There is some war-mongering going on with the BJP talking of sending the army to Pakistan to root out terrorists.
As far as we all know, the Taliban is taking over large swathes of Pakistan. Will the Indian army go to Swat to fight them?
Why talk bullshit? – but then, bullshit is what this election is all about.
The ToI has a thoughtful piece on how all politics is now local, and there are no truly “national issues” this time.
Actually, the only national issue – the issue that affects the entire nation – is The Governing Principle: that is, socialism or Liberalism (in the classical and European and not the modern American sense).
But this is debarred.
And let us not forget that this central issue of Principles is also a moral issue – the morality of gainful trade versus the morality of reservations, handouts, protectionism and bureaucracy.
The nation is losing a lot from the Bombay high court’s refusal to hear the Indian Liberal Group’s PIL against the legislation that outlaws liberalism from the “socialist democracy"; a PIL that is pending 10 years or more. SV Raju, who heads the ILG, fears he will be dead before the case is heard. He is over 70 now.
So Think!
Don’t vote.
Protest!
And if you have any interest in “education” do read my column, “De-mystifying Knowledge,” the full text of which is published here, under the banner of Liberty Institute.
It shows how the search for knowledge with which to survive in The Market is not so difficult a task, especially for the poor, and why The State is certainly not required to assist the natural process of the acquisition and transfer of real knowledge.
It argues that our The State is actually ignorant. They cannot be allowed to teach. Rather, they should be asked to learn.
It shows that the Amartya Sen – Manmohan Singh recipe of State education in a closed economy is a recipe for disaster.
And “thought control.”
We Don’t Need This Education.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Exposing The Pseudo-Socialist Agenda
Guess what?
Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi is campaigning – in Kerala.
He is telling the people there that voting for the Left is a bad idea as it will only “divide the secular vote.”
He says this would be fatal, because it would enable the communal BJP to come into power.
Do you see something devilish here?
I do.
I see that Chacha and the Congress High Command have determined that the only political debate they will allow in the country is that between the “secular” and the “communal.”
They will not allow the debate between “socialist” and “liberal”; they do not want any opposition to the socialist idea. They just want an opposition they can paint a darker shade of black.
Recall Tavleen Singh’s quote from a Congressman that I had blogged a week ago:
“We may not look so good but we know that the BJP looks much worse than us.”
Methinks the Congress looks ugly enough.
And in any case, the “communal” and “secular” debate is a no-brainer to us because we believe in Individualism: that the Individual is the smallest minority, and is entitled, like the rest of us, to Liberty Under Law. No majority can take away these rights.
On the other hand, the Market-State Debate is crucial for our times. Unless we visit this debate, we cannot come up with solutions to our problems. There are various policy issues intimately linked to this debate – urbanization, privatization, free international trade, sound money, individual rights, economic freedom – and none of these issues are touched upon if the political space is only about the communal vs the secular.
The real ugly reality being concealed by the communal vs secular debate is that the Congress, the BJP, the Left, Mulayam, Mayawati, et. al. are all pseudo-socialist.
This is Chacha’s agenda: pseudo-socialism. He achieves this by keeping the Market-State Debate out of the political arena.
The intelligent voter should see that his choices are being restricted. And further, that this is a loss to the nation. It means that our politics remains without an intellectual and moral grounding. It means we will never be able to agree on Principles. Our politics will remain confined to personalities and their no-brainers.
In his election speech in Kerala, Chacha said that the Left is on the “wrong side of history.” Actually, Chacha is on the wrong side of history himself – the side of The Dynasty. If anything, I hope this election will prove to be the end of this royal family.
Mint has come out with an interesting article on the political views of a typical urban 18-year old – and it shows a complete disillusionment with politics and politicians. I don’t blame the kid. Even his father says he won’t force him to vote. Do read the full piece.
And Think!
An entire System of Political and Economic Philosophy is being left out of your electoral choice. You are the loser.
The choice between the secular and the communal is a false one. Both are pseudo-socialist. This is why the 18 year old lad from Calcutta says “all politicians are the same.”
To conclude, some good news: the private sector is supplying half-gram gold coins, and they are becoming very popular.
Thank Heavens for The Market!
Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi is campaigning – in Kerala.
He is telling the people there that voting for the Left is a bad idea as it will only “divide the secular vote.”
He says this would be fatal, because it would enable the communal BJP to come into power.
Do you see something devilish here?
I do.
I see that Chacha and the Congress High Command have determined that the only political debate they will allow in the country is that between the “secular” and the “communal.”
They will not allow the debate between “socialist” and “liberal”; they do not want any opposition to the socialist idea. They just want an opposition they can paint a darker shade of black.
Recall Tavleen Singh’s quote from a Congressman that I had blogged a week ago:
“We may not look so good but we know that the BJP looks much worse than us.”
Methinks the Congress looks ugly enough.
And in any case, the “communal” and “secular” debate is a no-brainer to us because we believe in Individualism: that the Individual is the smallest minority, and is entitled, like the rest of us, to Liberty Under Law. No majority can take away these rights.
On the other hand, the Market-State Debate is crucial for our times. Unless we visit this debate, we cannot come up with solutions to our problems. There are various policy issues intimately linked to this debate – urbanization, privatization, free international trade, sound money, individual rights, economic freedom – and none of these issues are touched upon if the political space is only about the communal vs the secular.
The real ugly reality being concealed by the communal vs secular debate is that the Congress, the BJP, the Left, Mulayam, Mayawati, et. al. are all pseudo-socialist.
This is Chacha’s agenda: pseudo-socialism. He achieves this by keeping the Market-State Debate out of the political arena.
The intelligent voter should see that his choices are being restricted. And further, that this is a loss to the nation. It means that our politics remains without an intellectual and moral grounding. It means we will never be able to agree on Principles. Our politics will remain confined to personalities and their no-brainers.
In his election speech in Kerala, Chacha said that the Left is on the “wrong side of history.” Actually, Chacha is on the wrong side of history himself – the side of The Dynasty. If anything, I hope this election will prove to be the end of this royal family.
Mint has come out with an interesting article on the political views of a typical urban 18-year old – and it shows a complete disillusionment with politics and politicians. I don’t blame the kid. Even his father says he won’t force him to vote. Do read the full piece.
And Think!
An entire System of Political and Economic Philosophy is being left out of your electoral choice. You are the loser.
The choice between the secular and the communal is a false one. Both are pseudo-socialist. This is why the 18 year old lad from Calcutta says “all politicians are the same.”
To conclude, some good news: the private sector is supplying half-gram gold coins, and they are becoming very popular.
Thank Heavens for The Market!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Mulayam's Miserable Manifesto
The Samajwadi Party has released their manifesto. The photograph accompanying this report shows the actor Sanjay Dutt and the whatumaycallit Amar Singh releasing the document along with their political master, Mulayam Singh Yadav. Behind them is their party symbol – a bicycle.
Samajwadi means “socialist,” and this manifesto brings out the poverty of the socialist vision for India.
Mulayam, Munnabhai & Co. have pledged to abolish English education, discourage computerization, and prevent the mechanization of agriculture. There are also promises to grant “reservations” to various sections of society.
The idea: If we control The State we will use its force to bring forth these “benefits.” This central idea must be contrasted with the Libertarian one of abolishing all unjust use of State power and thereby establishing Liberty Under Law.
There is also the question of “vision.”
Mulayam, Munnabhai & Co. want an insular India, technologically backward, speaking in local tongues.
Libertarians see a successful, globalized India, a fully developed country, hugely urbanized, freely trading with the world, capable of communicating with the world using a global language, where Gold is money, where Capital is plentiful, and where every labourer has machines to help him in his work.
Commenting on the Mulayam manifesto, the Times of India says:
“It seems Samajwadi Party wants to drag India back by decades. That's why it wants to scrap English as a medium of education, even though knowledge of the language gives India an edge among developing countries in the world. In fact, China is going full throttle with English education. Not just this, the party's belief that getting rid of machines will ensure employment is absurd. If that was so, why are millions migrating from vast almost machine-free states like UP and Bihar to cities like Delhi and Mumbai in search of jobs? If SP wishes well for the country, it should be working out how to increase productivity rather than dabbling with nonsensical economics.”
The word “nonsensical” is apt.
What would happen if Mulayam & Co. banned ATMs and we were back queuing up before bank cashiers?
Nothing really makes sense in socialist democratic India anymore. Certainly not Mulayam, Munnabhai, Amar Singh & Co.
Should we vote?
Or should we Think?
Aristotle the Geek has an interesting quote of Ayn Rand in his post today, which deals with principled liberal politics in India. Do read the entire post. Rand wrote:
“Voting is merely a proper political device—within a strictly, constitutionally delimited sphere of action—for choosing the practical means of implementing a society’s basic principles. But those principles are not determined by vote.”
We have to establish these Principles through every available means, including blogging.
That is the task ahead.
But it is not a difficult one.
Regarding English: I once told a group of villagers, in Hindi, that one’s language was one’s passport, determining the geographical area wherein one could live and work. So if you knew Hindi, you could work in north India. If you knew only Tamil, then only Tamil Nadu was for you. But if you knew English, you were a world citizen, and could be at home anywhere in the world, for English is the world language.
The other day, one of these chaps came to meet me, bringing along his little son. He told me proudly that the little boy was attending a private English-medium school.
Also note Mulayam’s hypocrisy: the report says both his sons studied in English-medium schools.
That just about sums up the socialists: they are rank hypocrites with no dreams for the poor, for this nation. Under them there will never be Liberty. What will continue is abuse of State power for unjust ends, as each tries to implement his “plan,” his very own socialism. And we will remain an insular, backward country.
Socialism must be rejected.
Samajwadi means “socialist,” and this manifesto brings out the poverty of the socialist vision for India.
Mulayam, Munnabhai & Co. have pledged to abolish English education, discourage computerization, and prevent the mechanization of agriculture. There are also promises to grant “reservations” to various sections of society.
The idea: If we control The State we will use its force to bring forth these “benefits.” This central idea must be contrasted with the Libertarian one of abolishing all unjust use of State power and thereby establishing Liberty Under Law.
There is also the question of “vision.”
Mulayam, Munnabhai & Co. want an insular India, technologically backward, speaking in local tongues.
Libertarians see a successful, globalized India, a fully developed country, hugely urbanized, freely trading with the world, capable of communicating with the world using a global language, where Gold is money, where Capital is plentiful, and where every labourer has machines to help him in his work.
Commenting on the Mulayam manifesto, the Times of India says:
“It seems Samajwadi Party wants to drag India back by decades. That's why it wants to scrap English as a medium of education, even though knowledge of the language gives India an edge among developing countries in the world. In fact, China is going full throttle with English education. Not just this, the party's belief that getting rid of machines will ensure employment is absurd. If that was so, why are millions migrating from vast almost machine-free states like UP and Bihar to cities like Delhi and Mumbai in search of jobs? If SP wishes well for the country, it should be working out how to increase productivity rather than dabbling with nonsensical economics.”
The word “nonsensical” is apt.
What would happen if Mulayam & Co. banned ATMs and we were back queuing up before bank cashiers?
Nothing really makes sense in socialist democratic India anymore. Certainly not Mulayam, Munnabhai, Amar Singh & Co.
Should we vote?
Or should we Think?
Aristotle the Geek has an interesting quote of Ayn Rand in his post today, which deals with principled liberal politics in India. Do read the entire post. Rand wrote:
“Voting is merely a proper political device—within a strictly, constitutionally delimited sphere of action—for choosing the practical means of implementing a society’s basic principles. But those principles are not determined by vote.”
We have to establish these Principles through every available means, including blogging.
That is the task ahead.
But it is not a difficult one.
Regarding English: I once told a group of villagers, in Hindi, that one’s language was one’s passport, determining the geographical area wherein one could live and work. So if you knew Hindi, you could work in north India. If you knew only Tamil, then only Tamil Nadu was for you. But if you knew English, you were a world citizen, and could be at home anywhere in the world, for English is the world language.
The other day, one of these chaps came to meet me, bringing along his little son. He told me proudly that the little boy was attending a private English-medium school.
Also note Mulayam’s hypocrisy: the report says both his sons studied in English-medium schools.
That just about sums up the socialists: they are rank hypocrites with no dreams for the poor, for this nation. Under them there will never be Liberty. What will continue is abuse of State power for unjust ends, as each tries to implement his “plan,” his very own socialism. And we will remain an insular, backward country.
Socialism must be rejected.
Friday, April 10, 2009
On Inflation, Politics And Bangladeshis
The news says that we will soon have a 10 rupee coin. This is a sign of inflation – that 10 rupees has become small change. Just as 5 rupees already has. And the 25p, 10p, 5p, 3p, 2p and 1p coins have disappeared.
So don’t believe the government when they claim inflation is under control. They are themselves the cause of inflation. Pure gold and silver coins are the antidote. Hard money, sunnah money.
In the meantime, Chacha Manmohan, talking to the women’s press corps, said that he “needs 10 years to eradicate poverty.”
Lies!
Inflation is a tax on the poor.
The Congress, of course, has lost all face after the Tytler-Sajjan Kumar mess. This has seriously affected our electoral choices – and Amit Verma laments that the choice before the voter “totally sucks.”
There is no party worth voting for.
Young voters are also recommended Aristotle the Geek’s post today, where he concludes:
“Our political system requires politicians to promise that they will steal. Anyone who doesn’t do that won’t win.”
He offers a libertarian manifesto and shows how and why this won’t succeed at the polls.
I disagree. It is the task of “politics” to convey this manifesto to voters and convince them of the need to support it. In my long experience, with people from all walks of life throughout India, these ideas are easy to convey and usually receive whole-hearted support. We must not forget that in socialist India everyone is fucked – from the poor to the middle class to the rich. And everybody hates our The State.
That is why those atop Laputa-On-High do not want to allow a free market party into the electoral competition. They know they will lose hands down.
I conclude with some comments on Bangladeshi migrants I have met in Europe. In London, I checked out of my hotel in Piccadilly early in the morning, to take the tube to Heathrow, when I found I was short of cigarettes. The only vendor open at that hour was a hard-working Bangladeshi. We exchanged some words in Bengali. Immigrants are always the hardest working.
On another trip, I arrived in Frankfurt on a trans-continental bus. The bus arrived 15 minutes early and my uncle, who was supposed to meet me at the bus station, was 15 minutes late. When I inquired as to the circumstances of his late arrival he said, “I had to go to the masjid.”
This came as quite a shock to me, and I thought for a moment that perhaps my Hindu Brahmin uncle had changed his faith. Seeing the bewilderment on my face, he explained: The Bangladeshis of Frankfurt have built a small masjid inside of which is a shop that sells fish and vegetables imported fresh every day on Bangladesh Biman. He had just bought some ileesh-maach especially for me, he said. All the Hindus are now regular visitors at the masjid shop, and relations between Bengali Hindus and Bengali Muslims are hunky-dory! They are all busy exchanging Bengali books, magazines, music and movies amongst themselves!
In Europe, the close affinities between Punjabis from India and Punjabis from Pakistan mirrors the affinity between Bengali Hindus and Muslims.
This proves that the national boundaries are artificial and should be obliterated for all practical purposes.
Bangladeshis are a hard-working and enterprising people. Unlike the West Bengalis, a nation of clerks. And quite unlike the Assamese as well.
Note that Assamese politics aimed at ousting Bangaladeshis is quite a mirror of the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray’s MNS. And thus like the BJP idea too – that there are “outsiders” responsible for our woes.
This is the kind of politics the Congress has ushered into India, as the only “legitimate” competition, apart from the loony Left.
So Think!
Don’t vote.
So don’t believe the government when they claim inflation is under control. They are themselves the cause of inflation. Pure gold and silver coins are the antidote. Hard money, sunnah money.
In the meantime, Chacha Manmohan, talking to the women’s press corps, said that he “needs 10 years to eradicate poverty.”
Lies!
Inflation is a tax on the poor.
The Congress, of course, has lost all face after the Tytler-Sajjan Kumar mess. This has seriously affected our electoral choices – and Amit Verma laments that the choice before the voter “totally sucks.”
There is no party worth voting for.
Young voters are also recommended Aristotle the Geek’s post today, where he concludes:
“Our political system requires politicians to promise that they will steal. Anyone who doesn’t do that won’t win.”
He offers a libertarian manifesto and shows how and why this won’t succeed at the polls.
I disagree. It is the task of “politics” to convey this manifesto to voters and convince them of the need to support it. In my long experience, with people from all walks of life throughout India, these ideas are easy to convey and usually receive whole-hearted support. We must not forget that in socialist India everyone is fucked – from the poor to the middle class to the rich. And everybody hates our The State.
That is why those atop Laputa-On-High do not want to allow a free market party into the electoral competition. They know they will lose hands down.
I conclude with some comments on Bangladeshi migrants I have met in Europe. In London, I checked out of my hotel in Piccadilly early in the morning, to take the tube to Heathrow, when I found I was short of cigarettes. The only vendor open at that hour was a hard-working Bangladeshi. We exchanged some words in Bengali. Immigrants are always the hardest working.
On another trip, I arrived in Frankfurt on a trans-continental bus. The bus arrived 15 minutes early and my uncle, who was supposed to meet me at the bus station, was 15 minutes late. When I inquired as to the circumstances of his late arrival he said, “I had to go to the masjid.”
This came as quite a shock to me, and I thought for a moment that perhaps my Hindu Brahmin uncle had changed his faith. Seeing the bewilderment on my face, he explained: The Bangladeshis of Frankfurt have built a small masjid inside of which is a shop that sells fish and vegetables imported fresh every day on Bangladesh Biman. He had just bought some ileesh-maach especially for me, he said. All the Hindus are now regular visitors at the masjid shop, and relations between Bengali Hindus and Bengali Muslims are hunky-dory! They are all busy exchanging Bengali books, magazines, music and movies amongst themselves!
In Europe, the close affinities between Punjabis from India and Punjabis from Pakistan mirrors the affinity between Bengali Hindus and Muslims.
This proves that the national boundaries are artificial and should be obliterated for all practical purposes.
Bangladeshis are a hard-working and enterprising people. Unlike the West Bengalis, a nation of clerks. And quite unlike the Assamese as well.
Note that Assamese politics aimed at ousting Bangaladeshis is quite a mirror of the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray’s MNS. And thus like the BJP idea too – that there are “outsiders” responsible for our woes.
This is the kind of politics the Congress has ushered into India, as the only “legitimate” competition, apart from the loony Left.
So Think!
Don’t vote.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
For A Gold Rupee
A scholar from the Mises Institute has been quoted in a ToI story on the gold standard. I had blogged the quote earlier, but was requested to do a separate post on the implications of a 100 per cent gold backed Indian rupee.
Let us begin with the quote:
Robert Murphy, Adjunct Scholar at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Alabama, USA, says, "A gold standard is essential today because it would force central banks to raise interest rates to their correct levels. In fact, it would work as a very good safety precaution, since it places a firm limit on how much inflation the central bank can create. Also, it's an excellent option for emerging economies like India, since any country with 100% gold backing for its currency would see its own currency appreciating against others, and more capital would begin flowing there.”
Let us take up each point, one by one:
First, high interest rates would be good for savers. Most people save, and they will be encouraged to do so when interest rates are high and when inflation does not rob them of their savings. The present system penalizes savers and subsidizes borrowers. It encourages borrowing and discourages savings – with fatal consequences, as in the USA. This has enormous moral consequences too – as witnessed in the USA once again. In India, the saving instinct is strong and should not be wiped out by easy credit and cheap loans. An inflation-free gold-backed rupee is the only way to achieve this.
Second: A 100 per cent gold-backed rupee means that there is no means available to The State to create money out of a hat. The finance minister of such a State therefore has “golden handcuffs” on his wrists. This means The State cannot “buy” goods and services by printing money to pay for them. This is vital for “representative democracy” – for it means that The State cannot buy up “vote banks” with sops and largesse. As Sharad Joshi has pointed out in his excellent article on Chacha Manmohan’s NREGA:
“At election time, parties and candidates promise people endowments that will come from government resources that they will get control of if they are elected. That is the reason why socialism/welfarism and democracy cannot coexist.”
The “golden handcuffs” on The State will mean that there will finally be a real representation of tax payers, instead of the representation of tax parasites, which is what we have today, only because The State has the ability to create money and credit out of thin air.
Finally, let us turn to the point that a 100 per cent gold-backed rupee is excellent for emerging economies like India; that we will see our rupee appreciate, and also attract capital flows.
The key point to note is that no “global action” is required. India can and should anchor its currency to gold on its own – and watch as the fiat currencies lose value against the Gold Rupee. This means that we will stop exporting iron ore and start importing on a huge scale. The international purchasing power of every Indian will go up. We will be the world’s biggest shoppers. The consumption and thereby the wealth of every Indian will go up because our money is Gold, nothing less.
Of course, as Murphy notes, this will also attract Capital to India, where money is Gold, because the money is not only safe, but also appreciating. All this Capital will help India become a fully “developed country” as more and more Capital is used alongside our abundant Labour, thereby raising Productivity.
Mises once said that any country, no matter how poor or underdeveloped, can on its own return to gold and sound money whenever it chooses to do so.
Chacha Manmohan and his band of merry robbers are taking us in the opposite direction, into the waiting arms to the international rent-seeking bureaucracy of the IMF. Note that the IMF is selling gold today. Its expanded “money” will be backed by nothing.
If we proceed in this chachacha direction, of internationalism and the IMF, our rupee will always be weak, we will forever export iron ore, and we will never be able to import much. We will, as individuals, remain poor.
With a 100 per cent gold-backed rupee, Indians will dominate the world economy.
We will not, like Chacha, be handing out a begging bowl at G-20 meets, pleading for benefits and grants in the name of the poor.
We will be Rich!
Let us begin with the quote:
Robert Murphy, Adjunct Scholar at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Alabama, USA, says, "A gold standard is essential today because it would force central banks to raise interest rates to their correct levels. In fact, it would work as a very good safety precaution, since it places a firm limit on how much inflation the central bank can create. Also, it's an excellent option for emerging economies like India, since any country with 100% gold backing for its currency would see its own currency appreciating against others, and more capital would begin flowing there.”
Let us take up each point, one by one:
First, high interest rates would be good for savers. Most people save, and they will be encouraged to do so when interest rates are high and when inflation does not rob them of their savings. The present system penalizes savers and subsidizes borrowers. It encourages borrowing and discourages savings – with fatal consequences, as in the USA. This has enormous moral consequences too – as witnessed in the USA once again. In India, the saving instinct is strong and should not be wiped out by easy credit and cheap loans. An inflation-free gold-backed rupee is the only way to achieve this.
Second: A 100 per cent gold-backed rupee means that there is no means available to The State to create money out of a hat. The finance minister of such a State therefore has “golden handcuffs” on his wrists. This means The State cannot “buy” goods and services by printing money to pay for them. This is vital for “representative democracy” – for it means that The State cannot buy up “vote banks” with sops and largesse. As Sharad Joshi has pointed out in his excellent article on Chacha Manmohan’s NREGA:
“At election time, parties and candidates promise people endowments that will come from government resources that they will get control of if they are elected. That is the reason why socialism/welfarism and democracy cannot coexist.”
The “golden handcuffs” on The State will mean that there will finally be a real representation of tax payers, instead of the representation of tax parasites, which is what we have today, only because The State has the ability to create money and credit out of thin air.
Finally, let us turn to the point that a 100 per cent gold-backed rupee is excellent for emerging economies like India; that we will see our rupee appreciate, and also attract capital flows.
The key point to note is that no “global action” is required. India can and should anchor its currency to gold on its own – and watch as the fiat currencies lose value against the Gold Rupee. This means that we will stop exporting iron ore and start importing on a huge scale. The international purchasing power of every Indian will go up. We will be the world’s biggest shoppers. The consumption and thereby the wealth of every Indian will go up because our money is Gold, nothing less.
Of course, as Murphy notes, this will also attract Capital to India, where money is Gold, because the money is not only safe, but also appreciating. All this Capital will help India become a fully “developed country” as more and more Capital is used alongside our abundant Labour, thereby raising Productivity.
Mises once said that any country, no matter how poor or underdeveloped, can on its own return to gold and sound money whenever it chooses to do so.
Chacha Manmohan and his band of merry robbers are taking us in the opposite direction, into the waiting arms to the international rent-seeking bureaucracy of the IMF. Note that the IMF is selling gold today. Its expanded “money” will be backed by nothing.
If we proceed in this chachacha direction, of internationalism and the IMF, our rupee will always be weak, we will forever export iron ore, and we will never be able to import much. We will, as individuals, remain poor.
With a 100 per cent gold-backed rupee, Indians will dominate the world economy.
We will not, like Chacha, be handing out a begging bowl at G-20 meets, pleading for benefits and grants in the name of the poor.
We will be Rich!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
On Assam... And Immigration
Assam lies bang in the middle of the 7 land-locked states of north-east India – and all is not well there. Many bombs went off some days ago, and this has been happening since the mid-70s, when the All Assam Students’ Union took up as their central objective that of deporting “illegal” Bangladeshis. This, of course, is to be accomplished by The State. It is not a liberating idea. It is State Coercion on peaceful people. It is a search for a political license to tyrannize some members of civil society in the belief that such action is for the “greater good.” Is it?
Actually, Bangladesh is the North-East’s closest access to the sea. A free trading and self-governing north-east should ideally be based on free trade and immigration with Bangladesh, its friendly neighbour – through treaties of the EU kind. The north-east will benefit hugely from easily accessible deep-sea ports. They are dependent on Calcutta today – a small, riverine port.
And as for the immigration, here is a report from Mint today, that talks of how this non-issue is still the central point in the upcoming elections to send a dozen bozos to land-locked Delhi!
And don’t forget Chacha Manmohan is a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam.
In British India, Assam, Bangladesh and West Bengal were one.
The British took over Assam and the north-east very late in their reign. It was not until the 1850s that Assam got the benefits of British rule – railways, tea, towns and cities, Bengali and Bihari immigrants, and education in the English language. My great-grandfather, a doctor, migrated to Upper Assam (Dibrugarh) then, from Khulna in present-day Bangladesh.
The report in Mint reveals the true nature of this non-problem:
Assam, which has 14 Lok Sabha seats, shares a 270km border with Bangladesh. The terrain is such that it cannot be easily fenced or patrolled [being mainly riverine]. People from Bangladesh sneak in through Dhuburi district bordering West Bengal, or through Meghalaya or the Barak valley, and then work their way up the banks of the Brahmaputra to the upper Assam districts, locals say.
“They settle along the banks of the Brahmaputra, on remote riverine islands and other forsaken places,” says Moushumi Borgohain, a professor and the head of the department of economics at DCB College. “The men pull rickshaws or become labourers while the women work as maids.”
It is interesting that the BJP manifesto talks of “fencing” this border. And the report talks of a “silent invasion”: but these are peaceful, hard-working labourers, not soldiers who have “invaded” our territory.
A fenced border is precisely like that of the US with Mexico.
I advocate the obliteration of all artificial borders.
It is because of the deep imprint in their minds of the artificial geographical borders of the Indian nation-state that Assamese students fail to see that their economic future lies in the direction of Bangladesh and the sea, and not land-locked Delhi, 2500 miles away, with its Kamal Nutt international trade policies. That too, with just 14 MPs from diverse parties, many of them reported to be big crooks. And there is Chacha Manmohan, of course.
It is this statist politics that is the bane of Assam and the North-East. Evicting people is strong State action. This is now the central focus of Assam “politics.” But is this “civil politics”? Note that there is no “market politics” in Assam – that talks of the morality of peaceful trade and the huge gains to be made from free trade and free markets. Assam, like many of the other states in the region, is engulfed by a violent “politics.” Evicting human beings is more of this violence. It is unjust. And it is a politics of chauvinism, not cosmopolitanism. There is a “collective identity” that is being sought: an Assam of and for the Assamese alone. What a poverty-stricken vision!
In a market order, a bazaaroo hukumat, every Individual who earns his keep in The Market is deemed honest and legitimate, worthy of the protection of the local Civil Government. Bangladeshi rickshaw-wallahs, labourers and maids are therefore people who are possessed of valid claims to the protection of the local civilian authority.
As far as the “forsaken lands” they take over, these are technically “unowned” lands. They have “mixed their labour with the original soil” and so deserve marketable property titles to their legitimate Properties. This is the Principle of Homesteading, by which unowned lands are occupied by human settlers, under the protection of a local Civil Government, and thereby under The Law.
Immigration is a global issue – and I am firmly on the side of free international mobility for all, especially the poor.
India, with a growing diaspora worldwide, should champion free immigration and practice it too.
The Mughal Emperor called himself Jehanpanah, or “Refuge of the World.” This is logical to any sane government because the new settler is also a new taxpayer. Allowing Bangladeshis, Nepalis, Afghanis, Burmese and other foreigners into India will only benefit India. An open attitude is essential for a region’s success in the globalized market economy of today.
Frankly, I think it is horrifying that educated people who call themselves “students” should desire to use physical force and violence on rickshaw-wallahs, labourers and maids. This is linked to the Advani vision.
And there is the other way.
Peace. Liberty. Prosperity. Cosmopolitanism.
Great Cities that thrive on diversity.
Openness to the entire world.
The idea that nothing can be accomplished by violence, and peaceful trade is the Only Way for the whole of mankind.
This is the culture of Goa.
Question: Does the “hati” in Guwahati mean “market”?
Actually, Bangladesh is the North-East’s closest access to the sea. A free trading and self-governing north-east should ideally be based on free trade and immigration with Bangladesh, its friendly neighbour – through treaties of the EU kind. The north-east will benefit hugely from easily accessible deep-sea ports. They are dependent on Calcutta today – a small, riverine port.
And as for the immigration, here is a report from Mint today, that talks of how this non-issue is still the central point in the upcoming elections to send a dozen bozos to land-locked Delhi!
And don’t forget Chacha Manmohan is a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam.
In British India, Assam, Bangladesh and West Bengal were one.
The British took over Assam and the north-east very late in their reign. It was not until the 1850s that Assam got the benefits of British rule – railways, tea, towns and cities, Bengali and Bihari immigrants, and education in the English language. My great-grandfather, a doctor, migrated to Upper Assam (Dibrugarh) then, from Khulna in present-day Bangladesh.
The report in Mint reveals the true nature of this non-problem:
Assam, which has 14 Lok Sabha seats, shares a 270km border with Bangladesh. The terrain is such that it cannot be easily fenced or patrolled [being mainly riverine]. People from Bangladesh sneak in through Dhuburi district bordering West Bengal, or through Meghalaya or the Barak valley, and then work their way up the banks of the Brahmaputra to the upper Assam districts, locals say.
“They settle along the banks of the Brahmaputra, on remote riverine islands and other forsaken places,” says Moushumi Borgohain, a professor and the head of the department of economics at DCB College. “The men pull rickshaws or become labourers while the women work as maids.”
It is interesting that the BJP manifesto talks of “fencing” this border. And the report talks of a “silent invasion”: but these are peaceful, hard-working labourers, not soldiers who have “invaded” our territory.
A fenced border is precisely like that of the US with Mexico.
I advocate the obliteration of all artificial borders.
It is because of the deep imprint in their minds of the artificial geographical borders of the Indian nation-state that Assamese students fail to see that their economic future lies in the direction of Bangladesh and the sea, and not land-locked Delhi, 2500 miles away, with its Kamal Nutt international trade policies. That too, with just 14 MPs from diverse parties, many of them reported to be big crooks. And there is Chacha Manmohan, of course.
It is this statist politics that is the bane of Assam and the North-East. Evicting people is strong State action. This is now the central focus of Assam “politics.” But is this “civil politics”? Note that there is no “market politics” in Assam – that talks of the morality of peaceful trade and the huge gains to be made from free trade and free markets. Assam, like many of the other states in the region, is engulfed by a violent “politics.” Evicting human beings is more of this violence. It is unjust. And it is a politics of chauvinism, not cosmopolitanism. There is a “collective identity” that is being sought: an Assam of and for the Assamese alone. What a poverty-stricken vision!
In a market order, a bazaaroo hukumat, every Individual who earns his keep in The Market is deemed honest and legitimate, worthy of the protection of the local Civil Government. Bangladeshi rickshaw-wallahs, labourers and maids are therefore people who are possessed of valid claims to the protection of the local civilian authority.
As far as the “forsaken lands” they take over, these are technically “unowned” lands. They have “mixed their labour with the original soil” and so deserve marketable property titles to their legitimate Properties. This is the Principle of Homesteading, by which unowned lands are occupied by human settlers, under the protection of a local Civil Government, and thereby under The Law.
Immigration is a global issue – and I am firmly on the side of free international mobility for all, especially the poor.
India, with a growing diaspora worldwide, should champion free immigration and practice it too.
The Mughal Emperor called himself Jehanpanah, or “Refuge of the World.” This is logical to any sane government because the new settler is also a new taxpayer. Allowing Bangladeshis, Nepalis, Afghanis, Burmese and other foreigners into India will only benefit India. An open attitude is essential for a region’s success in the globalized market economy of today.
Frankly, I think it is horrifying that educated people who call themselves “students” should desire to use physical force and violence on rickshaw-wallahs, labourers and maids. This is linked to the Advani vision.
And there is the other way.
Peace. Liberty. Prosperity. Cosmopolitanism.
Great Cities that thrive on diversity.
Openness to the entire world.
The idea that nothing can be accomplished by violence, and peaceful trade is the Only Way for the whole of mankind.
This is the culture of Goa.
Question: Does the “hati” in Guwahati mean “market”?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
PoCG # 5: Posession Indicates Property
Returning to our discussions on the Principles of Civil Government, after a brief digression on Time, let us not wade too deep in the philosophical issue of Property. Let us, instead, assert the fact that there is a Natural Order in all our bazaars only because every member of Civil Society trading there follows a golden rule:
Possession Indicates Property.
That is, we are not looking towards our Civil Government for Law. No siree!
We have our own Law.
We are all “rule-following animals.”
And that is why there is a Natural Order in our bazaars. No city market depends on government policemen to “maintain order.”
THIS IS OUR STRENGTH.
Therefore, the only task of the Civil Government is to uphold the natural law already present in society – a Law that comes from the past. This Law says that Possession Indicates Property. That is, Private Property.
Thus, the fruits, vegetables or fish arrayed before a vendor belong to him. If we agree to a bargain, I hand him some money, which becomes his Property and he hands me my purchase, which becomes my Property. This Law is recognized by all. There are no disputes, Without police or courts and lawyers, billions worth of goods are peacefully exchanged in bazaars throughout India because we all follow this Law.
Note that if the government took the opposite course, under the influence of socialists and communists, and declared all property to be common property, the Natural Order would instantly collapse. Barbarism would ensue as every “comrade” descended upon every shop and took away whatever he desired in the name of the new “brotherhood.” Collective property is a dangerous hoax.
This implies that we have instituted a Civil Government amongst ourselves so that we can enjoy property ownership with legal security. We have certainly not instituted the government so that The State owns everything and we own nothing. So Laputa-On-High has got their fundas totally wrong. They probably smoke some bad stuff up there.
Going further, this also implies that we have not instituted a Civil Government in order to deprive some sections of their properties and bestow the same to some other section – which is the hallmark of socialist politics. No! Rather, every Individual has a legal claim on what he owns. He contributes to the running of the government by “sacrificing a small portion of his Property so as to enjoy better protection of the rest” – as Thomas Paine put it. Redistributionism goes against this basic Principle of Civil Government. As do reservations.
We can now pause to look at the Congress and the BJP in the light of the above Principle: Their cheap rice and wheat schemes are based on looting A to give to B. This, while the personnel of Their The State, raking in taxes and spending the same recklessly, will gain hugely anyway. All subsidies, all redistribution, should cease.
Also note that neither political party is actually socialist, with a heart that bleeds for the poor, for they are both inflators of the money supply – which redistributes wealth away from the poor. Inflation is a huge tax on the poor. Sound money, on the other hand, is based on the Principle of Property.
Thus, Advani’s desire to seize all the assets of rich Indians abroad and spending the same on the poor is more of the same socialist nonsense. As my friend Ashok V Desai has written, these are “avaricious dreams.” This is Advani's "mythical trillion." He also adds that the figures are all wrong and there is nothing in law that allows our The State to confiscate money held abroad. It is just a diversion – the politics of nonsense.
So Think!
There is much to think about.
Possession Indicates Property.
That is, we are not looking towards our Civil Government for Law. No siree!
We have our own Law.
We are all “rule-following animals.”
And that is why there is a Natural Order in our bazaars. No city market depends on government policemen to “maintain order.”
THIS IS OUR STRENGTH.
Therefore, the only task of the Civil Government is to uphold the natural law already present in society – a Law that comes from the past. This Law says that Possession Indicates Property. That is, Private Property.
Thus, the fruits, vegetables or fish arrayed before a vendor belong to him. If we agree to a bargain, I hand him some money, which becomes his Property and he hands me my purchase, which becomes my Property. This Law is recognized by all. There are no disputes, Without police or courts and lawyers, billions worth of goods are peacefully exchanged in bazaars throughout India because we all follow this Law.
Note that if the government took the opposite course, under the influence of socialists and communists, and declared all property to be common property, the Natural Order would instantly collapse. Barbarism would ensue as every “comrade” descended upon every shop and took away whatever he desired in the name of the new “brotherhood.” Collective property is a dangerous hoax.
This implies that we have instituted a Civil Government amongst ourselves so that we can enjoy property ownership with legal security. We have certainly not instituted the government so that The State owns everything and we own nothing. So Laputa-On-High has got their fundas totally wrong. They probably smoke some bad stuff up there.
Going further, this also implies that we have not instituted a Civil Government in order to deprive some sections of their properties and bestow the same to some other section – which is the hallmark of socialist politics. No! Rather, every Individual has a legal claim on what he owns. He contributes to the running of the government by “sacrificing a small portion of his Property so as to enjoy better protection of the rest” – as Thomas Paine put it. Redistributionism goes against this basic Principle of Civil Government. As do reservations.
We can now pause to look at the Congress and the BJP in the light of the above Principle: Their cheap rice and wheat schemes are based on looting A to give to B. This, while the personnel of Their The State, raking in taxes and spending the same recklessly, will gain hugely anyway. All subsidies, all redistribution, should cease.
Also note that neither political party is actually socialist, with a heart that bleeds for the poor, for they are both inflators of the money supply – which redistributes wealth away from the poor. Inflation is a huge tax on the poor. Sound money, on the other hand, is based on the Principle of Property.
Thus, Advani’s desire to seize all the assets of rich Indians abroad and spending the same on the poor is more of the same socialist nonsense. As my friend Ashok V Desai has written, these are “avaricious dreams.” This is Advani's "mythical trillion." He also adds that the figures are all wrong and there is nothing in law that allows our The State to confiscate money held abroad. It is just a diversion – the politics of nonsense.
So Think!
There is much to think about.
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