On Their News... And Mine

The 15th of August was not just the anniversary of the First Indian Republic: this day also marks the 40th anniversary of the US dollar's link with gold getting broken. The year was 1971 - and the president was Nixon. Then, an ounce of gold was worth 35 dollars; today, it is well over 1300 dollars. Do read Doug French's article on this "unhappy birthday of global fiat paper money." After that, Cris Lingle's piece for The Freeman on the "dangers of central banking" is worth going through too, and slowly. 


Our Great Leader, chacha manmohan s gandhi's Independence Day Address to the Nation from the ramparts of Red Fort was received unenthusiastically here in South India: the local paper I read, in its editorial, called it "uninspiring and repetitive, and full of excuses." But an editorial in The Indian Express carried an excerpt which is worth pasting below for my reader's attention:

"Controlling rising prices is a primary responsibility of any government,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his Independence Day speech at Delhi’s Red Fort.  “We have continuously taken steps to rein in prices,” the PM continued, “but, unfortunately, sometimes we have been confronted with a situation in which the reasons for rising prices lay outside the country.”

I hope my reader by now knows that the above statement is a bald lie.


In a Free Market Economy ALL PRICES ARE FREE. The government only acts against ENEMIES OF PEACE AND ORDER. The money is HONEST.


Inflation is a purely monetary phenomenon. It occurs because the central bank increases the supply of money to fund The State, which is a "dissaver," always in "deficit." Inflationist-welfarism is thus a CRUEL JOKE on poor people. It MUST be ended.


Do also read this latest Deutsche Bank Update on Inflation in India.


The main person in the news, however, is Anna Hazare, with his crusade against corruption, aimed at nothing else but the creation of YET ANOTHER government department! 


I have a few posts on this nonsense you can easily search and find, but today I would like you to read two excellent articles against this nonsense by two young fellows whose minds I played no small a role in shaping. These young lads are Vipin Veetil and Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan. The former dropped out of the Delhi School of Mathematical Economics after a few discussions with me (and some talks); he then became an editorial writer for Mint; after which he is now pursuing a PhD in Economics in the USSA. The latter is from the Planning Commission (no less) and writes the Hayek Order and also the Soldier of Freedom blogs, both of which are on my Blog List.


The first of these articles, jointly authored by the two, was published in Forbes Magazine, and can be read here.


The second of these articles, from Pragati Magazine, authored by Vipin, can be read here.


I hope you will all then realise what the ONLY solution to GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION is - and that is, a drastic cutting down of The State and its powers, so as to let all businessmen FREE of State Interference.


This means A Second Republic!


No less.


And now, for my news. An anonymous comment that I did not publish inquired as to why no posts had appeared for five whole days: was I in jail or an asylum? he asked. Well, the answer is a little of both. The cops picked me up from my perch next to the sadhu, took me to a hospital - and from there, by ambulance, to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMHANS) in BANGALORE! What a horrible ride!


Anyway, the first evening, a nurse wanted to inject me with some "sedative" - but when I looked at the pamphlet of this injection, it said it was meant for "serious psychoses and mania." I was horrified! Have I exhibited such symptoms? I asked the nurse, She said if I did not take the injection, she was authorised to use force on me by calling for the security guards. However, better sense prevailed. She called in the Junior Doctor. I told him that I am a student of "reality"; that I have been "calm and composed all day"; and that "psychoses" according to the DSM III mean a "gross distortion of reality." I told him that not I, but all "mathematical economists" suffer from this "gross distortion of reality." I told him that 9.3% inflation rate and 7.7% growth rate are both gross distortions of reality.


They changed my ward.


Things are better now. The doctors are all very friendly.


Oh yes. MY MOTHER was there all the time. But she should be leaving soon.


All should be well.


See you all tomorrow.