India Votes To Continue Muddling Along

Look at the bright side: At least its not Advani, Modi and Varun Gandhi.

The election was won by the Congress and its allies only because they were a lighter shade of black. The vote was for “secularism” and “stability” – but more for the former.

The lesson: We must build a secular, free market party.

What does the verdict mean for India? Just that this country will muddle along aimlessly for another five years. The treasury will be hugely depleted by more and more anti-poverty schemes: apart from rural employment, which will be extended to cover the entire territory, the poor will now get rice at 2 rupees a kilo, as promised in the Congress manifesto. The fiscal deficit will become huge, all because of government consumption. This includes the recent hike in salaries of the baboo brigade. Inflation will resume.

Note that the science of catallactics prescribes very different policies for making India a prosperous, “developed” country. These are:

Free Trade
Sound Money
Private Property
Economic Freedom
The Rule of Law

To these we must add bijli, sadak and paani because the people are crying out for these. Bijli and paani can be privatized. The public treasury must fund a pan-India toll-free highway network. Local government must be legally obliged to build a road right up to the door of every homestead.

The Chacha Manmohan and Bhateeja Rahul team will ignore all these things. Manmohan has promised to use his second term to focus on “agriculture, education and rural health.” There will undoubtedly be another Five Year Plan. Kamal Nutt will stall free trade for another five years. There will be zero privatization. The cities will continue to implode. The towns will become hell-holes. Chacha and Bhateeja will have all their attention on the “rural poor.”

All that catallactics can tell Chacha-Bhateeja is that our ends are the same. We both desire that the poor benefit. We both desire that growth be “inclusive.” We both desire that India become a “developed” nation.

It is over the means that we differ. Catallactics can only say that the means Chacha-Bhateeja have chosen are wrong. They will not achieve the desired results. Over the next five years, at every turn, the science of catallactics will have to unravel their every error and expose it to the public. That is what this blog promises to do – as a “loyal opposition” to the regime.

It is also good news that the Communists have been routed. As Aristotle the Geek wrote on his blog:

As far as I am concerned, West Bengal is “the” story of the election. As one commentator said on one of the news channels (I paraphrase) – before the elections, communism existed in three places in the world: Kerala, Kolkata and Cuba. Now it exists only in Cuba.

Much to cheer about.