America, RIP

On this bright Sunday morning, let us turn our attention to what is happening in America. After the great $8 trillion bailout of the financial sector, the $15 billion bailout of the US car companies seems small change. It is. Ron Paul has rightly called it a “distraction.”

But let us look deeper, and into our own recent past.

During our socialist heydays, a phenomenon that repeated itself with unerring regularity was the “nationalization of sick industry.”

The modus operandi was as follows: Government policy would encourage credit flow into certain sectors. Thereafter, when these industries proved themselves to be unprofitable, the government would step in and take over the sick companies. Thereafter, all losses would be borne by the taxpayer. Bureaucrats would gain control of the sick companies and profit privately. Unions would gain too.

In other cases, government intervention would cause losses in an entire sector. So there was nothing left for the government to do but nationalize it. This happened, for example, in the textile industry. The government-owned National Textile Corporation, which still exists, was made up of over 100 bankrupt private textile mills. NTC is still bankrupt. The taxpayers lost. The unions gained. As did the baboos.

This is exactly what is going on in America today. And this has been stated by Congressman Ron Paul in the US House of Representatives. He said in the house that America is nationalizing vast swathes of economic activity through a strategy of stealth. See the video here.

What can I say now? Except that the USA is heading down the highway to hell. A highway we Indians have bitter experience of. Their taxpayers will lose, the US dollar will hit rock bottom, and there will be a huge amount of inflation. America will go down the tube.

There is only one word that comes to mind: hubris.

And maybe another: ignorance.

So let us be smart in India, and choose real Capitalism.