The Haunted, Frightened Tree Of Complete Ignorance

Vaclav Klaus regaled me with the story of how some World Bank - IMF "economists" phoned him when he assumed office as President of the Czech Republic, seeking an appointment so that they could offer him "advice." He told them he knew more Economics than them, and did not need their advice. Fuck off from Prague, dudes, he told them. Return to Washington DC or wherever the fuck you came from.

Sonia Gandhi has a National Advisory Council (NAC). She needs advice. Why does she need advice? Because she is Ignorant. According to Shekhar Gupta of the Indian Express, these "darbari jholawallahs" of the NAC are "IAS dropouts and retirees." These guys have dreamt up a new scheme for promoting "rural livelihood." But markets are in crowded cities and towns - not in the vacant countryside. As Adam Smith said in the very first chapter of the Wealth of Nations, "the extent of the division of labour is limited by the size of the market." The Principle of the Division of Labour, by which we all specialise, is what Ludwig von Mises called the "principle of cosmic change and becoming." Each of us chooses to "become" someone - singer, dancer, actor, writer, whatever. We do not all sit in villages and spin yarn for our own use. We are NOT "self-sufficient." We specialise - and this requires physical marketplaces in physical cities and towns.

While Sonia Gandhi and her darbari baboons dream of a rural utopia, it is worth noting that all our cities and towns are disasters, including Nude Elly. These socialists built three cities in the past 60 years - while the Bris built 80 "hill-stations" in 50 years - and all three are State Capitals: Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, and Bhubaneshwar, where I am now located. 

I travelled around Bhubaneshwar a fair bit by auto-rickshaw yesterday, and the broad roads lined with trees are all for The State, just like Nude Elly. I asked the driver to take me to the Central Commercial District - and there was none. At least the Brits built Connaught Place, grandly designed. 

In Bhubaneshwar, the streets where shops are located are all disasters - and this affects the poorest of the poor, who eke out their "livelihoods" on the streets, since they cannot afford proper shops. They sell bananas, coconuts, pakoras and what not - this is the division of labour. And you cannot sell coconuts where there is no market - which is the vacant village.

Population causes Prosperity - in cities and towns, and their markets.

While Sonia Gandhi and her darbari baboons dream of rural schemes by which huge amounts of fraudulent money will be spent by younger IAS baboons, the fact remains that poor people from villages are continuously coming to these ghastly cities and towns - and getting fucked. See the jhugggis of Nude Elly, the slums of Bombay and Calcutta, and from my train window I saw the poor of Bhubaneshwar too, trying to survive in huts by the railway track. All around is ABUNDANT UNOWNED LAND.

There is the metaphysical - and there is the physical: cities and towns are our Fixed Capital. City and Town Roads are Social Capital: they are "public thoroughfares" and hence "collective property." They are NOT investing in these because they know not what Capital is, the life blood of Capitalism. Rather, they are "consuming capital" - which is the highway to "de-civilisation." The Professor of Economics at the IAS Academy in Mussoorie is a Marxist - as I reported on the Barkha Dutt Show many years ago.

There is "authority" - and sometimes there comes about the total absence of authority, because of Ignorance. The Delhi Development "Authority" is NOT an acknowledged "authority" on anything: just check out the disaster called Vasant Kunj, built and designed by a bunch of assholes. Similarly, the National Highway "Authority" of India is NOT an "authority" on highways - which would be Gabriel Roth. Our National Highways are all "notional highways." The Traffic Police know nothing of the science and technology of traffic management. Everything about The State is marked by complete and total Ignorance. From top to bottom. And they want to teach your children!

The Science of Economics is the most important science for humanity to know and understand. I am proud to be an Independent Authority in this science.

And as for our The Corrupt & Ignorant State Devoid of all Authority - I have only pure contempt. You look at human society with the "evil eye" - the buri nazar. You desire not that each Indian youngster "becomes" what he or she wants to become. You desire only that they become your servants - that is, "government servants." So you want to employ "the masses" in your "work schemes." You are inventing work in villages - and stealing all the money through your "political and bureaucratic organisation" - while, simultaneously, you are hurting all livelihoods in cities and towns. In Bombay, girls can't dance free. In Nude Elly only The State can open booze shops. In Bhubaneshwar I saw many "musical bands" who had set up their counters on a roadside. One said "Brass Band." And one actually said "ROCK BAND." There are no bars in the city where live music is played. What is "knowledge"? And how much of it comes from schools, and books?

If the CONgress is so ignorant, the Opposition is even worse. The BJP's slogan remains the metaphysical - a God, and his Temple. As if any God can be found in temples. I smoked a chillum with a sadhu in Gangotri. He told me the people worshipping at the temple there were fools, and God is found in solitude, in peace, and in the Holy Smoke. Instead of the metaphysical Lord Ram the BJP has given us Narendra Modi at the top and Dara Singh at the bottom. They are as evil and ignorant as the CONgress; maybe worse. And then we have the Commies - the most Ignorant people ever born. Democracy is also metaphysical. The "power of the vote" is no power; and most people don't vote. So there must be someway outta here. And that lies in Liberty.

I conclude this post with two quotes Peter Bauer ended his essay on "The Disregard of Reality" with - an elegant essay penned on the disaster mainstream Economics has become, written towards the end of a long and productive life championing Liberty for the poor of the Third World. The first is from Pascal, and it goes:

"Let us labour at trying to think clearly: herein lies the source of moral conduct."

And the second is from George Orwell, a socialist hero who did see the horrors of statism:

"We have sunk to such a depth that the restatement of the obvious has become the first duty of intelligent men."