee of the club. I hope they get it.
There is also an earlier post on the club here.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Encourage Working Children
In India, working children are a common sight. I always encourage such children and never cease to marvel at the fact that they learn so many more useful things at work than they ever could at school.
I was therefore pleasantly surprised to read Sunanda K Dutta Ray’s column expressing similar sentiments.
Yes, we could sack all our young domestic servants – but what then will be the fate that befalls them?
However, Dutta Ray is not being consistent when he says:
“Kailash Satyarthi justifiably won the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Award with his crusade for carpets to carry a label saying they had not been made by children.”
Why not encourage these children who KNOW how to make carpets? Why not encourage carpet buyers to buy carpets made by children?
Why not treat them as “child stars” – just as there are many such child stars in the film industry?
Doesn’t the child who weaves carpets beautifully learn something useful – an art that he can practice his entire life?
And isn’t the schools system a “teenage wasteland”?
Teenagers were never wasted in older times. Babar conquered Samarkand when he was just 13. And the Honourable East India Company recruited many great civil servants when they were anywhere between 13 and 15. These were not “boys” – they were “young men.”
In a poor country, where life expectancy is low, it is CRIMINAL to waste precious years of youth in 12 years of schooling. This makes children dependent for long, delays their entry into professions (where they could compete with adults), and delays marriage too.
A question that all anti-child labour activists should ask kids is:
Do You Enjoy School?
I am sure they will be surprised at the answers they get.
And do read my earlier post: “Practical Catallactics For Kids.”
I was therefore pleasantly surprised to read Sunanda K Dutta Ray’s column expressing similar sentiments.
Yes, we could sack all our young domestic servants – but what then will be the fate that befalls them?
However, Dutta Ray is not being consistent when he says:
“Kailash Satyarthi justifiably won the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Award with his crusade for carpets to carry a label saying they had not been made by children.”
Why not encourage these children who KNOW how to make carpets? Why not encourage carpet buyers to buy carpets made by children?
Why not treat them as “child stars” – just as there are many such child stars in the film industry?
Doesn’t the child who weaves carpets beautifully learn something useful – an art that he can practice his entire life?
And isn’t the schools system a “teenage wasteland”?
Teenagers were never wasted in older times. Babar conquered Samarkand when he was just 13. And the Honourable East India Company recruited many great civil servants when they were anywhere between 13 and 15. These were not “boys” – they were “young men.”
In a poor country, where life expectancy is low, it is CRIMINAL to waste precious years of youth in 12 years of schooling. This makes children dependent for long, delays their entry into professions (where they could compete with adults), and delays marriage too.
A question that all anti-child labour activists should ask kids is:
Do You Enjoy School?
I am sure they will be surprised at the answers they get.
And do read my earlier post: “Practical Catallactics For Kids.”
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The Market Versus The Vote
As I write, a group of people, beating drums and chanting patriotic slogans, are going around my locality campaigning for the BJP.
Brings a thought to mind:
Which is more important for the Individual: the Market or the Vote?
Quite frankly, all the Bengalis in my locality would suffer greatly if the Chittaranjan Park markets closed for even a day.
It is only because of this Market that all the Bengalis living here get fresh hilsa flown in directly from Bangladesh. They get all the peculiar spices only Bengalis use, like randuni or paanch foron; they get all the strange vegetables only Bengalis eat, like kumror dogga; they get Bengali films and books, and newspapers. They get Bengali snack food and sweets.
But, by and large, the Bengalis of Chittaranjan Park do not appreciate The Market.
They prefer Politics.
They love Elections.
But compare The Market to the Vote.
You cannot live without The Market. And as for the Vote, it comes once in 5 years, and there are some like me who never participate in this gimmick called Democracy. I have never voted in my life - and am none the worse for it.
This is why I have never supported Aung San Suu Kyi. She speaks always for Democracy in Burma.
She never calls for Free Markets and Free Trade.
If she did, I would fly to her side.
So, dear reader, learn to love The Market.
And hate politics.
Brings a thought to mind:
Which is more important for the Individual: the Market or the Vote?
Quite frankly, all the Bengalis in my locality would suffer greatly if the Chittaranjan Park markets closed for even a day.
It is only because of this Market that all the Bengalis living here get fresh hilsa flown in directly from Bangladesh. They get all the peculiar spices only Bengalis use, like randuni or paanch foron; they get all the strange vegetables only Bengalis eat, like kumror dogga; they get Bengali films and books, and newspapers. They get Bengali snack food and sweets.
But, by and large, the Bengalis of Chittaranjan Park do not appreciate The Market.
They prefer Politics.
They love Elections.
But compare The Market to the Vote.
You cannot live without The Market. And as for the Vote, it comes once in 5 years, and there are some like me who never participate in this gimmick called Democracy. I have never voted in my life - and am none the worse for it.
This is why I have never supported Aung San Suu Kyi. She speaks always for Democracy in Burma.
She never calls for Free Markets and Free Trade.
If she did, I would fly to her side.
So, dear reader, learn to love The Market.
And hate politics.
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Fascist Threat
There is an interview with Swami Agnivesh, President of the Sarvadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha (‘World Council of the Arya Samaj’) in Mint, in which the activist Swami is quoted as saying that “the ideology of Hindutva is sheer fascism.”
I fully endorse this point of view.
The Swami’s solution: Isolate the “individual” terrorist from the “community.”
Yes, it is back to Individualism once again.
Terrorists are individuals.
Communities are not at war with each other.
The Hindutva agenda is to foment such wars.
Which brings us all back to Square One: Liberalism – based on Individualism, Individual Liberty and Private Property.
Without Liberalism at the political centre-stage, Fascism cannot be defeated. What is Fascism?
The fascist method of acquiring power is three-fold:
First, hark back to a golden age of great glory – in this case, “Ramaraj” or “Shivajiraj.”
Second: Identify an “enemy” responsible for that great glory being lost – in this case the Muslims and the Christians, or the Bihari bhaiiyas.
And finally: Issue a call to “eliminate the enemy” as the means of regaining lost glory.
This country is headed in this direction, with Raj Thuggeray in the lead, Advani a close second.
Meanwhile, the Congress is playing the fiddle. Sonia just praised I Gands for nationalizing the banks! Read this editorial ridiculing her here.
Chacha Manmohan is called a “passive observer,” by the arch-fascist, Advani.
Yes, they will trade words with each other, but neither will ever mention any of the great goals of Liberalism: neither will emphasize the Individual; neither will talk the lingo of free trade, nor private property, nor privatization.
Their “political battles” are all clever shows that deliberately leave a lot out of the political debate. There is a critical core of agreement between them – to leave the kitty on the table.
SV Raju must organize a “Jail Bharo Andolan” outside the Mumbai High Court soon. His PIL on the “socialist” monopoly of Indian politics has been neglected by this unjust and “committed” court for over a decade now. Raju is the president of the Indian Liberal Group and in this PIL he has challenged the Representation of Peoples Act (as amended by I Gands) by which all “recognized and registered” political parties must swear by “socialism.”
But this is Fascism we are faced with!
The Congress is happy with a fascist opposition – because they can appear a lighter shade of black.
It is time India’s Liberals stood up.
Centre Stage.
Nothing less.
I fully endorse this point of view.
The Swami’s solution: Isolate the “individual” terrorist from the “community.”
Yes, it is back to Individualism once again.
Terrorists are individuals.
Communities are not at war with each other.
The Hindutva agenda is to foment such wars.
Which brings us all back to Square One: Liberalism – based on Individualism, Individual Liberty and Private Property.
Without Liberalism at the political centre-stage, Fascism cannot be defeated. What is Fascism?
The fascist method of acquiring power is three-fold:
First, hark back to a golden age of great glory – in this case, “Ramaraj” or “Shivajiraj.”
Second: Identify an “enemy” responsible for that great glory being lost – in this case the Muslims and the Christians, or the Bihari bhaiiyas.
And finally: Issue a call to “eliminate the enemy” as the means of regaining lost glory.
This country is headed in this direction, with Raj Thuggeray in the lead, Advani a close second.
Meanwhile, the Congress is playing the fiddle. Sonia just praised I Gands for nationalizing the banks! Read this editorial ridiculing her here.
Chacha Manmohan is called a “passive observer,” by the arch-fascist, Advani.
Yes, they will trade words with each other, but neither will ever mention any of the great goals of Liberalism: neither will emphasize the Individual; neither will talk the lingo of free trade, nor private property, nor privatization.
Their “political battles” are all clever shows that deliberately leave a lot out of the political debate. There is a critical core of agreement between them – to leave the kitty on the table.
SV Raju must organize a “Jail Bharo Andolan” outside the Mumbai High Court soon. His PIL on the “socialist” monopoly of Indian politics has been neglected by this unjust and “committed” court for over a decade now. Raju is the president of the Indian Liberal Group and in this PIL he has challenged the Representation of Peoples Act (as amended by I Gands) by which all “recognized and registered” political parties must swear by “socialism.”
But this is Fascism we are faced with!
The Congress is happy with a fascist opposition – because they can appear a lighter shade of black.
It is time India’s Liberals stood up.
Centre Stage.
Nothing less.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
On The State... And The "Stimulus"
As we witness the profoundly “anti-capitalist” activities of the US Fed we are forced to reconsider the Marxist view that The State in a capitalist society like the US is but a “committee of directors” of Capitalism.
Nonsense!
All The States of the World are essentially anti-capitalist. This is because anyone who works for The State lives off the taxes forcibly coerced from all those who engage in capitalist voluntary exchanges.
I gained this profound insight after reading Murray Rothbard’s essay entitled “Anatomy of The State” first thing this morning – thanks to Chandra.
(After a “decent smoke” of course!)
Lady Luck smiled and LRC informed me that marijuana smoking prevents Alzheimer’s Disease. The Holy Smoke is Good for Old People. Thank heaven’s I started young – in December 1973, to be precise.
Getting back to Rothbard and getting serious once again:
He says:
“The increasing use of scientific jargon has permitted the State's intellectuals to weave obscurantist apologia for State rule that would have only met with derision by the populace of a simpler age. A robber who justified his theft by saying that he really helped his victims, by his spending giving a boost to retail trade, would find few converts; but when this theory is clothed in Keynesian equations and impressive references to the "multiplier effect," it unfortunately carries more conviction. And so the assault on common sense proceeds, each age performing the task in its own ways.”
The very idea of a “stimulus” is a revolt against common sense.
It is also deeply anti-capitalist.
That is their The State – Uncle Sam.
Now let us look at our The State – Chacha Manmohan Gandhi, and his idea of boosting government spending in order to provide a “stimulus” to the market catallaxy.
This is also a revolt against common sense – and intensely “anti-capitalist” as well.
Lucky for us that we have Kaushik Das arguing in Mint today AGAINST the idea of a government spending “stimulus.”
He concludes:
“As savings fall and private investment adjusts downward, the overall growth of the economy is likely to be hit substantially in FY10. In all likelihood, real GDP growth in FY10 is expected to fall at least 1 percentage point below the average trend growth of 7% recorded between FY99 and FY08. One possible way to counteract this negative effect is to cut corporate as well as income taxes and also aggressively cut wasteful government expenditure (instead of a fiscal boost, as discussed in the recent Group of Twenty summit) in order to prop up private savings and investment. This can also have an indirect positive impact of boosting the image of India as a reform-friendly country and help to encourage foreign capital flows back into the country. Failing to do so will lead to the inevitable severe growth slowdown in FY10 that economists and policymakers are currently losing sleep over.”
Wonder why Kaushik did not also suggest wholesale privatization of the public industrial sector?
Sherlock Holmes would have called this a “three pipe problem.”
Think!
Nonsense!
All The States of the World are essentially anti-capitalist. This is because anyone who works for The State lives off the taxes forcibly coerced from all those who engage in capitalist voluntary exchanges.
I gained this profound insight after reading Murray Rothbard’s essay entitled “Anatomy of The State” first thing this morning – thanks to Chandra.
(After a “decent smoke” of course!)
Lady Luck smiled and LRC informed me that marijuana smoking prevents Alzheimer’s Disease. The Holy Smoke is Good for Old People. Thank heaven’s I started young – in December 1973, to be precise.
Getting back to Rothbard and getting serious once again:
He says:
“The increasing use of scientific jargon has permitted the State's intellectuals to weave obscurantist apologia for State rule that would have only met with derision by the populace of a simpler age. A robber who justified his theft by saying that he really helped his victims, by his spending giving a boost to retail trade, would find few converts; but when this theory is clothed in Keynesian equations and impressive references to the "multiplier effect," it unfortunately carries more conviction. And so the assault on common sense proceeds, each age performing the task in its own ways.”
The very idea of a “stimulus” is a revolt against common sense.
It is also deeply anti-capitalist.
That is their The State – Uncle Sam.
Now let us look at our The State – Chacha Manmohan Gandhi, and his idea of boosting government spending in order to provide a “stimulus” to the market catallaxy.
This is also a revolt against common sense – and intensely “anti-capitalist” as well.
Lucky for us that we have Kaushik Das arguing in Mint today AGAINST the idea of a government spending “stimulus.”
He concludes:
“As savings fall and private investment adjusts downward, the overall growth of the economy is likely to be hit substantially in FY10. In all likelihood, real GDP growth in FY10 is expected to fall at least 1 percentage point below the average trend growth of 7% recorded between FY99 and FY08. One possible way to counteract this negative effect is to cut corporate as well as income taxes and also aggressively cut wasteful government expenditure (instead of a fiscal boost, as discussed in the recent Group of Twenty summit) in order to prop up private savings and investment. This can also have an indirect positive impact of boosting the image of India as a reform-friendly country and help to encourage foreign capital flows back into the country. Failing to do so will lead to the inevitable severe growth slowdown in FY10 that economists and policymakers are currently losing sleep over.”
Wonder why Kaushik did not also suggest wholesale privatization of the public industrial sector?
Sherlock Holmes would have called this a “three pipe problem.”
Think!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ban Auto-Rickshaws... And Abolish RTOs
There is a huge government-sponsored racket that is going on under our very noses – and that is the licensing of auto-rickshaws.
The other day, I made some inquiries into the price of an auto and it turned out that a beat up old machine sells at over Rs. 2,50,000. I am not being offered more than Rs. 80,000 for my 2001 Opel Corsa, which is in immaculate condition. And 3 old Opels for 1 old auto-rickshaw is no deal.
It also turns out that the price of a new auto-rickshaw is in excess of Rs. 4,00,000. This, while the Suzuki A-Star has just been launched at Rs. 3,50,000 for the base model. The A-Star looks great. The auto, even new, looks like junk. And junk should be junked.
My rickshaw-driver friends told me that Bajaj gets about Rs. 1,50,000 per auto, while the rest of the money is a premium for the license to operate the vehicle. These licenses are scarce. The issuing authority is the the Regional Transport Office (RTO).
Now, driving a car is difficult in Delhi because of the proliferation of autos. They slow down all other traffic. If they were banned, traffic management would be easier. Scientific traffic management is impossible today because of the different speeds at which different vehicles move, the auto-rickshaw being the slowest.
There are a host of small cars already available from Suzuki and Hyundai that could replace auto-rickshaws while also smoothening out the traffic flow. The customer would get a better ride. And the driver would save his backbone. An orthopaedist once told me that spinal injuries are commonplace amongst auto-rickshaw drivers.
The auto-rickshaws on our roads symbolize our poverty – that the people cannot afford cars. This is totally false. Fleets of small cars to be run as taxis would be invested in by individuals as well as taxi companies if the transport authorities that license commercial vehicles were all unceremoniously closed down.
There is already a major illegal business going on in Delhi by which unlicensed big cars (like the Toyota Qualis or the Chevrolet Tavera) ply as taxis, cramming a dozen or so passengers at a small fee each, competing with buses. In a free market scenario, there would be all kinds of vehicles on offer, from small to big, and it is the customer who would be king, free to choose.
So ban the Bajaj auto-rickshaw.
And shut down all the RTOs.
The other day, I made some inquiries into the price of an auto and it turned out that a beat up old machine sells at over Rs. 2,50,000. I am not being offered more than Rs. 80,000 for my 2001 Opel Corsa, which is in immaculate condition. And 3 old Opels for 1 old auto-rickshaw is no deal.
It also turns out that the price of a new auto-rickshaw is in excess of Rs. 4,00,000. This, while the Suzuki A-Star has just been launched at Rs. 3,50,000 for the base model. The A-Star looks great. The auto, even new, looks like junk. And junk should be junked.
My rickshaw-driver friends told me that Bajaj gets about Rs. 1,50,000 per auto, while the rest of the money is a premium for the license to operate the vehicle. These licenses are scarce. The issuing authority is the the Regional Transport Office (RTO).
Now, driving a car is difficult in Delhi because of the proliferation of autos. They slow down all other traffic. If they were banned, traffic management would be easier. Scientific traffic management is impossible today because of the different speeds at which different vehicles move, the auto-rickshaw being the slowest.
There are a host of small cars already available from Suzuki and Hyundai that could replace auto-rickshaws while also smoothening out the traffic flow. The customer would get a better ride. And the driver would save his backbone. An orthopaedist once told me that spinal injuries are commonplace amongst auto-rickshaw drivers.
The auto-rickshaws on our roads symbolize our poverty – that the people cannot afford cars. This is totally false. Fleets of small cars to be run as taxis would be invested in by individuals as well as taxi companies if the transport authorities that license commercial vehicles were all unceremoniously closed down.
There is already a major illegal business going on in Delhi by which unlicensed big cars (like the Toyota Qualis or the Chevrolet Tavera) ply as taxis, cramming a dozen or so passengers at a small fee each, competing with buses. In a free market scenario, there would be all kinds of vehicles on offer, from small to big, and it is the customer who would be king, free to choose.
So ban the Bajaj auto-rickshaw.
And shut down all the RTOs.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Adam Smith... And Marathi Politics
The news that the government of Maharashtra has dictated 80 per cent reservations in jobs for locals must be viewed as an Injustice, given that Justice demands a Rule of Law in which there is neither Preference nor Restraint.
This is preferential treatment for locals – and it brings to mind what Adam Smith wrote on the subject. This quote is from The Wealth of Nations:
“All systems either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty, in the attempting to perform which he must always be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient; the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments most suitable to the interest of the society. According to the system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to; three duties of great importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common understandings: first, the duty of protecting the society from violence and invasion of other independent societies; secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice; and, thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society.”
Note the emphasized words carefully. It will show to you that our The State has just become a puppet in the hands of every string puller available. It is a “weathervane State” that turns with every change in the political winds. It is also a “predatory State” that seeks always to rob one group in order to favour another. All this is against the ideals of the Rule of Law. Indeed, this is the polar opposite: The rule of arbitrary decrees of capricious politicians.
Oh for the System of Natural Liberty!
This is preferential treatment for locals – and it brings to mind what Adam Smith wrote on the subject. This quote is from The Wealth of Nations:
“All systems either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men. The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty, in the attempting to perform which he must always be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient; the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments most suitable to the interest of the society. According to the system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to; three duties of great importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common understandings: first, the duty of protecting the society from violence and invasion of other independent societies; secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice; and, thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society.”
Note the emphasized words carefully. It will show to you that our The State has just become a puppet in the hands of every string puller available. It is a “weathervane State” that turns with every change in the political winds. It is also a “predatory State” that seeks always to rob one group in order to favour another. All this is against the ideals of the Rule of Law. Indeed, this is the polar opposite: The rule of arbitrary decrees of capricious politicians.
Oh for the System of Natural Liberty!
Monday, November 17, 2008
We Will Rock You
The other day, I attended a small concert by a band called Dhun, which plays Hindi rock.
Good stuff, great talent.
And India is FULL of such talent.
But all this talent is being killed by repressive and kleptocratic policies.
Live music has been virtually banned in all our cities. Further, each and every time that a bar license is refused, a musician suffers.
Yet, they call this the ICE Age: Information, Communication and Entertainment.
India has excelled in both “I” as well as “C” – but whatever happened to the all-important “E”?
Note: Singers, Musicians and Dancers Don’t Need “Education.”
They need Liberty!
Indeed, the blacks in the USA produced a Nat “King” Cole, a “Duke” Ellington and a “Count” Basie – all “superstars” – long before they had “civil rights.”
Only because of Liberty.
After the show, I went outside to smoke (ramadoss’ tyranny) – and was fortunate enough to find the band there, smoking as well. We talked about AMSTERDAM!
And I told them:
Sing songs of Freedom – like Mr. Marley.
(There are too many love songs anyway.)
Good stuff, great talent.
And India is FULL of such talent.
But all this talent is being killed by repressive and kleptocratic policies.
Live music has been virtually banned in all our cities. Further, each and every time that a bar license is refused, a musician suffers.
Yet, they call this the ICE Age: Information, Communication and Entertainment.
India has excelled in both “I” as well as “C” – but whatever happened to the all-important “E”?
Note: Singers, Musicians and Dancers Don’t Need “Education.”
They need Liberty!
Indeed, the blacks in the USA produced a Nat “King” Cole, a “Duke” Ellington and a “Count” Basie – all “superstars” – long before they had “civil rights.”
Only because of Liberty.
After the show, I went outside to smoke (ramadoss’ tyranny) – and was fortunate enough to find the band there, smoking as well. We talked about AMSTERDAM!
And I told them:
Sing songs of Freedom – like Mr. Marley.
(There are too many love songs anyway.)
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Casinos Are Honest, Not Central Banks
Manmohan, while returning from the G-20 meet, spoke to reporters aboard his special plane, during which he said:
“There is one more message and that relates to the harm that excessive speculation can do. As Lord Keynes said: Speculators are harmless as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious if enterprise becomes a bubble on the whirlpool of speculation. When the capital development of a country becomes the by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done."
Actually, casinos are more honest than central banks. When you return your chips, casinos give you cash. But the central banker goes on and on issuing notes without ever redeeming them for real money. And that is the precise cause of this Crash.
What do we do?
First, we must have casinos everywhere!
Second: We must have competing suppliers of private money – GOLD.
The government money monopoly must be ended.
Note that the newspapers today are full of stories about the CAT entrance examination to the IIMs. This shows that all our young people are happy to compete. There is CAT, there is the JEE for the IITs, and there are the tough civil service examinations in which young people face intense competition.
But there are people in the country, very rich people, who do not want to compete. There are the protected industrialists, there are the auto MNCs who have opened shop here but do not want to allow direct car imports, including used car imports, and now even the head of the mighty government company that makes steel, SAIL, wants protection.
Ditto with the money: they do not want to compete. Hence the "legal tender" laws.
Yet, for ordinary people like you and me, currency competition is our only hope. At least then we can demand payments in gold, and not have to bother about inflation, deflation or anything else. Our own individual household economies will grow at a steady pace forever and ever.
And recall the words of the great Bastiat:
“Competition is Liberty and the absence of competition is Tyranny.”
We must get rid of all these government-backed tyrannies.
And breathe the free air of Liberty Under Law.
“There is one more message and that relates to the harm that excessive speculation can do. As Lord Keynes said: Speculators are harmless as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious if enterprise becomes a bubble on the whirlpool of speculation. When the capital development of a country becomes the by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done."
Actually, casinos are more honest than central banks. When you return your chips, casinos give you cash. But the central banker goes on and on issuing notes without ever redeeming them for real money. And that is the precise cause of this Crash.
What do we do?
First, we must have casinos everywhere!
Second: We must have competing suppliers of private money – GOLD.
The government money monopoly must be ended.
Note that the newspapers today are full of stories about the CAT entrance examination to the IIMs. This shows that all our young people are happy to compete. There is CAT, there is the JEE for the IITs, and there are the tough civil service examinations in which young people face intense competition.
But there are people in the country, very rich people, who do not want to compete. There are the protected industrialists, there are the auto MNCs who have opened shop here but do not want to allow direct car imports, including used car imports, and now even the head of the mighty government company that makes steel, SAIL, wants protection.
Ditto with the money: they do not want to compete. Hence the "legal tender" laws.
Yet, for ordinary people like you and me, currency competition is our only hope. At least then we can demand payments in gold, and not have to bother about inflation, deflation or anything else. Our own individual household economies will grow at a steady pace forever and ever.
And recall the words of the great Bastiat:
“Competition is Liberty and the absence of competition is Tyranny.”
We must get rid of all these government-backed tyrannies.
And breathe the free air of Liberty Under Law.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Profit Motive Vs. Vote Motive
The other day, Satyajit Dey and I were discussing business ideas. And the best idea we could think of was opening a Bengali restaurant in Goa. They love fish there, and there is no competition. We would make huge profits.
What I want to point out is that the Profit Motive is totally innocent.
We did not want to loot anyone. We merely wanted to compete in the business of keeping customers happy and well fed.
And what is more: We displayed Courage. It takes guts to invest money; it also takes guts to migrate.
The Profit Motive is thus not only innocent; it shows guts.
Now compare the Profit Motive to the Vote Motive.
All the Great Evils we see in India are being done by people with the Vote Motive. Raj Thuggeray’s goondaism has the Vote Motive in mind. Ditto for the Bajrang Dal. And the same holds true for Manmohan & his Nutts: the massive spending on rural employment and loan waivers are all directed at winning votes.
The Vote Motive is an Evil Motive.
Thus, we need to encourage people to enter The Market and compete for honourable profits: Shubh Laabh.
And we need to downgrade Democracy.
We have lost a lot by instituting a socialist democracy wherein the Profit Motive is discouraged while the Vote Motive is encouraged.
We need to build a New India the other way around.
What I want to point out is that the Profit Motive is totally innocent.
We did not want to loot anyone. We merely wanted to compete in the business of keeping customers happy and well fed.
And what is more: We displayed Courage. It takes guts to invest money; it also takes guts to migrate.
The Profit Motive is thus not only innocent; it shows guts.
Now compare the Profit Motive to the Vote Motive.
All the Great Evils we see in India are being done by people with the Vote Motive. Raj Thuggeray’s goondaism has the Vote Motive in mind. Ditto for the Bajrang Dal. And the same holds true for Manmohan & his Nutts: the massive spending on rural employment and loan waivers are all directed at winning votes.
The Vote Motive is an Evil Motive.
Thus, we need to encourage people to enter The Market and compete for honourable profits: Shubh Laabh.
And we need to downgrade Democracy.
We have lost a lot by instituting a socialist democracy wherein the Profit Motive is discouraged while the Vote Motive is encouraged.
We need to build a New India the other way around.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Nonsense & Sense on G-20 - and Kleptocracy
There is a bizarre news report on what our finance minister P Chidambaram expects from the G-20 meet in Washington DC. To quote:
India’s concerns at the Group of 20 (G-20) developed and emerging nations would be three-fold. One, the global financial system must become more inclusive; two, growth of the developing economies must be protected and, three, the leading economies of the world must guard against protectionist tendencies.
This is the same old Kamal Nutt rant: Export Everything, Import Nothing.
We need protection. You open your markets.
Looks like Manmohan & Co. are all Nutts Inc.
Now contrast this with what Ron Paul says about the G-20 meet.(Thanks to LRC.)
This video is a must watch.
He says this is an "opportunity to speak about sound money." He says that the G-20 is angling for an international central bank - and that is a "horror." I wholeheartedly agree.
Ron Paul was a Republican party candidate for president. Looks like the US and the world lost when Ron Paul lost.
At least we at Antidote supported Ron Paul.
Finally, some bizarre news on India's Kleptocratic State:
In Andhra Pradesh, only the state agency Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corp. Ltd (APBCL) has the right to purchase alcoholic beverages from companies through quotation. It also fixes the consumer price and supplies beer to private retailers.
In my book, such "kleptocratic" activity by government should be illegal, debarred by the Constitution of the Second Indian Republic.
India’s concerns at the Group of 20 (G-20) developed and emerging nations would be three-fold. One, the global financial system must become more inclusive; two, growth of the developing economies must be protected and, three, the leading economies of the world must guard against protectionist tendencies.
This is the same old Kamal Nutt rant: Export Everything, Import Nothing.
We need protection. You open your markets.
Looks like Manmohan & Co. are all Nutts Inc.
Now contrast this with what Ron Paul says about the G-20 meet.(Thanks to LRC.)
This video is a must watch.
He says this is an "opportunity to speak about sound money." He says that the G-20 is angling for an international central bank - and that is a "horror." I wholeheartedly agree.
Ron Paul was a Republican party candidate for president. Looks like the US and the world lost when Ron Paul lost.
At least we at Antidote supported Ron Paul.
Finally, some bizarre news on India's Kleptocratic State:
In Andhra Pradesh, only the state agency Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corp. Ltd (APBCL) has the right to purchase alcoholic beverages from companies through quotation. It also fixes the consumer price and supplies beer to private retailers.
In my book, such "kleptocratic" activity by government should be illegal, debarred by the Constitution of the Second Indian Republic.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
From Nehru to Tagore via the Moon
Today is a momentous day indeed.
First, the newspapers informed me through a tax-funded advert that it is Nehru’s birthday – and hence “Children’s Day”; the same children who are the “population problem,” I presume.
Hey kids! Sanjay Gandhi forcibly sterilized millions to make sure millions of you aren’t born.
And do read my assessment of Nehru – that argues he was an “evil man.”
Second: An Indian spacecraft is to make a moon-landing today, a tax-funded rocket to felicitate Nehru.
On the ground the news has it that, our The State has failed to achieve even half of its rural roads target. They targeted 3,50,000 kms; they achieved less than half that.
So they decided to hit the moon!
Not only this, their score on rural electrification is even worse – less than 38 per cent of the target. In school, we were declared “FAILED” if we ever scored less than 40%.
(I religiously flunked Hindi, but that’s another story.)
Ha!
Half the population has no roads and no electricity – and you hit the moon!
No bread, eat cake kinda shit.
Third: Manmohan is off to the G-20 meet in Washington DC. They spend a lot of money there too on space exploration. But now it seems none of them really have the money. Indeed, it seems that the money is not money. And each and every one of these G-20 States is a monopolistic issuer of inconvertible paper notes masquerading as money. So what do we do?
We ask them to find the solution!
But they are the problem!
So I find the lead editorial in the Economic Times extremely naïve, for it offers “prayer” to the G-20. I recommend Mr. Morrison, who said, “You cannot petition the Lord with prayer.”
We don’t need government money.
We don’t need government “experts” on money.
Let us revert to the simplicity of gold, something everyone understands.
Let government budgets therefore be made by politicians wearing “golden handcuffs”: no deficits.
And certainly no “welfare for the poor” funded that way. This “welfarism” actually taxes the poor – through inflation. This is “false philanthropy.”
With gold as money (and property titles), and roads and electricity, free trade and Liberty Under Law, the poor of today will be able to substantially increase their consumption and also accumulate Capital, the life-blood of Capitalism.
“Into that haven of Freedom, my Lord, let my country awake.”
First, the newspapers informed me through a tax-funded advert that it is Nehru’s birthday – and hence “Children’s Day”; the same children who are the “population problem,” I presume.
Hey kids! Sanjay Gandhi forcibly sterilized millions to make sure millions of you aren’t born.
And do read my assessment of Nehru – that argues he was an “evil man.”
Second: An Indian spacecraft is to make a moon-landing today, a tax-funded rocket to felicitate Nehru.
On the ground the news has it that, our The State has failed to achieve even half of its rural roads target. They targeted 3,50,000 kms; they achieved less than half that.
So they decided to hit the moon!
Not only this, their score on rural electrification is even worse – less than 38 per cent of the target. In school, we were declared “FAILED” if we ever scored less than 40%.
(I religiously flunked Hindi, but that’s another story.)
Ha!
Half the population has no roads and no electricity – and you hit the moon!
No bread, eat cake kinda shit.
Third: Manmohan is off to the G-20 meet in Washington DC. They spend a lot of money there too on space exploration. But now it seems none of them really have the money. Indeed, it seems that the money is not money. And each and every one of these G-20 States is a monopolistic issuer of inconvertible paper notes masquerading as money. So what do we do?
We ask them to find the solution!
But they are the problem!
So I find the lead editorial in the Economic Times extremely naïve, for it offers “prayer” to the G-20. I recommend Mr. Morrison, who said, “You cannot petition the Lord with prayer.”
We don’t need government money.
We don’t need government “experts” on money.
Let us revert to the simplicity of gold, something everyone understands.
Let government budgets therefore be made by politicians wearing “golden handcuffs”: no deficits.
And certainly no “welfare for the poor” funded that way. This “welfarism” actually taxes the poor – through inflation. This is “false philanthropy.”
With gold as money (and property titles), and roads and electricity, free trade and Liberty Under Law, the poor of today will be able to substantially increase their consumption and also accumulate Capital, the life-blood of Capitalism.
“Into that haven of Freedom, my Lord, let my country awake.”
Ha Ha Ho Ho
A blogger who provides large doses of hearty laughter must be appreciated as well as recommended. It’s quite a world, this blogosphere, and both Ramesh Srivats and I are recent entrants.
Here is his latest on Manmohan’s phone, ha ha.
And his earlier one on that tyrant ramadoss, ho ho.
On blogging, I liked this quote I picked up at Atanu Dey’s blog:
This is from Andrew Sullivan writing for The Atlantic on why he blogs.
From the first few days of using the form, I was hooked. The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation. Unlike the current generation of writers, who have only ever blogged, I knew firsthand what the alternative meant. I’d edited a weekly print magazine, The New Republic, for five years, and written countless columns and essays for a variety of traditional outlets. And in all this, I’d often chafed, as most writers do, at the endless delays, revisions, office politics, editorial fights, and last-minute cuts for space that dead-tree publishing entails. Blogging—even to an audience of a few hundred in the early days—was intoxicatingly free in comparison. Like taking a narcotic.
Did some one say “narcotic"?
Let me reach out for mine.
Ha ha.
Ho ho.
Here is his latest on Manmohan’s phone, ha ha.
And his earlier one on that tyrant ramadoss, ho ho.
On blogging, I liked this quote I picked up at Atanu Dey’s blog:
This is from Andrew Sullivan writing for The Atlantic on why he blogs.
From the first few days of using the form, I was hooked. The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation. Unlike the current generation of writers, who have only ever blogged, I knew firsthand what the alternative meant. I’d edited a weekly print magazine, The New Republic, for five years, and written countless columns and essays for a variety of traditional outlets. And in all this, I’d often chafed, as most writers do, at the endless delays, revisions, office politics, editorial fights, and last-minute cuts for space that dead-tree publishing entails. Blogging—even to an audience of a few hundred in the early days—was intoxicatingly free in comparison. Like taking a narcotic.
Did some one say “narcotic"?
Let me reach out for mine.
Ha ha.
Ho ho.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Right to Information Acting
There is headline news that the Centre has asked all State governments to send up a "detailed dossier" on the Bajrang Dal!!!!!!!!!
This deserves that many exclamation marks.
It is like Manmohan missing his call from the Messiah Obama because he was "travelling."
Can't the PM just phone the director of the Intelligence Bureau and order immediate placement of all the necessary information?
Aren't there IB operatives in each and every district throughout India?
So this is just another bureaucratic ploy to buy time and accumulate files.
It is also the deliberate placing of misinformation in the press, intent on misguiding the public.
And we have a "right to information" - another useless right.
Give me the inviolability of private property any day.
This deserves that many exclamation marks.
It is like Manmohan missing his call from the Messiah Obama because he was "travelling."
Can't the PM just phone the director of the Intelligence Bureau and order immediate placement of all the necessary information?
Aren't there IB operatives in each and every district throughout India?
So this is just another bureaucratic ploy to buy time and accumulate files.
It is also the deliberate placing of misinformation in the press, intent on misguiding the public.
And we have a "right to information" - another useless right.
Give me the inviolability of private property any day.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Get Real On Liberty
The lead editorial in the ToI today, entitled “Get Real On The Economy” expresses valid contempt not only for the discredited Left but also for the status-quoist “head-in-the-sand” baboos of baboodom.
It strongly asserts what we must never forget: That whatever good we are seeing in India today is because of “liberalization” and the consequent opening up of markets and the unleashing of entrepreneurial energies, long repressed.
Good. Very good.
But then, why not call for Liberty?
Since this edit was written in Delhi, where I am also currently located, why not call for the delicensing of alcohol and bars? Think of the nightlife industry that would explode. Today, I drive 5 kms to buy beer from a government theka. There isn’t an affordable bar or pub anywhere in this shitty city – unlike happy Goa! Why not have a Goan atmosphere in the Capital? Why not get rid of all the party-poopers?
And think of Jean-Baptiste Say’s “Law of Markets”: the sale of X gives rise to the demand for all non-X. Thus, the Law implies that Liberty would not only allow a million more people to sell something, it also implies that once they do sell something, they will be in possession of the means to demand everything else. A good beer retailer would buy an Audi R8. A crooner in a bar would buy a Bose music system. And the chanachurwallah would buy a Sony colour TV. All other industries would stand to gain.
Yes! The answer is Liberty, my friends.
Shout The Word!
Liberty from our The State!
Read about the Congress Ticket Shoppe.
And how the Naxalites have affected "democracy" - mere "elections" - in tribal Bastar.
Liberty!
That is:
NOTHING POSITIVE IS REQUIRED FROM OUR THE STATE, ITS POLITICAL PARTIES, OR ITS ADMINISTRATIVE APPARATUS.
They should all just step back:
Laissez Faire, Laissez Passer, Laissez Aller!
Liberty!
It strongly asserts what we must never forget: That whatever good we are seeing in India today is because of “liberalization” and the consequent opening up of markets and the unleashing of entrepreneurial energies, long repressed.
Good. Very good.
But then, why not call for Liberty?
Since this edit was written in Delhi, where I am also currently located, why not call for the delicensing of alcohol and bars? Think of the nightlife industry that would explode. Today, I drive 5 kms to buy beer from a government theka. There isn’t an affordable bar or pub anywhere in this shitty city – unlike happy Goa! Why not have a Goan atmosphere in the Capital? Why not get rid of all the party-poopers?
And think of Jean-Baptiste Say’s “Law of Markets”: the sale of X gives rise to the demand for all non-X. Thus, the Law implies that Liberty would not only allow a million more people to sell something, it also implies that once they do sell something, they will be in possession of the means to demand everything else. A good beer retailer would buy an Audi R8. A crooner in a bar would buy a Bose music system. And the chanachurwallah would buy a Sony colour TV. All other industries would stand to gain.
Yes! The answer is Liberty, my friends.
Shout The Word!
Liberty from our The State!
Read about the Congress Ticket Shoppe.
And how the Naxalites have affected "democracy" - mere "elections" - in tribal Bastar.
Liberty!
That is:
NOTHING POSITIVE IS REQUIRED FROM OUR THE STATE, ITS POLITICAL PARTIES, OR ITS ADMINISTRATIVE APPARATUS.
They should all just step back:
Laissez Faire, Laissez Passer, Laissez Aller!
Liberty!
MG Roads - Only In Remote Villages
I was directed to this piece of news by my friend Amit Varma, who blogs.
The news goes like this:
The Gandhi Monument Council, headquartered in the United States of America, has approached Mayors of 185 cities in 39 countries to name a major street after Mahatma Gandhi .
The cities contacted included hugely-populated ones like Seoul (peopled by over 10 million), Tokyo, New York and London, to sparsely populated ones like Eschen (in Liechtenstein, with a population of about 4,000), Valletta (Malta), Encamp (Andorra), Dudelange (Luxembourg).
This is HORRIBLE!
The Gandhian vision has nothing to do with cities, towns and their markets, without which human beings cannot survive.
Rather, the Gandhian vision is about "self-sufficient village economies" wherein there is no exchange: we spin our own yarn on our own charkhas, weave our own khadi cloth, grow our own crops and eat them, and have nothing to do with the outside world.
Ironically for the Gandhi Monument Council, it is ONLY because of this STUPID VISION that there are NO ROADS IN INDIA.
The Gandhian Planners never thought that villagers need transportation links to actual physical markets in cities and towns in order to do what human beings alone can do - which is, TRADE.
NO URBAN THOROUGHFARE SHOULD BE NAMED AFTER GANDHI.
Yes, straggly unpaved roads in remote villages can - and MUST - be named after this GREAT ENEMY OF ROADS!
And there is MORE!
All Mayors around the world should note that the Gandhian vision has NOTHING to do with MAYORS.
The Gandhian Utopia is of little village republics run by "village elders" - the panchayati raj bullshit.
Let the Gaon Pradhan name his straggly unpaved kuttcha road after the Mahatma.
No MAYOR (or Buergermeister!) should do this.
I must confess that I wrote this after a mighty shot of RUM.
Gandhi was an enemy of this fuel too!
I wonder what he would have thought about the two "decent smokes" I had before that.
Or the few beers I am going for right now!
As Mr. Knopfler put it: I Need Very Heavy Fuel.
The news goes like this:
The Gandhi Monument Council, headquartered in the United States of America, has approached Mayors of 185 cities in 39 countries to name a major street after Mahatma Gandhi .
The cities contacted included hugely-populated ones like Seoul (peopled by over 10 million), Tokyo, New York and London, to sparsely populated ones like Eschen (in Liechtenstein, with a population of about 4,000), Valletta (Malta), Encamp (Andorra), Dudelange (Luxembourg).
This is HORRIBLE!
The Gandhian vision has nothing to do with cities, towns and their markets, without which human beings cannot survive.
Rather, the Gandhian vision is about "self-sufficient village economies" wherein there is no exchange: we spin our own yarn on our own charkhas, weave our own khadi cloth, grow our own crops and eat them, and have nothing to do with the outside world.
Ironically for the Gandhi Monument Council, it is ONLY because of this STUPID VISION that there are NO ROADS IN INDIA.
The Gandhian Planners never thought that villagers need transportation links to actual physical markets in cities and towns in order to do what human beings alone can do - which is, TRADE.
NO URBAN THOROUGHFARE SHOULD BE NAMED AFTER GANDHI.
Yes, straggly unpaved roads in remote villages can - and MUST - be named after this GREAT ENEMY OF ROADS!
And there is MORE!
All Mayors around the world should note that the Gandhian vision has NOTHING to do with MAYORS.
The Gandhian Utopia is of little village republics run by "village elders" - the panchayati raj bullshit.
Let the Gaon Pradhan name his straggly unpaved kuttcha road after the Mahatma.
No MAYOR (or Buergermeister!) should do this.
I must confess that I wrote this after a mighty shot of RUM.
Gandhi was an enemy of this fuel too!
I wonder what he would have thought about the two "decent smokes" I had before that.
Or the few beers I am going for right now!
As Mr. Knopfler put it: I Need Very Heavy Fuel.
Monday, November 10, 2008
On Manmohan's Phone... And Stiglitz's Gold
Funny piece of headline news today that said Manmohan missed a phone call from Obama because he was travelling!
I thought the PM would have better communications systems than we mere mortals have.
And the news has it that even Calcutta has 1 crore (10 million) mobile phone users. Delhi has 18 million. Mumbai 15 million.
Even Raju, who cleans my car, has a mobile. As does Lakshmi, my maid.
I don't have a mobile phone, it is true, but the PM should be having a satellite phone at all times.
But Manmohan has a hotline with God! Here he is again assuring us of 9 per cent growth.
Though a thoughtful edit in Mint tells him he can "forget it."
China runs a budget surplus - so they can boost government spending. India is hugely in deficit - so there is no room for such a luxury.
The edit also says Manmohan "squandered" a healthy tax kitty. He spent most uselessly. His mai-baap sarkaar is broke. Will someone please buy him a mobile phone. Obama from the other totally broke mai-baap sarkaar may be trying to get in touch.
Second: There is a piece in the Economic Times by the World Banker Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz on a "New Bretton Woods." Notice he does not use the word "gold" anywhere.
We do not need to re-invent the wheel of money.
Old is Gold.
I thought the PM would have better communications systems than we mere mortals have.
And the news has it that even Calcutta has 1 crore (10 million) mobile phone users. Delhi has 18 million. Mumbai 15 million.
Even Raju, who cleans my car, has a mobile. As does Lakshmi, my maid.
I don't have a mobile phone, it is true, but the PM should be having a satellite phone at all times.
But Manmohan has a hotline with God! Here he is again assuring us of 9 per cent growth.
Though a thoughtful edit in Mint tells him he can "forget it."
China runs a budget surplus - so they can boost government spending. India is hugely in deficit - so there is no room for such a luxury.
The edit also says Manmohan "squandered" a healthy tax kitty. He spent most uselessly. His mai-baap sarkaar is broke. Will someone please buy him a mobile phone. Obama from the other totally broke mai-baap sarkaar may be trying to get in touch.
Second: There is a piece in the Economic Times by the World Banker Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz on a "New Bretton Woods." Notice he does not use the word "gold" anywhere.
We do not need to re-invent the wheel of money.
Old is Gold.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
On Austrians... And Against the Chicago School
There is a short editorial in Mint today that praises the Chicago school of empirical economists – also called “positivists” – and concludes that these are the best people to run America’s affairs by sitting in the White House with the Obama administration.
The editorial concludes:
“These are precisely the kind of economists the new president needs, ones who can look at economic data and suggest out-of-the-box solutions, instead of tired theories that serve no end.”
This viewpoint is dangerously wrong. It rubbishes economic theory while glorifying the number crunchers of The State, the kind of guys we have been seeing in India for 60 years, reeling out all the data on anything and everything. Professor PC Mahalanobis, who was Nehru's advisor on the Second Five-Year Plan, was a statistician; a number cruncher.
In reality, you need theory to interpret statistical data. All statistics are necessarily “historical,” in that they are measurements of past events. Unless backed by sound theory, no one can predict anything about the "uncertain future" from mere data.
The Chicago school, it is true, base their world-view on empirical testing of theories; on statistical measurements of reality. Yet, I do believe that this is precisely where their greatest error lies. It is this obsession with data and empiricism that has led the subject of Economics along a totally wrong road. Because their basic theories are wrong.
Theories matter. Theories are the link between sensation and perception. We do not “perceive” reality correctly if our minds are full of wrong theories. Just as the man-on-the-street sees a bonny baby and concludes it is a “problem” because his mind is full of Malthusianism. Or a Marxist looks upon entrepreneurs as “exploiters of labour.”
According to the Austrian school of Catallactics (I no longer use the word “economics”), the pathway to knowledge in the Science of Exchange is through introspection. That is, we look inwards into our own minds. The Chicago school looks outwards at reality, measuring it to find laws. This is an imitation of Physics. It is “scientism.” It merely mimics science. It is what Friedrich Hayek called "a pretension to knowledge."
The Austrians look for “laws of thought” that are common to all human beings, because all human beings possess the human mind. And this mind has an unchanging “logical structure.” Once we discover the laws of thought in our own minds, we have the means of understanding “human action” – because all human action in market exchanges is deliberate, and therefore guided by these laws of thought.
Thus, the great laws of demand and supply are not found “out there” by “empirical measurements” of market prices and quantities; rather, they are found inside all our heads. We think like that only.
Similarly, the Law of Diminishing Returns is not activated by some feature of rasgullas. Rather, the rasgullas remain the same; it is we who feel “fed up” after eating three. This is a “law of thought.”
The great Law of Human Association cannot be understood through Ricardo’s “comparative advantage” example of two nations trading two goods; the law can be correctly conceived only when it is applied to two trading individuals.
Individualism, Subjectivism and Apriorism: these are the pillars of Austrian methodology. All predictions are “qualitative” not “quantitative”: we can say demand will rise when prices fall, but we can never apply a number to it – like Manmohan’s famous 9 per cent growth rate.
Further, these “laws of thought” require no empirical proof. They are true a priori. Just as the laws of mathematics, also grounded in the “logical structure of the human mind,” need no empirical proof. We cannot admit to anything “logical” except that 2 + 2 = 4. Similarly, we cannot admit to anything except that the Laws of Catallactics appear “logical” to our minds. Their predictions of patterns and qualities therefore apply with “apodictic certainty.” But these remain “if this – then that” laws, outside the pale of empiricism and positivism. Both Statistics as well as Mathematics are useless to inquiries into Catallactics. As Friedrich Weiser put it: "Our method involves looking outwards from within the consciousness."
And what is the use of Catallactics? Of course, we are of no use to Obama. Or to any “planner.” To us, "economic planning" can never work for the "knowledge" required can never be collected. As Friedrich Hayek said, "What Cannot Be Known Cannot Be Planned." The market works on the basis of widely dispersed "fragments of knowledge" - not centralized statistics. And not everything is known. Knowledge is not "perfect."
Students are advised to read Hayek's brief paper, "The Use of Knowledge in Society" by clicking here.
To Austrians therefore, the State has no role to play in The Market. We advocate a clear separation between State and Market – and a return to the “private money” of gold. We advocate a complete cessation of government collection of market data, as not only useless, but also because they impose compliance costs on businesses. Further, there cannot be any “planning” without “data.”
My great hero in practical government is Sir John Cowptherwaite, who refused to collect statistical data in colonial Hong Kong – because they might be of use to some socialist crank some day. And see how Hong Hong flowered under his light rule. And unilateral free trade. And low taxes. And all this, without a central bank!
A good read for students: Murray Rothbard’s article “Statistics: The Achilles’ Heel Of Governments.” To read the article, click here.
The editorial concludes:
“These are precisely the kind of economists the new president needs, ones who can look at economic data and suggest out-of-the-box solutions, instead of tired theories that serve no end.”
This viewpoint is dangerously wrong. It rubbishes economic theory while glorifying the number crunchers of The State, the kind of guys we have been seeing in India for 60 years, reeling out all the data on anything and everything. Professor PC Mahalanobis, who was Nehru's advisor on the Second Five-Year Plan, was a statistician; a number cruncher.
In reality, you need theory to interpret statistical data. All statistics are necessarily “historical,” in that they are measurements of past events. Unless backed by sound theory, no one can predict anything about the "uncertain future" from mere data.
The Chicago school, it is true, base their world-view on empirical testing of theories; on statistical measurements of reality. Yet, I do believe that this is precisely where their greatest error lies. It is this obsession with data and empiricism that has led the subject of Economics along a totally wrong road. Because their basic theories are wrong.
Theories matter. Theories are the link between sensation and perception. We do not “perceive” reality correctly if our minds are full of wrong theories. Just as the man-on-the-street sees a bonny baby and concludes it is a “problem” because his mind is full of Malthusianism. Or a Marxist looks upon entrepreneurs as “exploiters of labour.”
According to the Austrian school of Catallactics (I no longer use the word “economics”), the pathway to knowledge in the Science of Exchange is through introspection. That is, we look inwards into our own minds. The Chicago school looks outwards at reality, measuring it to find laws. This is an imitation of Physics. It is “scientism.” It merely mimics science. It is what Friedrich Hayek called "a pretension to knowledge."
The Austrians look for “laws of thought” that are common to all human beings, because all human beings possess the human mind. And this mind has an unchanging “logical structure.” Once we discover the laws of thought in our own minds, we have the means of understanding “human action” – because all human action in market exchanges is deliberate, and therefore guided by these laws of thought.
Thus, the great laws of demand and supply are not found “out there” by “empirical measurements” of market prices and quantities; rather, they are found inside all our heads. We think like that only.
Similarly, the Law of Diminishing Returns is not activated by some feature of rasgullas. Rather, the rasgullas remain the same; it is we who feel “fed up” after eating three. This is a “law of thought.”
The great Law of Human Association cannot be understood through Ricardo’s “comparative advantage” example of two nations trading two goods; the law can be correctly conceived only when it is applied to two trading individuals.
Individualism, Subjectivism and Apriorism: these are the pillars of Austrian methodology. All predictions are “qualitative” not “quantitative”: we can say demand will rise when prices fall, but we can never apply a number to it – like Manmohan’s famous 9 per cent growth rate.
Further, these “laws of thought” require no empirical proof. They are true a priori. Just as the laws of mathematics, also grounded in the “logical structure of the human mind,” need no empirical proof. We cannot admit to anything “logical” except that 2 + 2 = 4. Similarly, we cannot admit to anything except that the Laws of Catallactics appear “logical” to our minds. Their predictions of patterns and qualities therefore apply with “apodictic certainty.” But these remain “if this – then that” laws, outside the pale of empiricism and positivism. Both Statistics as well as Mathematics are useless to inquiries into Catallactics. As Friedrich Weiser put it: "Our method involves looking outwards from within the consciousness."
And what is the use of Catallactics? Of course, we are of no use to Obama. Or to any “planner.” To us, "economic planning" can never work for the "knowledge" required can never be collected. As Friedrich Hayek said, "What Cannot Be Known Cannot Be Planned." The market works on the basis of widely dispersed "fragments of knowledge" - not centralized statistics. And not everything is known. Knowledge is not "perfect."
Students are advised to read Hayek's brief paper, "The Use of Knowledge in Society" by clicking here.
To Austrians therefore, the State has no role to play in The Market. We advocate a clear separation between State and Market – and a return to the “private money” of gold. We advocate a complete cessation of government collection of market data, as not only useless, but also because they impose compliance costs on businesses. Further, there cannot be any “planning” without “data.”
My great hero in practical government is Sir John Cowptherwaite, who refused to collect statistical data in colonial Hong Kong – because they might be of use to some socialist crank some day. And see how Hong Hong flowered under his light rule. And unilateral free trade. And low taxes. And all this, without a central bank!
A good read for students: Murray Rothbard’s article “Statistics: The Achilles’ Heel Of Governments.” To read the article, click here.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
For Academic Anarchy
This is to invite your attention to my column that has just appeared in the magazine Education World.
However, this is a mangled version.
We are therefore fortunate that www.indefenceofliberty.org has carried the full piece.
The article lambastes the idea of a role of The State in education.
It makes a case for total academic freedom - or "academic anarchy" - by arguing, with telling examples, how the ministry of education is a propaganda arm of The State.
The crux of the argument is based on the model of the free press, which functions perfectly well without any official censorship. Indeed, the press sees the ministry of information & broadcasting as nothing but a propaganda arm. The article exhorts the free press to champion academic freedom on the same lines that they champion journalistic freedom today.
To access the unabridged text click here.
However, this is a mangled version.
We are therefore fortunate that www.indefenceofliberty.org has carried the full piece.
The article lambastes the idea of a role of The State in education.
It makes a case for total academic freedom - or "academic anarchy" - by arguing, with telling examples, how the ministry of education is a propaganda arm of The State.
The crux of the argument is based on the model of the free press, which functions perfectly well without any official censorship. Indeed, the press sees the ministry of information & broadcasting as nothing but a propaganda arm. The article exhorts the free press to champion academic freedom on the same lines that they champion journalistic freedom today.
To access the unabridged text click here.
We Are All Individuals
A news report says:
New Delhi, November 6: : In the wake of Raj Thackeray-led MNS party's hate campaign against North Indians and non-Marathis, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck a patriotic note by saying that ‘all of us are Indians’ and there is no difference between people coming from various regions.
"What's the difference between North Indians and Indians. All of us are Indians," a Bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi quipped, while posting for Monday, a PIL seeking judicial inquiry into the killing of a Bihari youth Rahul Raj in a police encounter and the murder of another North Indian in Mumbai last month.
The expression "struck a patriotic note" is appropriate.
For by saying "We Are All Indians" the court has evoked the majestic idea of The Collective.
But Law is a technical subject.
I would have preferred a technically accurate response to this petition.
Which should have read - "We Are All Individuals."
So all Individuals, irrespective of anything, have their lives, liberties and properties protected under law.
The court has been patriotic.
But our understanding of the Law has not improved.
New Delhi, November 6: : In the wake of Raj Thackeray-led MNS party's hate campaign against North Indians and non-Marathis, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck a patriotic note by saying that ‘all of us are Indians’ and there is no difference between people coming from various regions.
"What's the difference between North Indians and Indians. All of us are Indians," a Bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi quipped, while posting for Monday, a PIL seeking judicial inquiry into the killing of a Bihari youth Rahul Raj in a police encounter and the murder of another North Indian in Mumbai last month.
The expression "struck a patriotic note" is appropriate.
For by saying "We Are All Indians" the court has evoked the majestic idea of The Collective.
But Law is a technical subject.
I would have preferred a technically accurate response to this petition.
Which should have read - "We Are All Individuals."
So all Individuals, irrespective of anything, have their lives, liberties and properties protected under law.
The court has been patriotic.
But our understanding of the Law has not improved.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Protectionism & Corruption
My previous post has provoked some responses. In particular, Aaren feels that the preferential treatment given to auto MNCs who have invested in manufacturing/assembly facilities here is justifiable because: "This helps promote India as an investment destination, more jobs in the country, more income for people leading to more consumption."
Actually, these impossibly high tariff barriers only promote corruption - while also fleecing the consumer. Let us see how.
If the tariff was set at a uniform 5 per cent, designed to gain revenue while being "neutral" on the market, auto MNCs who gain market share here will immediately invest in manufacturing/assembly facilities, because it will save costs on the transport of fully built-up cars. This is definite.
However, let us see what happens when the tariff is set at 116 per cent. This tariff will not earn any revenue. Simultaneously, it will offer a perverse incentive to all auto MNCs - the incentive to engage in "tariff jumping."
Auto MNCs will see this "tariff wall" as an "incentive" to locate plants in India - and they will also see that by undertaking this "tariff jumping" they can cheat Indian consumers by offering them limited choices, higher prices etc.
None of this would happen if the tariff was low and "neutral." Then, market prices would reflect full-blown competition. Consumers would be Kings. Revenue too would be generated - and hopefully used to build roads.
Indeed, even second-hand should be allowed in at the same tariff level - so that, very soon, all Indians own cars. Just as each Indian has a phone today. The tariff of 180 per cent on used car imports also earns no revenue. It is part of the incentive to engage in "tariff jumping."
Now, don't you think the politicians in charge have interests of their own?
Or do you think they are all "selflessly serving the people"?
Now equate protectionism with corruption.
So you are dead wrong, Aaren. I would suggest a reading of Frederic Bastiat's "Protectionism - Or The Three Aldermen." An alderman is a city councilor, a civic politician. A better title to this play (not an essay, a play) would have been "Protectionism & Political Corruption." I hope this play will be enacted in all schools and colleges throughout India.
Actually, these impossibly high tariff barriers only promote corruption - while also fleecing the consumer. Let us see how.
If the tariff was set at a uniform 5 per cent, designed to gain revenue while being "neutral" on the market, auto MNCs who gain market share here will immediately invest in manufacturing/assembly facilities, because it will save costs on the transport of fully built-up cars. This is definite.
However, let us see what happens when the tariff is set at 116 per cent. This tariff will not earn any revenue. Simultaneously, it will offer a perverse incentive to all auto MNCs - the incentive to engage in "tariff jumping."
Auto MNCs will see this "tariff wall" as an "incentive" to locate plants in India - and they will also see that by undertaking this "tariff jumping" they can cheat Indian consumers by offering them limited choices, higher prices etc.
None of this would happen if the tariff was low and "neutral." Then, market prices would reflect full-blown competition. Consumers would be Kings. Revenue too would be generated - and hopefully used to build roads.
Indeed, even second-hand should be allowed in at the same tariff level - so that, very soon, all Indians own cars. Just as each Indian has a phone today. The tariff of 180 per cent on used car imports also earns no revenue. It is part of the incentive to engage in "tariff jumping."
Now, don't you think the politicians in charge have interests of their own?
Or do you think they are all "selflessly serving the people"?
Now equate protectionism with corruption.
So you are dead wrong, Aaren. I would suggest a reading of Frederic Bastiat's "Protectionism - Or The Three Aldermen." An alderman is a city councilor, a civic politician. A better title to this play (not an essay, a play) would have been "Protectionism & Political Corruption." I hope this play will be enacted in all schools and colleges throughout India.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
On Being Governed By Nutts Inc.
I was buying some beer last evening when I chanced upon an attractive car on display. As an automobile enthusiast I checked out the car, and was quite impressed. It was a Nissan Teana, a sedan with great looks, high technology and superb features.
Just then the salesman approached me and, after complimenting his offering, I naturally asked the price at which this car was selling. His reply: “A little over 20 lakhs.” That is about US$40,000.
Since this car must be a fully-built model directly imported into India, I then asked the salesman what the import duty was.
His reply: “116 per cent.”
Can you beat that!
The bunch of morons that make up the government of india are “protecting” some auto MNCs from other auto MNCs.
So Honda, Skoda, Toyota, Fiat, GM, Mitsubishi, et. al. are being “protected” from Nissan.
This is RIDICULOUS!
And do note that this is not a tariff that collects any revenue.
When the tariff is so high, there is zero trade, hence zero revenue.
This tariff screws the consumer, screws the importer, and does nothing for the exchequer either.
Which means the particular persons in-charge of our collective affairs are nuts. Hence their trade minister goes about sabotaging the WTO. They are Nutts Inc.
In my book, the customs department should be abolished.
Let us institute free trade unilaterally.
To download 2 podcasts on the subject, click here.
Just then the salesman approached me and, after complimenting his offering, I naturally asked the price at which this car was selling. His reply: “A little over 20 lakhs.” That is about US$40,000.
Since this car must be a fully-built model directly imported into India, I then asked the salesman what the import duty was.
His reply: “116 per cent.”
Can you beat that!
The bunch of morons that make up the government of india are “protecting” some auto MNCs from other auto MNCs.
So Honda, Skoda, Toyota, Fiat, GM, Mitsubishi, et. al. are being “protected” from Nissan.
This is RIDICULOUS!
And do note that this is not a tariff that collects any revenue.
When the tariff is so high, there is zero trade, hence zero revenue.
This tariff screws the consumer, screws the importer, and does nothing for the exchequer either.
Which means the particular persons in-charge of our collective affairs are nuts. Hence their trade minister goes about sabotaging the WTO. They are Nutts Inc.
In my book, the customs department should be abolished.
Let us institute free trade unilaterally.
To download 2 podcasts on the subject, click here.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The State, It Is Obama
There is a lot of naïveté in the world – and this shows up spectacularly after Obama’s victory at the US elections. Ramesh Ramanathan, for example, sees it as “a giant leap for democracy.” In actual fact, the US State has, under the pretext of democracy, accumulated far more powers than any monarch ever had.
There is the money monopoly.
There is the “war on drugs.”
There are other real wars being waged on foreign soil.
The Americans who know better call their State either “fascistic” or “corporatist” – and both words mean much the same. To many Americans, this democracy is a sham that covers up an ugly reality.
And, indeed, the elevation of a coloured man to their highest public office is part of the sham. It is just like if Mayawati or Laloo became PM here in India. Would that in any way change the ugly reality that is the Indian State?
Note that in this election, there were many prominent voices raised against the two main parties. Ron Paul asked his flock to vote for a third party candidate. All these voters felt that the Democrats and Republicans were Tweedledum and Tweedledumber – and, more importantly, they were engaging in a conspiracy of silence in order to keep many important issues out of the debate: like the activities of the US Fed.
Democracy in the US has for long been analysed – especially by the “public choice” theorists – as “pork-barrel politics.” PJ O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores refers to the US State. Democracy was originally conceived as a means of limiting the monarch’s taxation – recall the slogan “No Taxation Without Representation.” Today, the monarch, in the guise of democracy, “creates money.” He buys the support of all those elected with this funny money. Elected representatives no longer represent taxpayers. They represent those special interests for whom they collect and deliver all the pork.
Obama’s win at the US presidential election is actually a way of fooling the people into believing that theirs is indeed a “democracy” in the sense that a coloured man can win. If any citizen now asks the question, “Who Governs?” he will be told “Voters like you and me.”
Hans-Hermann Hoppe, in his Democracy: The God That Failed, offers us a reason why democracies are so successful at hiding all their tyrannies. Under a monarch, there is a clear distinction between governors and governed, with only the members of royal families being eligible to govern. Thus, there is an “Us and Them” in the minds of all citizens – and all tyrannies are stridently opposed. With democracy, the “Us and Them” distinction is blurred, because anyone from the bottom of society can become the supreme ruler – like Obama, or Mayawati, or Laloo. Tyrannies remain hidden. And the people do not revolt against them – because they think they themselves are part of The State. This is the big sham.
We all need Freedom from The State. And we Indians need this as much as Americans do.
We must uphold the ideal of Liberty Under Law. We must oppose all “democratic legislation.” That is, Liberty comes first, not Democracy.
There is the money monopoly.
There is the “war on drugs.”
There are other real wars being waged on foreign soil.
The Americans who know better call their State either “fascistic” or “corporatist” – and both words mean much the same. To many Americans, this democracy is a sham that covers up an ugly reality.
And, indeed, the elevation of a coloured man to their highest public office is part of the sham. It is just like if Mayawati or Laloo became PM here in India. Would that in any way change the ugly reality that is the Indian State?
Note that in this election, there were many prominent voices raised against the two main parties. Ron Paul asked his flock to vote for a third party candidate. All these voters felt that the Democrats and Republicans were Tweedledum and Tweedledumber – and, more importantly, they were engaging in a conspiracy of silence in order to keep many important issues out of the debate: like the activities of the US Fed.
Democracy in the US has for long been analysed – especially by the “public choice” theorists – as “pork-barrel politics.” PJ O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores refers to the US State. Democracy was originally conceived as a means of limiting the monarch’s taxation – recall the slogan “No Taxation Without Representation.” Today, the monarch, in the guise of democracy, “creates money.” He buys the support of all those elected with this funny money. Elected representatives no longer represent taxpayers. They represent those special interests for whom they collect and deliver all the pork.
Obama’s win at the US presidential election is actually a way of fooling the people into believing that theirs is indeed a “democracy” in the sense that a coloured man can win. If any citizen now asks the question, “Who Governs?” he will be told “Voters like you and me.”
Hans-Hermann Hoppe, in his Democracy: The God That Failed, offers us a reason why democracies are so successful at hiding all their tyrannies. Under a monarch, there is a clear distinction between governors and governed, with only the members of royal families being eligible to govern. Thus, there is an “Us and Them” in the minds of all citizens – and all tyrannies are stridently opposed. With democracy, the “Us and Them” distinction is blurred, because anyone from the bottom of society can become the supreme ruler – like Obama, or Mayawati, or Laloo. Tyrannies remain hidden. And the people do not revolt against them – because they think they themselves are part of The State. This is the big sham.
We all need Freedom from The State. And we Indians need this as much as Americans do.
We must uphold the ideal of Liberty Under Law. We must oppose all “democratic legislation.” That is, Liberty comes first, not Democracy.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Practical Catallactics For Kids
In an earlier post I had outlined some simple lessons that could be taught to little children – who are a Resource and not The Population Problem – about their inborn faculties, like the Sense of Gain that powers the “natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange.”
I have now thought of adding “practicals” to these classroom (or home) lessons.
Recall that Dennis the Menace is often found with his friend Li’l Joey running a lemonade stall on the street outside his home. A hand-written sign proclaims: LEMONADE 5¢ - with 'N' the wrong way.
Why shouldn’t all kids be encouraged to do such things?
These “practical” lessons in Catallactics will also be the most enjoyable.
Allow me to recount the story of a kid I once met in Kasauli, who ran a little chai-pakora-samosa stall on the Mall.
I was enjoying the winter sun on the Mall when I chanced upon the Jain Tea Stall. A little boy stood alone at the helm of affairs – and I thought, why not? I ordered some chai-pakora-samosa. They were excellent. While paying, I inquired as to where I could get a paan.
The little boy volunteered to get my paan for me.
I asked him his name.
“Tinku,” came the beaming reply.
I liked the little man.
So I decided to go back to the Jain Tea Stall the following day.
This time, Tinku had an assistant: a little girl named Sangeeta, even smaller than him.
Turned out that she was Mr. Jain’s daughter, and Tinku was a visitor from Delhi.
And so I asked Tinku about school.
He said he hated it. He wanted to run a chai-pakora-samosa stall in Delhi – and so his father had sent him to Kasauli to apprentice with his friend Mr. Jain.
Even Sangeeta said he hated school: they fine her 5 rupees if her uniform is not worn right.
I paid them 10 rupees and walked on, humming “School’s Out” under my breath.
I have now thought of adding “practicals” to these classroom (or home) lessons.
Recall that Dennis the Menace is often found with his friend Li’l Joey running a lemonade stall on the street outside his home. A hand-written sign proclaims: LEMONADE 5¢ - with 'N' the wrong way.
Why shouldn’t all kids be encouraged to do such things?
These “practical” lessons in Catallactics will also be the most enjoyable.
Allow me to recount the story of a kid I once met in Kasauli, who ran a little chai-pakora-samosa stall on the Mall.
I was enjoying the winter sun on the Mall when I chanced upon the Jain Tea Stall. A little boy stood alone at the helm of affairs – and I thought, why not? I ordered some chai-pakora-samosa. They were excellent. While paying, I inquired as to where I could get a paan.
The little boy volunteered to get my paan for me.
I asked him his name.
“Tinku,” came the beaming reply.
I liked the little man.
So I decided to go back to the Jain Tea Stall the following day.
This time, Tinku had an assistant: a little girl named Sangeeta, even smaller than him.
Turned out that she was Mr. Jain’s daughter, and Tinku was a visitor from Delhi.
And so I asked Tinku about school.
He said he hated it. He wanted to run a chai-pakora-samosa stall in Delhi – and so his father had sent him to Kasauli to apprentice with his friend Mr. Jain.
Even Sangeeta said he hated school: they fine her 5 rupees if her uniform is not worn right.
I paid them 10 rupees and walked on, humming “School’s Out” under my breath.
Monday, November 3, 2008
On Sandalwood... And Ganja
There is news today that some "sandalwood smugglers" have been apprehended by the Chennai police. They cut down sandalwood trees in the sprawling 300 acre campus of the Theosophical Society. The report notes that there are other institutions nearby, including the Madras Christian College, that have huge campuses where sandalwood grows.
My point is simply this: If sandalwood grows so easily in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and all along the Western Ghats, why should this resource not be treated as private property of whoever owns the land on which it is growing?
The problem today is that sandalwood is "collective property" and our The State owns all the sandalwood. If this tree was farmed, every poor person would plant a sapling in his compound, tend to it with loving care, and sell it at maturity to help in his old age. If this logic is applied to all trees - teak, sal, ebony, mahogany, rosewood, pine etc. - then it would be win-win all around. Timber is a renewable resource that should be cheap. With private property governing tree farming, timber would be abundant. It is scarce today, hence unaffordable, because of State ownership. And, of course, there are all these needless problems for the police - who could focus their energies on combating real crime.
I was the only person in India to write this when Veerappan was murdered without trial by the Karnataka Police. This article was translated into Kannada and immediately republished in a leading Kannada daily - that too, as front page anchor. I am glad to see that it has also appeared in Tamil.
Of course, I MUST add that if people can grow what they like on their properties and sell their crops freely, then ganja farming should also be totally legit.
"The Weed" Must Become "The Crop"!
My point is simply this: If sandalwood grows so easily in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and all along the Western Ghats, why should this resource not be treated as private property of whoever owns the land on which it is growing?
The problem today is that sandalwood is "collective property" and our The State owns all the sandalwood. If this tree was farmed, every poor person would plant a sapling in his compound, tend to it with loving care, and sell it at maturity to help in his old age. If this logic is applied to all trees - teak, sal, ebony, mahogany, rosewood, pine etc. - then it would be win-win all around. Timber is a renewable resource that should be cheap. With private property governing tree farming, timber would be abundant. It is scarce today, hence unaffordable, because of State ownership. And, of course, there are all these needless problems for the police - who could focus their energies on combating real crime.
I was the only person in India to write this when Veerappan was murdered without trial by the Karnataka Police. This article was translated into Kannada and immediately republished in a leading Kannada daily - that too, as front page anchor. I am glad to see that it has also appeared in Tamil.
Of course, I MUST add that if people can grow what they like on their properties and sell their crops freely, then ganja farming should also be totally legit.
"The Weed" Must Become "The Crop"!
The "Law of Markets"... Applied
My column on Jean-Baptiste Say's "Law of Markets," which dates back to the early 19th century, and which was a pillar of classical liberalism, has appeared in Mint today.
I have explained the law in full and also applied it, both to the Indian economy and also to the current crisis in the USA.
All students of Economics will benefit from a reading of this column.
Lay persons will benefit too, for truth is always simple, and Keynesianism, like Marxism, is garbled nonsense, impossible to fathom.
The column lays bare the deep errors of Keynesian thinking.
To read the column, click here.
I have explained the law in full and also applied it, both to the Indian economy and also to the current crisis in the USA.
All students of Economics will benefit from a reading of this column.
Lay persons will benefit too, for truth is always simple, and Keynesianism, like Marxism, is garbled nonsense, impossible to fathom.
The column lays bare the deep errors of Keynesian thinking.
To read the column, click here.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Podcast: The Libertarian Vision
This is a podcast on the libertarian vision of Man, Society and Government.
Click here to download the podcast.
I am sure you will enjoy it.
Click here to download the podcast.
I am sure you will enjoy it.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Our National Character Is Under Threat
The Manmohan pyaray government has “injected liquidity” into the financial sector, to the tune of Rs. 85,000 crores (850 billion) – but the good news is that there is at least one dissenter from within, saying the move will be inflationary. Inflation has been hovering at around 12 per cent for quite some time now. And this implies that interest rates are already negative. When the rate of interest is lower than the rate of inflation, we say that the interest rate is negative. You do not gain by saving money; you gain by borrowing money.
The bankster (as in “gangster”) cartel, who caused the inflation, whose money is just paper, and who are hell bent on creating more and more cheap credit, are encouraging “investments” that have no foundation in real “savings.” And the interest rate is negative. And these people at the top of this scam call themselves “economists.” They, and their cronies, are hollering about “liquidity.” Let us examine the mischief that is being done with this word.
According to the basic principles of Catallactics, the “self-correcting market,” when faced with a situation of bad banks lending bad loans, engages in what is called “liquidation.” The bad banks – all “bankrupts” – and their bad assets are all sold off to the highest bidder. The bad bankers are now jobless, and the good bankers who have taken over their assets now manage them. The system recovers. All the incentives are right. This is called “liquidation.”
But what on earth is this “liquidity” word that is being bandied around today? Those who are echoing this bad word through the media are making it seem that The State should and must “inject” money (which is liquid) into these failing banks. This is basic banksterism. The new credit is created out of nothing, just as the money the RBI prints is based on nothing. And this nothing will be lent out at negative interest rates. Apparently, this is “good medicine.”
Or maybe I am the one who is crazy.
What will actually transpire is that every individual who saves will be offered the perverse incentive to borrow instead. Everyone will borrow rather than save – because this is the way the incentives are structured. This has already happened in the USA, and this is what will happen here. Indians, who are great savers, will all become big borrowers. This is a surefire means of destroying the character of a nation.
Inflationism is not just a destruction of the value of money. It is not just a hidden tax. It is not just a means of redistributing wealth. It is even worse. The greatest evil that inflationism does is the destruction of human character.
And, yes, they want to teach!
The bankster (as in “gangster”) cartel, who caused the inflation, whose money is just paper, and who are hell bent on creating more and more cheap credit, are encouraging “investments” that have no foundation in real “savings.” And the interest rate is negative. And these people at the top of this scam call themselves “economists.” They, and their cronies, are hollering about “liquidity.” Let us examine the mischief that is being done with this word.
According to the basic principles of Catallactics, the “self-correcting market,” when faced with a situation of bad banks lending bad loans, engages in what is called “liquidation.” The bad banks – all “bankrupts” – and their bad assets are all sold off to the highest bidder. The bad bankers are now jobless, and the good bankers who have taken over their assets now manage them. The system recovers. All the incentives are right. This is called “liquidation.”
But what on earth is this “liquidity” word that is being bandied around today? Those who are echoing this bad word through the media are making it seem that The State should and must “inject” money (which is liquid) into these failing banks. This is basic banksterism. The new credit is created out of nothing, just as the money the RBI prints is based on nothing. And this nothing will be lent out at negative interest rates. Apparently, this is “good medicine.”
Or maybe I am the one who is crazy.
What will actually transpire is that every individual who saves will be offered the perverse incentive to borrow instead. Everyone will borrow rather than save – because this is the way the incentives are structured. This has already happened in the USA, and this is what will happen here. Indians, who are great savers, will all become big borrowers. This is a surefire means of destroying the character of a nation.
Inflationism is not just a destruction of the value of money. It is not just a hidden tax. It is not just a means of redistributing wealth. It is even worse. The greatest evil that inflationism does is the destruction of human character.
And, yes, they want to teach!
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