Keynes can’t Create Wealth

Keynes can’t create wealth says Frank Shostak “Government doesn't earn money as such. It is not a wealth generator. So how then does it pay various individuals who are employed in non-wealth-generating projects? It secures the money through taxation, by asking the central bank to print money, or by borrowing. If we ignore overseas borrowings, it basically amounts to the diversion of wealth from wealth generators to government activities. This is the same outcome achieved by printing money: it sets in motion nonproductive consumption.”  

SWOT Crisis in India

Kanika Datta writes in BS “it is difficult to escape the notion that governments around the world are running”………. All the same, this rash of policy announcements and emergency Raisina Hill meets suggest that the government may be getting a little blind-sided”.    

Putting dirty private laundry in a new public laundry bag

Mr Mistry writes on financial crisis in BS “But governments have not had the luxury of time to think them through. They have been formed in a pressure-cooker of compulsion and panic. Hence they are imperfect. But the perfect may be the enemy of the good.”

 

See other posts by Mr Mistry here   

Americans are the true evolutionaries, constantly questioning, evolving, and changing

Surjit S Bhalla writes in BS “I have been a political junkie from pre-teenage days. And political forecasts come with the territory, as well as being wrong. While I have got several political forecasts right, the one my friends (and enemies!) remember is the one I got spectacularly wrong — the 1991 Indian election in which I forecast that the Congress party, and Rajiv Gandhi, would easily win. The Congress won, but by a much lower margin than I had predicted.

It is redemption time. I have been forecasting an Obama win since early 2007. Many believed this was a forecast from the heart, but it was both — heart and head. The “head” part I will claim comes from an understanding of the American society — they eventually, and much faster than other societies, make the “right” decision. So thank you, America, for again providing leadership worthy of your heritage and your belief in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.    

May be need for change of new public policy!

Amrita Shah says in Indian Express “To August 1984, for instance, when the Indira Gandhi Government dismissed NTR as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The day after or thereabouts there was a public meeting called at the University of Mumbai, then Bombay, to protest against the unconstitutional act. Before the scheduled time, the vast hall was full. Mostly with ordinary people, many with briefcases getting home from work. I don’t recall who spoke that day. It could have been eminent jurists, local politicians, civil libertarians or independent citizens. It could have been Nani Palkhivala, Minoo Masani, Durga Bhagwat, Madhu Mehta and Madhu or Pramila Dandavate. It did not matter. The significant thing was that we in Mumbai felt a duty to speak up at a time of national crisis and there was a place and people who could do it for us”.

 

No demise of License Raj but Competition is increasing in Telecom!

Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja says in Hindu “The existing operators do not want competition. There are four or five operators in all circles. I added another four or five. This will only mean more people will benefit. The reach will be much larger. The new operators will go to the rural and semi-urban areas. I have allowed telecom companies to share towers. Wait and watch rural teledensity grow in the next few years. Then you will say that my actions were right. I am presiding over a silent revolution in the telecom sector.

The total amount collected in 2004-05 by way of licence fee and spectrum charges from all operators was Rs.7,953.13 crore. In 2006-07, this grew to Rs.10,747.42 crore. The next financial year, 2007-08, this more than doubled and stood at Rs.24,381.88 crore. In the first quarter of this year, we have received Rs.4,083.05 crore. In all, from 2004-05 to now — the first quarter of 2008-09 included — we have received a revenue of Rs.55,055.15 crore.”   

 

Stubborn illusion of Governments Policy on Poverty

Professor Vernon L. Smith says in his comment in WSJ “All our wars on poverty have been lost by failing to help the poor help themselves”.