According to the pundits the entire world is in for a prolonged period of recession although most qualify their predictions by saying that the US would suffer for only a short period and the US economy will start to improve from the second quarter of 2009. The US is in as much debt as Iceland, about three times its GDP, but whereas Iceland has declared bankruptcy the US is in the happy position of being able to print as many dollars as it likes. No one is explaining why, when the US has about $ 15 trillion dollars of deficit and is shortly going to lower interest rates to one percent, its currency is rising against all other currencies except the Japanese Yen. Oil prices have fallen to below $ 60 a barrel which is causing enormous problems for Iran. Iran may be unable to continue with its social welfare programmes giving rise to enormous resentment among its people. China's economy is also slowing down as demand in Europe and the US falls and increasing unemployment may spur the normally supine Chinese to rebel against the regime. A decade from now George Bush may be considered to have been the greatest President of all time for having caused the fall of both China and Iran. He will actually fall into greatness.

On Friday of last week the Sensex collapsed by over 1000 points to below 9000. It is hard to comprehend that it had reached over 21000 in January of this year. For the last few years it has been obvious that a gigantic bubble had been built up in the stock and housing markets. Low quality flats in Delhi were being priced at over Rs. 10 million and we were being told that prices would rise even further. Only about 12% of Indians pay income tax which starts at a paltry Rs. 1,20,000 per year. At this level of income it would be hard for a single person to pay rent and buy food let alone pay for a mortgage. Properties in India are sold on a 50:50 basis that is half the total price is paid by cheque or 'white money' and the other half is paid in cash or 'black money'. This is because of extortionate rates of stamp duty and registration taxes. It follows that there would be very few people able to afford Rs. 5 million in cash to buy properties in major cities and towns. Clearly most of it was speculation and a few genuine buyers were taken in and are now ruing there impulse. Our great Prime Minister has claimed that he warned world leaders about the financial crisis at least 18 months ago. Pity he did not warn our great Finance Minister or the Indian people who are paying for his food and living. The free loading press keeps banging on about what a great economist he is. Only Indians cannot see it.

Hurricane, tsunami or earthquake do not refer to natural phenomena anymore, neither do the words mayhem, massacre or bloodbath refer to the latest Holywood blockbuster. These are words used to describe the recent ructions in the financial markets of the world in recent weeks by serious nerdy looking women and men. Iceland has suffered the shock and awe of bankruptcy producing collateral damage to savers in the UK. In response the British government used antiterror laws to freeze all assets of Icelandic banks in the UK. Ireland broke the coalition by guaranteeing all bank deposits thus threatening to draw scarce liquidity away from others. Faced by friendly fire the US pumped in over a trillion dollars into its banking system but the FED Chairman is asking for more. The British bought controlling shares in banks such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and yesterday the Dutch did the same for ING, thus effectively nationalising these banks. Everyone is now discussing monetary as opposed to fiscal stimulus and Keynes versus Voodoo economics. Who has caused such a commotion in the world? More than Gengiz Khan, Alexander and Mao Ze Dong combined? It is my hero George W. Bush of course. He has finally found his legacy. Shit happens!

Though the fat lady is yet to sing it is now accepted wisdom that Obama is going to be elected President of the US in november. It is shameful that a country that preaches ceaselessly to the world continues to deprive the majority of its citizens. Women constitute 53% of the population yet did not support Clinton. Now the Democrats are trying to tarnish Sarah Palin in Alaska, a woman who has just seen off her older son to service in Iraq. Obama never went to Iraq until he became Democratic candidate and then went on a cosmetic tour just for appearance. He promised to accept public financing and then went back on his word and is now spending $ 4.5 million a day as opposed to $ 1.5 million by McCain. This shows that he is a liar. Has he contributed anything to the cause of veterans of the Iraq war? Surely if he wants to be the Commander in Chief he should have shown more interest in the young men and women who are putting their lives on the line. It is not enough to vote against the Iraq war and say that you will bring the troops back home early. If civil war breaks out after the Americans leave then all the sacrifices would have been in vain. Being a lawyer qualified from Harvard he can answer any question in hundred different ways without saying anything. It took Joe the Plumber to pim him down and get a straight answer. The Americans are going to vote for him because they do not like Bush and because they do not want to appear racist. What pathetic reasons to elect a president with his finger on the nuclear button.

After spending Rs. 15 billion in paying compensation, building the factory and putting machines in place Tata finally admitted defeat and pulled out of Singur in West Bengal. For weeks Mamata Bannerjee had been adamant that 300 acres of land must be returned to the farmers. Her supporters were camped outside the site and were threatening workers who reported for work. Maybe she was hoping to resell the land back to Tata at hugely inflated price and become a heroine for poor farmers? For Tata it would have looked like extortion. If they gave in to her then every villainous politician would find a reason to hold up production and they would be vulnerable for ever. The question remains as to who was financing Bannerjee who was rumoured to be spending Rs. 10 million a day to keep her agitation going. A UP politician visited the site a few times and could have been woeking for another industrialist who is keen to manufacture small cars and would have wanted Tata's project to be stalled. The Congress was smarting from CPM's opposition to the nuclear deal and and certainly did nothing to help. Unfortunately for all three protagonists it backfired spectacularly when Tata went to Gujarat and gave a huge fillip to Narendra Modi who is hated by them. As for Bengal, it is sliding towards becoming the worst state in India. All the clever, ambitious and hard working Bengalees have left the state and only the lazy and the useless are left behind who continue to vote for the CPM to get assured but lowly government jobs. Unless they get rid of the commies Bengal will become the beggar state of India.

Like a jilted lover who marries on the rebound only to regret it later the American public are all set to elect Barack Obama because they feel let down by George Bush. This is a man who seems safe because he has done nothing of note in his entire life. He keeps banging on about change when he shows no evidence of changing anything. He has picked a career insider, Joe Biden, as his running mate. He rejected state financing so that he does not have to disclose the source of his funding. Surely $ 200 million could not have come from $ 5 cheques from little grannies in New Orleans. He will be just as much in hock to big business and the NRA. He talks about women but trashed Hilary Clinton and is now trying to tarnish Sarah Palin who has just seen off her son to Iraq. He talks about tax reduction for 95% of the people, increased funding for education and health care and rescuing those who have lost their homes to the financial crisis without saying anything about where the money is going to come from. He talks about the environment and then gives off a lot of hot air about this 'journey called America' whatever that may mean. This is a one man cause of global warming. We, in the rest of the world, have to watch anxiously who the Americans are going to pick because it affects all of us. Unfortunately it seems that they will reject a war hero and a popular governor for a windbag.

Panic? What panic? It is all calm in India. Everyday we are being told that the fundamentals of our economy is sound, that, except for ICICI, our banks do not have any significant exposure to foreign banks and that our economy is driven by internal consumption with exports being only a small part of the GDP. All correct except that it is only a small part of the full picture. Since this government was elected four years ago it has increased indirect taxes, expecially on services, by a huge amount. This gave rise to a hidden inflation but as long as food prices remained reasonable and the economy continued to grow because of easy credit in the whole world it was able to get away with the bluff of 'Incredible India'. The Sensex reached 21000 and house prices were rising on a daily basis. Then oil and commodity prices went stratospheric and inflation zoomed to 13%. The Reserve Bank raised rates to 9.5%. The consumer is hit by a triple whammy of huge inflation, high taxes and high interest rates leading to high interest payments on outstanding loans. The rupee has collapsed from 39 to the dollar to 47 which will further fuel inflation by increasing import prices including oil. The Reserve Bank will have to maintain a high or higher interest rate which will cut growth. A weak rupee would have stimulated tourism except for this government's pathetic failure to deal with terrorism. Our freeloading press continues to repeat the lies of the politicians. Incredible India or Imbecile India?

As expected Tata Motors have decided to leave West Bengal and set up their factory in a friendlier state. After ruining the industrial base and infrastructure in the state over a period of 25 year the communists had realised that Bengal was close to becoming the poorest state in the country. During this time they have corrupted all the institutions of government including the civil service, the police and the teachers. Communists are structured like organised crime. They have a capo called general secretary and button men called cadres. They run extortion and protection rackets and anyone objecting is silenced with force, often permanently. During elections voters are told not to go to the polling stations and ballot boxes are stuffed with the help of police who owe their jobs to their allegiance to the party. Over the years they had become used to taking everything by force and never expected any resistance. They forgot the simple fact that for a farmer losing his land is akin to losing his livelihood for ever and there is noone more dangerous than a man who believes he is going to die of hunger. Of course, Mamata Bannerjee exploited the situation for her own advantage without regard to the welfare of the state but that is what the commies have been doing for a long time. It is time the people of West Bengal showed some guts and drove out the commie thugs permanently.

From today no one is allowed to smoke in any public place including restaurants, pubs, hotels and even public parks. This malicious peace of legislation curtails individual freedom and opens innocent citizens to harassment by the police. If the criminal politicians really wanted to do public good they would have banned all tobacco products and I would have applauded it. But that would have meant foregoing enormous taxes raised on cigarettes and less money to loot. If I pay tax on a product it automatically means that the product is legal and that I have every right to use and enjoy without hindrance. Millions of people are employed in the tobacco industry, starting from farmers to workers in cigarette factories to dirt poor people engaged in rolling bidis for a few rupees per thousand. Banning tobacco would lose votes which is impossible. Even more dangerous than cigarettes are 'khaini', which is tobacco mixed with lime and kept inside the lower lip, and gutka which is chewing tobacco so addictive that I suspect that some cheap drug such as amphetamines are mixed in it. Khaini causes cancer of the lip and tongue and gutka cause a jump in blood pressure especially in middle aged men. These two products are used mainly by the poor who are least able to afford the serious consequences. Yet no restriction is being placed on these products proving that the Health Minister is just a shallow, petty man who has wasted public money for the four years in office. The law should be changed so that the tax payer can claim back all the salary and expenses paid to a minister who has been useless and a nuisance to public safety.