Some excellent extracts from an article by Janet Albrechtsen in The Australian of September 19, 2012. Four ways to spend money Remember the four ways of spending money? If this sounds like the beginning of a joke by American political satirist P. J. O'Rourke, it is. Except that it's no joke and O'Rourke is simply […]
Category: Economics
Brilliant! The world’s poorest country’s “prosperity” is fuelling food inflation
I do hope Raghuram Rajan will not waste his time in India like Kaushik Basu did. I wrote to him a few weeks ago, introducing myself and suggesting we need serious reforms, but there was no response. Very busy man. No time to discuss reforms. His first media conference was not very promising at all. […]
FDI is merely one per cent; the tip of the iceberg of reforms needed in India
Came across an article by article by Sajjid Chinoy of J.P. Morgan that outlines the benefits of FDI but also points out (rightly) that this is only the tip of the reform imperative. Take the case of multibrand FDI. With food inflation averaging a staggering 10 per cent over the last seven years why haven’t we seen a supply response? Put differently, if the terms of trade have finally turned so decisively in favour of agriculture — and away from industry — why haven’t we seen more investment? […]
The Indian FDI fiasco, and how “my” government would have dealt with it
I've outlined some aspects of a good policy process in BFN, its Online Notes and, more recently, as part of FTI's policy framework. The proposal, today, regarding a Governance and Economic Reforms Commission (here) has added to my many suggestions for a world-class policy making framework for India. Assuming then that "my" government was in […]
Indians are afraid of their own shadow, like children who find ghosts below their bed.
First of all let me assert: a) India needs 99 per cent more reforms. FDI in retail is a TRIVIAL reform. NOT a great reform. I consider it not worth mentioning. India needs LIBERTY. FDI is not even 1 per cent of liberty. It is pretty much irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things. It […]
The British still rule over India. They totally messed up Indians’ minds.
To understand India I will perhaps need help from a highly trained psychiatrist. Else I can't possibly explain the irrational responses from otherwise well educated Indians. Whatever physical damage British rule caused India, it pales into insignificance compared to the mental damage caused. India is defended by nuclear weapons. It has a huge and rapidly […]
Hindutva “braves” (Modi) and Indian armed forces scared witless by Walmart?
One of the most absurd (it is not even imaginable) arguments against FDI is that just like Jahangir gave the British permission to set up a trading unit in India which apparently led (directly!) to the conquest of India, so also allowing Walmart to come to India to compete with existing Indian traders will mean […]
The taxpayer will not subsidise. The consumer will pay only if happy. So what’s the problem with FDI?
It is truly depressing. I'm getting this strong urge to shut down my efforts and simply turn away from India. The stupid India government does ONE good thing in years, and there are MILLIONS of Indians crying "foul"! FDI is not even 100 per cent. Just 51 per cent. And yet there are people debating […]