Dictator and fascist.

Syria has written to the UN accepting the 6 point plan hatched by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan. The plan has also been accepted by Syria's backers, Russia and China. Under the plan there is to be a ceasefire and humanitarian assistance may be delivered to those in need. However, after accepting the plan Syria has resumed bombardment of Homs and things are much as they were before. Why is Syria behaving like this? Because its best friend, Iran has been playing this game for years. Iran agrees to talks about its nuclear ambitions without preconditions and then refuses any cooperation. It invites inspectors from the IAEA to verify its nuclear sites and then refuses entry to specific places. As each stage takes months of negotiations Iran has been able to string talks along for years while furiously enriching uranium. North Korea is also a master at this game. It carries out an extremely aggressive act such as bombing an island in South Korea and then demands food aid to restart dialogue. Western countries give in hoping each time that Pyongyang will reciprocate but each time they are left empty handed. The latest crisis has been caused by North Korea's intention to launch a satellite just after the US agreed to supply 240,000 tonnes of food aid. Pakistan does even better. It's intelligence agency, the ISI, trains and supplies arms to the Taliban to go and kill US and NATO soldiers. Pakistan then pleads helplessness unless supplied with more money and arms which the US gladly does. Meanwhile, our favorite upper class fascist, David Cameron has been caught telling a whopper. He claimed to have eaten a Cornish pastie at Leeds station after plans to levy a VAT of 20% on a heated pastie in the budget was seen as an attack on poor people's food. Sadly for Cameron the shop at Leeds station had shut down 5 years ago. His upper class buddy, George Osborne, who is also the Chancellor of the Exchequer responsible for the budget, did not help matters by withdrawing tax relief for pensioners. This has been labelled as a " granny tax " and the friends have been accused of being out of touch with the people. One minister, Francis Maude advised motorists to fill up their cars and store petrol in jerrycans before unions announced a truck drivers strike. This has caused enormous queues at petrol pumps, some pumps running dry and frayed tempers. While transferring petrol from a jerrycan into a jug to fill her daughter's car one woman caught fire and is even now in ICU with 40% burns. Cameron has not realised that you cannot eat a Cornish pastie with a $500 bottle of champagne. You have to shop a Tesco rather than Fortnum and Mason. Poor chap. It is hard being upper class.

Mysteries of India.

An activist UK based fund, The Children's Investment Fund or TCI has accused the government of India and directors of Coal India of not looking after the interests of minority shareholders. ET, March 29. TCI has 1.01% in the world's largest coal miner. According to TCI Coal India produces 450-500 million tonnes of coal every year. Cash costs are $20 per tonne while the market price is $70/tonne but it is selling to power companies at $20/tonne, thus incurring a loss of $50/tonne or $20 billion every year. This benefits a few politically connected industrialists but hurts minority shareholders. Apparently during the IPO roadshow the government had promised that prices will be normalised but has given written instructions to Coal India to keep the price at $20. TCI has obtained this letter under RTI rules and is threatening to go to arbitration and has also written to the board of directors of taking legal action against them individually. That has so worried the directors that they have held full day meetings on 2 successive days without arriving at any decision. The government levies a service tax of 12.5% on electricity and has replaced old meters with new electronic ones which give much higher readings, whether true or falsified is not known. About 50% of electricity is not paid for. Farmers and slum dwellers get free electricity while many businesses, with blessings of politicians, also avoid payment. State electricity boards are all running debts of hundreds of billions of rupees. A similar situation obtains in petroleum products. The government collects its taxes at source and then compels oil companies to hold prices causing minority shareholders to lose out. Why no one has gone to court before now is a mystery. Meanwhile, efforts at supporting house and share prices seem to be successful. The Sensex is comfortably above 17,000 and property prices are 15% higher in Mumbai and 30% higher in MMR region compared to peak prices in 2008. The Sensex was falling because of the new General Anti Avoidance Rules or GAAR, which sounds like an ominous growl, in the budget, under which tax officials were given unlimited powers to retroactively levy taxes on business deals concluded decades ago. But our most revered Finance Minster has clarified that Participatory Notes, under which foreigners can invest in the stock market without revealing their identities, will not be touched. Naturally the Sensex has rebounded today. The government is thus actively building gigantic bubbles in property and share markets to somehow keep foreign investors from selling out with the consequent crash in the rupee. We hope this works or the crash will be spectacular when the bubbles pop. Thankfully we are so lucky in having the World Famous Economist running the asylum.

What democracy?

New Delhi is hosting the BRICS summit at this moment. In anticipation of the arrival of Chinese President, Hu Jintao a 27 year old Tibetan man poured petrol on himself and set himself alight on March 26. He died on March 28. In response the vicious, vindictive government has rounded up more than 250 Tibetans " under protective custody ". Tibetan SOS Youth Hostel in Sector 14, Rohini has been padlocked from the outside by Delhi police to prevent inmates getting out. They have been pleading to be allowed to write ongoing examinations but the brutal police are unmoved. Criminal politicians are forever shouting that India is the world's largest democracy and how " Parliament is supreme " yet no one has objected to this illegal imprisonment of Tibetans which would have been expected in Zimbabwe and China but not in any democracy in the world. So why are all the politicians so terrified of the nation of cockroach eaters? The answer is in a letter written by the Army chief, Gen VK Singh to the Prime Minister, which has been leaked to the press. In this letter Gen Singh has lamented the unprepared state of the army due to inadequate equipment. HT online, March 29. 1. The tank fleet is devoid of critical ammunition to target enemy tanks 2. Infantry soldiers lack night fighting capabilities. There is acute shortage of night vision goggles and night sights for tanks. 3. 97% of air defence equipment is obsolete and does not provide enough protection against air raids. Most of air defence equipment possessed by the army are of 1970 vintage and obsolete. Such as the Soviet supplied Zsu-23B and Zu-23 anti aircraft guns. 4. Elite forces are woefully short of essential weapons. There is acute shortage of assault rifles, night vision devices, special screening devices and related equipment. Special forces modernisation plan has not been implemented. When India is spending tens of billions of dollars in buying modern fighter aircraft, submarines and in refitting a retired Russian aircraft carrier why is the army devoid of basic equipment? When our scientists can send Chandrayan to the moon and successfully make missiles of various capabilities can they not make night vision goggles and surface to air guns? But where is the gain in buying small stuff? Real money comes from importing hugely expensive foreign systems, as the attempt to pay Gen Singh Rs 140 million in bribes to buy 600 substandard trucks has shown. Jintao will go home a happy man and will tell his engineers to go full steam ahead in diverting the waters of the Brahmaputra to China. Is there any hope for us?

Upper class fascist.

The Riots,Communities and Victims panel in Britain led by Darra Singh has cited school and police failures among young people for the riots last August. It says that there are 500,000 forgotten families who have no support. The riots were characterised by " opportunistic looting and very much targeted at brands " and maybe because of " excessive marketing ". The British government led by Prime Minister, David Cameron blamed criminality " pure and simple " but it turns out that causes were much more complex and included poor parenting, lack of opportunities for young people and materialism. Since Cameron sneaked into Downing Street with Lib Dem support he has increased college tuition fees, reduced public sector jobs, cut social services, increased taxes and has seen a vicious campaign against " benefits cheats " in tabloids resulting in disabled people being abused on streets. The economy contracted 0.3% in the last quarter of 2011 and unemployment has jumped especially among the youth. Unable to afford college fees and with no hope of jobs they are frustrated and seized an opportunity to take branded goods which they would not normally be able to afford. Guy Christian of the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank, said, " This report appears to expose the damaging nature of social breakdown and its impact in fuelling riots. The riots were a disgraceful warning shot from a drifting generation which is cut off from mainstream society." Meanwhile Eton educated Cameron invited rich people, who had donated in excess of 50,000 pounds to the Tory Party, for lunch to his official residence at Downing Street and Chequers. JCB Chairman, Anthony Bamford personally gave 70,000 pounds while his company donated almost 1.7 million since Cameron became leader of the party. Financier, Michael Farmer gave 2.5 million, hedge fund tycoon, Michael Hintze 1.2 million, Tory peer, Lord Sainsbury 1 million, property developer, Michael Freeman 380,000, hedge fund Chief Executive, Sir Paul Ruddock 520,000 property tycoon David Rowland more than 4 million, Michael Spencer 200,000 through his company IPGL and businessman, Fares Fares gave 60,000 pounds. While the BBC and the NHS are cutting services and staff, highly paid executives are reducing their tax bill by being contracted as a company and thus paying a much lower rate of business tax instead of income tax. Meanwhile hated Islamic preacher Abu Qatada has just been shifted to a much larger 4 bedroom house costing the local council 1900 pounds/month in rent. His brother, Ibrahim Othman said," He's really enjoying his new home. The inside is very modern. It has more bedrooms and a larger garden." Looks like only Cameron and Qatada are enjoying while the people are suffering.

Same old, same old.

Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, BJP's Ms Sushma Swaraj accused civil society members led by Anna Hazare of indirectly inviting dictatorship by specking against democratic institutions. TOI. March 27. She said that the issue was not limited to an individual or a group of MPs but the entire institution which is the anchor of democracy in the country. She meant the Parliament. Enormous indignation. But is it righteous? Ms Swaraj was reacting to a comment by Mr Arvind Kejriwal, a member of Anna's team, that the Parliament has a serious problem of credibility as there are 162 lawmakers with criminal records. We are not talking shop lifting but crimes such as murder, rape and extortion. Politicians defend themselves by saying that everyone is innocent unless proven guilty and they want to prove their importance by saying that only Parliament can pass laws no matter what anyone says. Agree to both. So, why do you not pass laws to hang the guilty. How can you, as a woman, sit beside a known rapist or share a meal with a murderer. Also in today's paper the Army Chief, Gen VK Singh has said that he was offered Rs 140 million to allow the purchase of 600 trucks which were " sub-standard ". " Just imagine, one of these men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me if I cleared the tranche, he would give me Rs 14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me, to the Army chief. He told me that people had taken money before me and they will take money after me," Gen Singh said. There are reports that the Comptroller and Accountant General has discovered that blocks of coal mines were sold to private companies for paltry amounts who then went on to make windfall gains. The scam is said to be worth $ 211 billion putting the $ 36 billion telecom scam into shade. There is usually a lot of drama but nothing ever happens. Cases drag on for decades. Witnesses die or are coerced into silence and eventually the case is thrown out for lack of evidence. Sukhram is still free 15 years after being caught red handed. ND Tiwari defied court orders to provide a sample of his DNA and nothing happened to him. Ramalinga Raju is still free after confessing to looting his own company, Satyam whereas Bernard Madoff is serving a 150 year sentence. If Ms Swaraj really politicians to be respected pass laws that will force courts to finish cases within a finite time, free up the police and other investigative agencies from political interference, constitute a strong Lok Pal and do not give tickets to criminals to contest elections. Until we see politicians serving long prison terms or, better still, being hanged for heinous crimes we will see all of you as accessories. If you don't like it, tough.

It's no big deal.

The Co-Treasurer of the Conservative Party of Britain, Peter Cruddas resigned yesterday after being filmed by The Sunday Times offering access to the Prime Minister, David Cameron in return for contributing 250,000 pounds to the Conservative Party. In a sting operation by the paper he was heard to say that it was no use " scratching around " with donations of 10,000 pounds. " Some of our bigger donors have been for dinner in Number 10 Downing Street in the Prime Minister's private apartment, with Samantha," said Cruddas who is worth 750 million-1 billion pounds himself. He went on," A hundred grand is not premier league. It's not bad - it's probably bottom of premier league. Two hundred grand or 250 is premier league. You will be able to ask him practically any question you want. If you are unhappy about something we'll listen to you and we'll put it to the policy committee at no. 10. It'll be awesome for business." Needless to say these revelations have caused embarrassment to the Tory Party and to David Cameron. However, most people will not be surprised. Political parties need an awful lot of money to fight elections which are very expensive. Politicians, therefore, have to depend on donations from wealthy individuals to raise campaign finance. In the US the Supreme Court has allowed unlimited donations provided candidates are not involved. That is probably to stop candidates being bought by businessmen to pass laws helpful to their businesses. This has resulted in organisations called Super Pacs which raise money and run commercials on TV in support of their candidates. It is stupid to think that candidates are not aware of who is paying what and that rich people will not want something in return for the money they have spent if the candidate is elected. Clever people donate to both the opposing parties so that they are covered whichever party wins. Obama was against Super Pacs initially but has now given in. In India political parties pick criminals as candidates because criminals have vast quantities of black money and the organisation to get round rules laid down by the Election Commission. Criminals also have goons who can terrorise people to vote for them. What is really interesting is that The Sunday Times is Rupert Murdoch's newspaper. Murdoch had to close the profitable Sunday tabloid the News of the World because of a phone hacking scandal wherein NoW journalists hacked the voice mail of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler. Several police investigations are going on and News International, the parent company has had to pay large sums of money to people whose phones had been hacked. Cameron was a personal friend of Rebekah Brooks, the editor and also employed the previous editor Andy Coulson. So why is Murdoch taking revenge on Cameron? Did he expect Cameron to protect his business? Or is it a warning to Cameron and the Tory party not to involve him personally, or his son? This shows the power of wealthy people and how they consider themselves to be beyond the law. Let us hope justice ultimately prevails.

The Congress in various guises.

Since independence on August 15, 1947 India has had 15 individuals as Prime Minister of which 8 were from the Congress Party. Jawaharlal Nehru, Gulzarilal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and now Manmohan Singh are all frankly Congress. Of the 7 others 6 had been members of the Congress at some point in their lives and had left due to differences. Morari Desai of Janata Party was Prime Minister for 2 years, 4 months and 4 days, Ch Charan Singh, Janata Party for 5 months and 17 days, VP Singh, Janata Dal for 11months and 8 days, Chandra Shekhar Singh, Samajwadi Janata Party for 7 months and 11 days, HD Deve Gowda, Janata Dal for 10 months and 20 days and IK Gujral, Janata Dal for 11 months and 28 days. Only one, Atal Bihari Vajpayee has never been a member of the Congress in his life. Influenced by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee he joined Jan Sangh and then formed the BJP. He was Prime Minister for 15 days and then again for 6 years, 2 months and 3 days. So in the 64 years, 7 months and 10 days since independence the Congress or one of its fellows in disguise has ruled this country for more than 58 years. The Congress claims to speak for the aam aadmi or the ordinary man and yet the biggest debate today is on the definition of poverty. Last year the Planning Commission said that anyone earning less than Rs 32/day in urban areas and Rs 26/day in rural areas is poor but has revised the figures as Rs 28.65/day for urban areas and Rs 22.40/day for rural areas. This has caused widespread outrage as all the bleeding hearts have jumped on the figures as proof of the callous indifference of the government towards suffering of the poor. They have challenged the Deputy Chairman to live one day on Rs 32 and show everyone if it is possible. The point is not what constitutes poverty but why we are having such a discussion at all after 64 years of independence. The reason is obvious. It is the Congress and its policies which are responsible. The Soviet Union is no more and today's Russia is capitalist. China is frankly capitalist with the Communist Party in control. Cuba is taking hesitant steps towards opening its economy. Only North Korea still follows a Stalinist model and is so poor that it cannot feed its people. Venezuela is managing in spite of Hugo Chavez's Socialist policies because of its oil but crime rates are so high that bodies pile up in mortuaries. The Congress in India is trapped in a time warp of high taxes and social schemes for the poor because it gives huge opportunities for loot. The recent budget was an example. Yesterday our most revered Finance Minister said that the government will have to take tough decisions. Tough for whom? Politicians have everything paid for by the taxpayer. The government has just announced a rise of 7%, from 58% of basic salary to 65%, for 4 million useless civil servants adding another Rs 74.75 billion to expenditure. We, the aam aadmi will suffer as inflation jumps to over 10% again. And the Congress will gleefully announce more social schemes. Damned.

Unwanted children.

On March 13 a bus carrying school children and teachers from Belgium and the Netherlands crashed into a tunnel wall in Switzerland. A total of 28 people died of which 22 were children and 6 were adults. Six were from the Netherlands and the rest from Belgium. The entire nation of Belgium went into shock. The funeral was attended by King Albert II of Belgium and the Dutch Crown Prince, Willem-Alexander and their wives. The Prime Minister of Belgium, Elio Di Rugo and of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte also attended the church service. In The Guardian Weekly of February 17, an article " The Long Walk to Europe " tells the story of Afghan children who have walked all the way to Paris. One child walked for a whole year. It tells the story of a 13 year old boy, Morteza with frost bite in his feet. He was ditched by people smugglers in Turkey and walked through Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia with a handheld GPS. He walked through the snow in the mountains of Croatia and Slovenia where they ran into police and got separated from the adults. There are 4883 Afghan children in Paris waiting for asylum and each has a harrowing tale to tell. One 16 year old boy, Omar spent 5 months on the road, in and out of the hands of people smugglers. On the advice of a smuggler he swam a canal and walked for 5 hours in wet clothes towards the lights of a town in Greece. Why such desperation? Why are the families of children sending them away on such hazardous journeys from their own country? The article does not tell us of how many died trying to reach Europe or how many were sold into slavery. We only hear of the stories of the boys who reached Paris. The difference between the value of children from Belgium and those from Afghanistan is stark. In one country children are so precious that the whole country mourns their tragic death while children from the other country are just so much flotsam travelling from here to there in a bid to survive. Switzerland is a land-locked country in the Alps with various tongues. In Geneva they speak French while in Zurich it is all German but it is one of the richest countries in the world. Afghanistan is also a land-locked country where the Pashtun, Hazara and Uzbeks are forever fighting each other. Its people are dirt poor and seem to be stuck 200 years in the past. The reason is obvious. Afghans produce a lot of children who then struggle to scratch a living from a rocky terrain whereas in Belgium and in Switzerland birth rate is low so children are precious and cared for. Too much supply reduces value, whether of potatoes or of humans. When will the world wake up to this simple truth? Sadly hundreds of charities and NGOs depend on the suffering of children to get their funding and pay their directors fat salaries so they will never talk about reducing fertility. And children will continue to suffer.

There is always a reason.

Mohd Merah is dead, killed by a police sniper as he tried to flee out of a window while firing his gun. We will never know why he killed 7 people. " You kill my brothers so I am killing you," he told the first soldier as he shot him at point blank range. From the nature of his victims, 3 soldiers who were Muslims, 3 Jewish children and 1 rabbi, everyone assumed that it would be a neo-nazi but it turned out to be a Muslim trained by Al Qaeda. Robert Bales, a US soldier killed 17 Afghan civilians in cold blood on March 11, 9 children and 8 adults. He has been reported as taking revenge for a roadside bomb which killed US soldiers. Americans are invaders and any US soldier is surely fair game for Afghan freedom fighters so his excuse is unacceptable. On March 11, 2004 191 people were killed in Madrid train bombings just 3 days before general elections. The then Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar blamed ETA, a Basque separatist group fighting for independence from Spain. It turned out to be the work of Muslim militants and Aznar lost the elections to Jose Luis Zapatero of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party who led his country into bankruptcy. On July 22, 2011 a bomb went off in front of government offices in Oslo killing 8 and everyone immediately suspected Muslim militants until Anders Breivik turned up on Uttoya island where he methodically shot dead 69 young people of the Workers league of the Labour Party. Every time a massacre happens somewhere in the world people seem shocked as to how it is possible for anyone to kill innocent people, especially beautiful little children. Yet these events continue take place regularly and everyone of the killers always has an excuse. Whether it is honor killings in India or the practical trials of atom bombs by Harry Truman there is always some reason for butchery which seems naturally rational to the butcher. Of all animals human beings alone are capable of killing their own species with such savagery. Perhaps as the top predator in the world it is no fun killing other species, it is too easy. With the killing power of modern weapons all we need is one charismatic leader and our species could be virtually wiped out. Hitler had his Holocaust, Stalin his Great Purge, Mao his Cultural Revolution and Bush his WMDs. Each man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Perhaps it is best. Once the smoke clears mother nature can once again create a peaceful earth filled with beautiful flowers, animals and birds. Until humans rise again.

Why are we so afraid of a bully?

The US was humiliated in Vietnam in spite of the most gruesome genocides, ran from Iraq with its tail between its legs and is in the process of waving a white flag in Afghanistan yet countries are still so afraid of its threats that they are reducing import of oil from Iran for a fear of US sanctions. The US has just published a list of nations including Japan and 10 European countries that are complying with sanctions against Iran by reducing oil imports but has left India and China out of the list. The Indian government has refused to abide by these sanctions, counting Iran among its friends, but has secretly issued instructions to public sector refineries to reduce import of oil from Iran by 15%. " With respect to India, they are making steps that are heading in the right directions," said Hilary Clinton. " In fact, I think in a number of instances, the actions of countries and their banks are better than the public statements that we sometimes hear them making." In other words we are paper tigers. Yet, the US is still supplying arms to Pakistan which are killing Indian soldiers. Pakistan has F16 Fighting Falcons and this very administration supplied night vision goggles and smart bomb kits a couple of years ago. So, we give the US the right to kill our soldiers indirectly while kowtowing to their dictats. And we still celebrate Independence Day. Meanwhile, in Sanford, Florida a 17 year old black male, Trayvon Martin was shot dead by a white Hispanic, George Zimmerman, who claims to be captain of neighborhood watch in a gated community, on February 26. He claimed self defence readily accepted by the police. Apparently, Florida is one among many states that has a " Stand your ground " law which means that you can shoot someone if you suspect he means to harm you. Since people are not generally telepathic this is an open invitation to murder. In this case the teenager was walking home away from Zimmerman who followed him, first assaulted the boy and then shot him. Since Martin was unarmed and walking away how was he any kind of threat? US politicians are so afraid of the gun lobby that they are passing laws to aid the killing of their citizens. Drug gangs in Mexico get guns from the US which they then use to kill law enforcement officials. Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN, was scathing in her criticism of Russia and China for exercising a veto against a resolution on Syria while a low intensity civil war is going on in the US because of fear of the National Rifle Association. Duplicity is the trademark of all politicians. Say something and do something entirely different.

What is the motive?

At first the union budget presented last Friday looked like the usual fraud that the Congress has been perpetrating on the country since independence, that is increase taxes wherever possible to fund social schemes for the aam aadmi which can then be looted by politicians and civil servants. However, this time something sinister seems to be afoot. In an effort to boost the share market the budget has reduced the Securities Transaction Tax from 0.125% to 0.100%. A new scheme called the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme will allow a 25% tax reduction for anyone with an income of less than Rs 1 million/year, which is almost everyone in India, on an investment of up to Rs 50,000 directly in equities. It is not explained whether the government will set up a fund for such investment or retail investors will just have to show a receipt for the shares bought. If even half the population of India availed of the scheme it would amount to Rs 25 trillion which is such a humongous amount of money that it will send the Sensex to heights not seen anywhere in the world. Why does the government want to stimulate the stock market directly which no other country ever does? Is it afraid that a credit rating downgrade will result in a sell-off by FIIs and a collapse in the rupee? Or is it a trap to catch tax evaders because you cannot buy shares without a demat account for which you need a Permanent Account Number, PAN from the tax department? The second proposal is that a buyer of any property with a value in excess of Rs 5 million in cities and Rs 2 million in other areas will have to deduct 1% tax at source and the buyer will be able to register the property only after showing proof of having deposited the tax with authorities. This tax is in addition to stamp duty and registration fees charged by state governments which often amount to 12% of the value of the property. It is for this reason that no one shows the true value of any sale, at least half the amount being paid in cash or black money. To submit TDS the buyer will need to have a PAN number as well as a TAN or Tax Deduction and Collection Account number. The harassment level of anyone buying a property will be increased infinitely because the tax fellows will delay allotting a number until a bribe has been paid and since even a one bedroom flat in metro cities costs in excess of Rs 10 million the earnings will be huge. Most people will be forced to use brokers to facilitate paper work. As opposed to other countries where brokers charge 1% of the price of property brokers in India charge 2% from both buyer and seller. All this money is paid in cash and no receipt is ever given. Thus the potential of black money creation will be enhanced by this proposal. With the World Famous Economist leading the government are we to depend on black money and hot money to finance growth? The future looks scary?

Apple shows the way.

Apple is going to pay a dividend for the first time since 1995. The company has $98 billion in cash and a market value of $546 billion making it the mast valuable company in the world. The price of one share touched $600 on Friday before closing at $585.57. TOI, March 20. In 1995 one Apple share would have cost $10 and it declared a loss of $816 million in 1996. Apple is going to give away $2.65 as dividend per share and will spend $10 billion on a share buyback which will increase the price of shares even higher. In the IPhone and the IPad it has products that everyone in the world wants to buy and analysts predict that its cash reserve will increase to $150 billion next year. Thus Apple seems to be the ideal advertisement for globalisation. It is also the ideal example of why globalisation is totally perverse and must fail. $2.65 for a $10 share is a return of 26.5% and is excellent but for someone who has bought shares at $600 it is just 0.44% or 44cents for $100 which is nothing. Such a person will make some capital gains when share prices are pushed up by the buyback but his gains will be nothing compared to Apple executives who will make windfall profits by selling stock options. Apple manufactures its products in China to keep them cheap. Working conditions at Foxconn, a Taiwanese company manufacturing Apple products, were so poor that many employees committed suicide last year by jumping from upper floors of the residence building. The company has now erected safety nets at first floor level to prevent suicides. Many have been severely burnt by exploding aluminium dust in its factory. Apple is transferring American money to China where it is creating jobs while increasing foreign currency reserves of the Chinese government. Cheap Chinese made products help to keep inflation at very low levels in the US encouraging people to buy more. China uses its dollar reserves to buy US government bonds which makes the dollar stronger relative to the renminbi thus keeping Chinese products cheap in the US. It also keeps interest at very low levels encouraging Americans to spend more on their cards resulting in a huge public debt. With more than $3 trillion in reserves China is buying up mines and oil wells all over the world while restricting sale of rare earths to force foreign companies to shift manufacturing to China. Thus companies like Apple are transferring American wealth to China. Apple would argue that the money belongs to the company so it can do what it likes with it. However, currency is a sovereign asset and should be used to enrich your own people and not a bunch of cockroach eaters. Obama may strut around thinking he is the strongest man in the world as commander-in-chief of the strongest armed forces but by not having control of his country's currency he is just a straw-man. It was an apple that resulted in man being kicked out of paradise and it is Apple which is showing us the way to a global collapse. Very apt.

Learn from the future.

If we want to know the dangers facing India, as the government keeps on pouring money into social schemes without any thought about consequences, we should look at Punjab. At independence Punjabi refugees from Pakistan were given land by the Nehru government. Dams were built at Bhakra and Nangal resulting in a boom in agriculture making Punjab the bread basket of India. The Punjabi " munda " was held up as an example to others - brash, well built, hard working, wearing a thick gold chain and a kara and with money to spend. No longer. Successive governments have destroyed the economy by giving away freebies to win elections. In an article on April 22, 2011, former Chief Minister of Punjab belonging to the Congress, Capt Amarinder Singh wrote that the state had a debt of Rs 1.6 trillion and a public debt of Rs 800 billion. State guaranteed debt was Rs 670 billion while power sector debt was Rs 200 billion. Power deficit in the state was 25% and 4.5 million out of a population of 27.2 million had no jobs. Out of a total of 4.7 million families 1.3 million were below poverty line and 0.8 million families could not afford even one meal a day. Desperate young people, mostly men, are paying vast sums, often by selling assets like farmland, to people smugglers to immigrate illegally to western countries. Sadly, unemployment is also high in the west and jobs are hard to come by. An investigation by the BBC revealed that at least 200 men are sleeping rough under bridges in Ealing in London. They spend their days looking for work but usually without luck. Free meals may be had in Gurdwaras in nearby Southall but they can find no place to stay. Local homeowners are ripping off these helpless people. Most have converted garages and garden sheds into makeshift flats and are charging exorbitant rents safe in the knowledge that these men cannot approach the police because they are illegal. The rent for a shared room with ill fitting windows, mattresses for beds, with exposed electric wires and a camp stove for cooking is 400 pounds or Rs 31000/person/month. Most men are fed up but are ashamed to come back to India because their families had borrowed large sums of money in the hope of a steady supply of remittance from them. A lot have thrown away their passports and identity documents to prevent deportation and are now trapped as British authorities try to find a way with Indian consular services to procure them new passports. The union government should learn a lesson from Punjab that wasting taxpayer revenue on freebies to win elections results in a broken economy. It should be made a crime. When politicians are already criminals they are hardly likely to be bothered by another crime.

A foot-licking budget.

It is hard to find anything encouraging to write about this year's budget which was unveiled last Friday. The entire exercise revolved round the fact that the government is bankrupt and yet has to pass the Food Security Bill, which will add another Rs 1 trillion to government expenditure, only because the Congress chief wants it. There is no thinking about consequences, no rational discussion about pros and cons, no worry about increasing deficit and inflation, just a foot-licking response to an order. This would be acceptable in dictatorships like North Korea or Iran but we are constantly reminded how democratic India is. The trouble started way back in 2008. An enormous stimulus was injected into the economy in the form of 80% increase in salaries for useless civil servants, a decrease in service tax to 10% which decreased income, forgiving of loans taken by farmers and the MNREGA scheme which paid Rs 100 ( Now Rs 162 ) to villagers for 100 days a year for doing nothing. This was done to generate a growth spurt before general elections in 2009 and was successful in that the Congress increased its number of seats in the Lok Sabha. The result of these measures was an enormous increase in government expenditure, a drop in revenue as service tax collections were less than expected and a rural wage explosion leading to soaring food prices as farmers had to pay higher wages to casual labor. The RBI was slow in reacting to rising inflation, whether due to pressure is not known. By the time the RBI started increasing rates inflation was ingrained and 13 rises have not succeeded in taming the inflation monster. Hence this toxic budget. In order to generate more revenue service tax and excise have been raised to 12.36% which will immediately add to inflation. To stimulate the Sensex, which is too high already, Securities Transaction Tax has been reduced from 0.125% to 0.1%. A desperate attempt to attract hot money and stop foreign investors from fleeing and a consequent collapse in the rupee. Mysteriously, a government scheme called Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme will allow a 50% tax deduction for new retail investors who earn less than Rs 1 million/year, which means 99.99% of the population. They will be allowed to invest up to Rs 50,000 in the scheme which will have a lock-in period of 3 years. Is this an underhand attempt to finance disinvestment in public sector companies? The recent sale of ONGC shares was a disaster as the base price was set too high and LIC had to buy 95% of the offer. Diesel, petrol and domestic LPG prices will have to be increased soon resulting in inflation going to over 10% again. It is shocking how human beings can give up all self respect and turn into spineless creepy crawlies just to get some post. No sharam, no izzat.

Is Annan the man?

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his new avatar as UN-Arab League Envoy, has returned from Damascus with a " disappointing response so far ". Syrian President, Basher al Assad does not have a choice. In fact, he never had any. If he had agreed to a democratic process of elections his minority Alawite party would have lost all the power they have enjoyed for decades with all the status and wealth that can bring. No one wants to give up a position of privilege. That is why the shadowy Koch brothers are pouring hundreds of millions to defeat Obama in November's election. The army in Egypt sacrificed Mubarak so that it can cling on to its privileges as the Pakistani army continues to do. If Assad had tried to negotiate he would have been killed by his own people. So he used force hoping to frighten demonstrators into submission. However, once the first person was killed it enraged protesters into more protests and so a cycle of force, deaths and more protests ensued. Now it is too late. Assad cannot relinquish power under any circumstance. He would not want an end like that of Gaddafi. If the opposition gain power they will surely hang him like Saddam was. Tunisia has offered asylum but he knows once out of Syria he will never be safe. Charles Taylor was given safe refuge in Nigeria but was handed over to the International Criminal Court where he now sits in a cell. Fujimori tried to avoid prison by hiding in Japan but had to return to Peru and is now in prison. Assad is not without friends. Russia and China's veto of the UN Security Council resolution was helpful but his main support is local. He has the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Most of Iraq's leaders are Shia who were protected by Iran during Saddam's time. And there is Iran which is already said to be involved in the killings of protesters. Initially Turkey was very loud in its condemnation of the Assad regime but has now toned down its rhetoric. Turkey has recognised that if it supplies arms to Syrian rebels Assad can easily supply arms to Kurds. The Arab League, led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are desperate to see a regime change in Syria not because Syria is any threat to the Arabs but because it is the only friend that Iran has. The Sunni Arabs will not tolerate a Shia Persian Iran with nuclear weapons. They are hoping that if the Assad regime falls Iran will feel weak, friendless and surrounded and may be forced to negotiate an end to its nuclear program. Meanwhile Iran is desperately speeding up its enrichment activities, while playing the usual delaying games with the IAEA, because it feels any nuclear bomb will make it safe from attack. It is a game of nerves which could suddenly explode if any one party snaps. We can only hope that we are a safe distance away to enjoy the fireworks without getting singed.

The usual flimflam.

The government's pre-budget economic survey is the usual mixture of bogus claims, blaming the outside world for the economic mess and wild optimism while keeping all fingers crossed. It blames slowing growth on outside factors when exports have risen by 40.5% and imports by 30.4%. It blames high interest rates for slower investment rather than blaming inflation which was the direct result of uncontrolled spending. The survey notes that inflation has fallen, which is really due to a higher base effect and a seasonal decline in food prices. Food prices are already going up and WPI has again gone up to 6.95% after declining for several months. Most confusingly the survey calls for a ruthless crackdown on corruption but warns of the effects of a ruthless crackdown. TOI, March 15. " While we need to ruthlessly crack down on corruption, it must, at the same time, be recognised that the fear of a large and cumbersome anti-corruption bureaucracy can be detrimental to risk-taking and may hamper legitimate activities in public institutions." What is that supposed to mean? How will criminal politicians and thieving civil servants function if they are not allowed to loot? Not a single MP objected to this garbage. The survey ignores the most pressing problem of India without which inflation can never be contained and growth will be impossible and that is population growth. This is the biggest crisis facing the nation today. Last month Arya Orphanage in central Delhi was in the news for sexual assault on children. A mother knew that her 12 year old boy was being sodomised for months but chose to remain silent because the boy was being given some food and education at the orphanage. An 11 year old girl died after being physically assaulted and raped by a 14 year old boy. HT, February 14. Apparently most of these children are not real orphans but have parents living in nearby Vijay Vihar which is a slum colony. Any nation that allows its children to be raped for a handful of food and the ability to recognise alphabets is surely doomed. There will no doubt be more social schemes to help " the poor " in the budget which will make them permanent beggars and produce even more children, all dependent on handouts. Large numbers of social schemes are convenient for looting because the illiterate poor do not know what they are supposed to get and a hungry man is grateful for any substandard food that he receives. Which brings us back to the warning against being too vigilant against corruption. Let us loot or the poor will suffer. Put it all on our conscience. Ouch.

Miss No strikes again.

In the morning we were told that Mr Dinesh Trivedi has resigned as Railways Minister but now we are told that he has denied the report. The Prime Minister has denied receiving his resignation letter but Mr Trivedi has said that he will resign as soon as he is asked either by the Prime Minister or the leader of his party, the dreaded Ms Mamata Banerjee who says " No " to every proposal. Predictably Ms Banerjee has said," We won't accept this. We won't let it happen." Mr Trivedi says that he did not tell Ms Banerjee that he was going to increase passenger fares and said, " This is in the interest of the Indian Railways and the country." Which means that Ms Banerjee is against the interests of both the railways and the country. She has asked the Prime Minister to replace Mr Trivedi with Mr Mukul Roy who is also of her party. Some say that this is all rehearsed. First Mr Trivedi increases fares across all segments. Then he is replaced by Mr Mukul Roy who cancels fare increases for the cattle classes, that is local trains, non AC second class and 3 tier sleeper class, leaving passengers travelling in AC classes to pay higher fares. That makes Ms Banerjee and instant hero or heroine depending on your point of view. In an instant she becomes a bleeding heart for the poor, who will pay not a paisa more for the privilege of travelling in dirty, stinking compartments without toilets, in boiling heat, while she will be hailed as a reformer for bravely tackling the sinking railway finances. We remember that Mr Trivedi never wanted to come to Delhi so this allows him to go back to his state where he will no doubt be given a cushy ministerial post. These increases in fares were cosmetic as they would do nothing to save the railways from bankruptcy because Mr Trivedi has also announced increasing staff levels by 200,000. More than 50% of expenses incurred by Indian Railways goes in paying salaries of 1.4 million employees and pensions to 1.2 million. TOI, March 15. Experts have advised reducing employee numbers by 500,000. The Kakodkar committee estimated that the Railways need Rs 1 trillion for modernisation while the Pitroda committee said it would need Rs 5.6 trillion. Indian Railways needs new tracks, new rolling stock and better stations. If they are asked the naked poor will surely want to travel safely and in comfort. The aam aadmi desperately wants to become khas but our politicians want them to stay naked and hungry. That way they can be bullied, exploited and bribed for votes. Nothing ever changes.

It will happen again.

Early on March 11 a US soldier walked out of his base in Panjai district of Kandahar province in Afghanistan and shot 16 Afghan civilians to death, including 9 children. The news was greeted with shock and dismay by US and NATO, read white skinned, countries. No one can understand how a staff sergeant, a 38 year old father of 2, could have committed such an act. He had already served in Iraq and had been involved in an accident. So was it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or the result of head injuries. Make it into a disease and suddenly there is unlimited sympathy for a mass murderer. Look how the poor man suffered trying to help first Iraqis and then Afghans. If only these ungrateful bastards would understand that they are being killed for their own good. Talk of the " white man's burden ". But this is not the first massacre, nor will it be the last. The reason is the attitude of the US government which is that it is alright to kill any number of " others " to protect one American life. To make killing easy they trivialise deaths of civilians by calling them " collateral damage " which makes human beings seem like chairs, tables or cars. The nuclear bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were called Little Boy and Fat Man. How amusing. Take away any dignity from the killed and injured and there is no guilt. There is also little or no punishment for the butchers. The Sinchon massacre in Korea in 1950 was covered up. There was no TV in those days. William Calley, platoon commander of Charlie Company, responsible for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam was sentenced to life imprisonment but served a derisory 3.5 years under house arrest. Of the many massacres this was the only one caught on camera. Abu Ghraib torturer, Lynndie England was paroled after 521 days. She has written a book and will no doubt earn a fat sum to enjoy life. The initial " shock and awe " attack on Baghdad killed more than 6600 civilians and more than 2000 died in Fallujah. US forces were able to get away with mass killings in Iraq because journalists were " embedded " with them. Sounds like a mass orgy. Also the majority Shia population encouraged the killing of Sunnis of Saddam's regime who had ruled them for decades. No such fig leaf is available in Afghanistan and hence the baffled regret. This is why Italians are unable to comprehend why Indians are making such a fuss about 2 fishermen shot to death off the coast of Kerala. Perhaps there is a " murder " gene linked to white skin. After all, Europeans used to fight each other all the time. They had a 30 year war, a 100 year war, World War 1 and 2 and others too numerous to recount. It is time that all countries combined to say " Enough ". Before anything else we want global right to life and dignity. No more killing.

Leeches are impossible to dislodge.

Recent state elections have put a ferret up Congress trouser legs. Congress partners Trinamul Congress won West Bengal. AIADMK won Tamil Nadu at the cost of Congress partners, the DMK. Opposition BJP won Goa annihilating Congress. It was a tie in Uttarakhand which the Congress was meant to win comfortably. Akali Dal plus BJP won Punjab easily even though all opinion polls were predicting a Congress victory because of anti incumbency. Then SP swept UP against all predictions of a hung assembly, with a Congress supported SP government the most likely outcome. Regional parties have scented blood and would like early general elections so as to increase their numbers in parliament with, maybe, one of their leaders becoming prime minister. For Congress fellows this is akin to death. The Congress has held power in Delhi for at least 55 of 64 years since independence and, like vampires, are addicted to sucking the life blood from the country. They will do anything to hang on to power until the last of this parliament come what may. We have to wait till the budget is announced but already newspapers are predicting that financial and business reforms will be cancelled. More money will be thrown on social schemes to attract the naked poor and provide opportunities for loot to local politicians and civil servants. This will raise fiscal deficit and inflation which will reduce demand. The Reserve Bank will be unable to reduce interest rates to help investment. The Food Security bill will add Rs 1 trillion, a universal healthcare bill will add another Rs 500 billion, a few hundred billions will have to be found to keep Mamata Banerjee happy, Air India needs a mere Rs 400 billion and no doubt there will be others who will sense a kill. A rise in price of petrol is imminent and, if oil prices rise further, diesel and domestic gas prices will also rise adding more to inflation. Fortunately for the Congress its main opposition, the BJP is divided with a bunch of geriatric no-hopers refusing to allow younger and more capable people from taking over. Nothing we can do except watch the unseemly squabble. Is ther any other country with such scum in power?

Cancer is a disease.

Normal tissue in the human body have certain characteristics controlled by genes. Normal cells are programmed to die after a certain length of time to be replaced by new cells, the highest turnover being in the skin, blood and the gut. Normal cells are highly specialised and never migrate outside the organ designed for their functioning. Thus breast tissue is never found in the liver and kidney tissue will never be found in the brain. When cells become malignant genetic changes make the cells avoid programmed death so the cells become autonomous. They multiply by dividing into daughter cells, the time taken for each division depends on how aggressive the cancer is. This is called " doubling time " and it takes the same time for one cell to become 2 as it takes for 1 billion cells to become 2 billion. Doubling time for adenocarcinoma is around 90 days while glioblastoma may double in 10 days. Cancer cells also do not obey boundaries of organs and spread locally into surrounding tissues, into regionally draining lymph glands and to other parts of the body called " metastases ". Since they are autonomous they divert the body's nutrition for their own growth at the expense of normal body tissue ultimately resulting in the death of the individual. When cancer is small and localised it may be removed completely and the patient maybe cured. Unfortunately patients realise something is wrong when they start getting symptoms either locally or from spread by which time the cancer is already so big that treatment may just extend life for a few years or months at the cost of serious side effects. As it grows the cancer diverts more and more nutrition to itself at the cost of normal tissue resulting in loss of weight, often severe. It is impossible to have " advanced " cancer and still look nicely rounded and well nourished. However, a rumor of cancer enables a person to travel abroad for " treatment " and " check up ". If the person is the most powerful in the country a special plane is arranged at taxpayer's expense. It is then possible to carry any amount of expensive luggage to be left behind in a western country in case power is lost and children have to do a runner. Meanwhile Pakistan has got a Lt Gen Islam as chief of the notorious terrorist agency, the ISI. This fellow exactly resembles Mr Mogambo from the Bollywood hit movie Mr India. A villain to run a criminal organisation. Perfect choice.

A strait jacket for Cameron?

David Cameron is desperate to be somebody. Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Barak Obama, anyone will do. In his latest act of stupidity he authorised a rescue attempt on 2 hostages held by members of the Boko Haram group in Sokoto in Northern Nigeria without informing the Italian government until after the raid had started. The attack led by the Special Boat Service of the UK in broad daylight went spectacularly wrong and both the hostages, Chris McManus of Britain and Franco Lamolinara of Italy, were killed. Cameron's excuse is that there was no time, a laughable explanation in today's world where there are more cell phones than people. Cameron wanted to be remembered as Obama who authorised the raid on Bin Laden's house in Abbottabad in Pakistan without telling the Pakistanis. Last year Cameron vetoed a EU proposal for budget restraint and a special " Tobin " tax on financial transactions claiming that it would damage Britain's financial industry. It was this very industry that led to the financial meltdown and Britain is still trying to stave off a recession while trying to contain a ballooning budget deficit. He so wanted to be remembered as Thatcher without the handbag. He has reduced social support for the needy. Even now he is orchestrating a vicious attack on disabled people, portraying them as scroungers in the right wing tabloid press. He is systematically dismantling the NHS which he promised never to do. He influenced judges of kangaroo courts to hand out lengthy jail sentences to teenagers accused of stealing a pair of sneakers during London riots while being comfortable with million pound bonuses for bandit bakers still being sustained by the taxpayer. He employed Andy Coulsen, disgraced ex editor of the News of the World, as his publicity manager while being kissy wissy with Rebekah Brooks, Coulsen's successor as editor of the same paper. Last year he was at the forefront of a murderous bombing campaign of Libya resulting in the death of 30,000 civilians. This was after the UN Security Council was tricked into agreeing outside intervention to protect civilians. He wished to emulate Tony Blair who, as Bush's poodle, presided over the killing of half a million Iraqis. This man is clearly an unprincipled bounder willing to lie, bully the weak and helpless and murder any number of innocent civilians to prove his inadequate manhood. He is more dangerous than Breivik and needs to be locked away until he is of no threat to anyone. A third rate Tory twit.

The evil of reservation.

In the last one week Jats have been agitating for OBC status in Haryana. Already one young man has been killed, the Jats blame police firing for the killing while the police blame the protesters, some of whom were apparently carrying firearms. Things got so bad the Congress government in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had to ask the army for help. In India 50% of seats in higher education and in government jobs are reserved for SC, Scheduled Caste, ST, Scheduled Tribes and OBC that is Other Backward Classes. This is apparently to redress past repression by upper caste Hindus on lower castes. Strangely, although barbarians of other religions invaded this country to loot and massacred countless millions of Hindus the so called " minorities " are a protected species in India and any mention of past crimes is severely punished as hate speech. Stranger still, it is the Congress which is resisting Jat claims for reservation in Haryana even though the Congress tried to use the same weapon to win votes in the recent elections in UP, a tactic that backfired spectacularly. In order to win Muslim votes which make up 20% of UP, Union Minister Salman Khurshid promised 9% reservation for them. He was cautioned by the Election Commission but, in an example of extreme bad manners, another Union Minister, Beni Prasad Verma repeated the shameless attempt at bribery and then challenged the Election Commission to punish him. Guess what? The voters of UP did exactly that. Salman Khurshid's Lok Sabha constituency elects 5 members to the UP assembly and Congress lost all 5. His wife Louise Khurshid, came fifth and lost her deposit. Verma's constituency also has 5 assembly seats and Congress lost all 5. And so it goes. Sriprakash Jaiswal lost 9 out of 10, Jitin Prasad lost 5 of 5, RPN Singh did better in losing just 5 of 7, PK Jain Aditya lost 5 of 5, Md Azharuddin 5 of 5, Raj Babbar 5 of 5, PL Punia 5 of 5, and Annu Tandon 6of 6. Even The Family lost 8 out of 10 in Amethi and Rae Bareli and some members were apparently booed but the freeloading press suppressed all such news. Couple of years ago Gujjars in Rajasthan fought pitched battles to get OBC status. They were opposed by the Meenas who do not want to share their unfair advantage that they do not deserve. The policy of reservation is an evil designed to win votes by dividing the people. The British were masters at this game. Sadly our scoundrels are following policies of conquest practiced by barbaric invaders. After all Nehru always considered himself to be an Englishman.

Does he deserve a second term?

The Republicans are trying to make it as easy for Obama as they can. Even after super Tuesday there is no clear front runner for nomination. Mitt Romney leads with 404 delegates, Rick Santorum has 165 while Newt Gingrich has 106. Ron Paul apparently has 66 delegates without winning any state primary at all. Seems that Sarah Palin has also hinted at joining the race at some point in the future. Romney tends to flipflop, Santorum is a Christian fanatic while Gingrich is plain weird. You wonder why people would want to vote for Republicans when they plan to cut taxes for the rich while cutting social support for the poor, curtail women's rights to abortion and allow any nut to carry assault rifles but therein lies the power of illusion. Republicans have managed to make the people forget that it was Ronald Reagan who started the process of deregulation that led to a financial wild west which, in turn, led to the subprime crisis and that it was George Bush whose stupid tax cuts for the rich and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, without any thinking about consequences, that has created this enormous deficit. They have successfully persuaded people that more tax cuts for the rich are necessary to revive the economy while ordinary people lose their jobs and homes because America is the land of opportunity and you never know when you might suddenly become rich. If you suddenly became a millionaire how would you feel if you had to pay more than 15% tax that Romney pays now. Richard Nixon was a crook, Gerald Ford probably practiced his putting on the carpet of the Oval office, Ronald Reagan was showing early signs of Alzheimer's in his second term and Nancy Reagan was running the country in consultation with her astrologer and her ouija board, George Bush Sr lasted just one term because people did read his lips about no taxes while George Bush junior was a moron who talked to God. Just goes to show that when it comes to voting Americans are just as stupid as Indians. That is why scoundrels love democracy. One would think that with such confusion among the Republicans Obama should be ordering a new suit for his second swearing-in ceremony. That there is still doubt about his winning a second term shows what a weak president he has been. When he was elected the Democrats had majorities in both the Senate and the House and people were enraged with bankers but instead of ramming his healthcare and finance reform bills through he dithered. He lost Edward Kennedy's seat and heavily lost the House to the Republicans. He thus became a lame duck in his first term. Not a distinction to be proud of. If he does manage to win a second term will he show more spine and really improve people's lives or will continue to remain a gasbag. We will see. But first he has to win.

Reason for hope or for despair.

Results of elections held recently in 5 states were announced yesterday. Politicians, journalists and experts all have their opinions on why people voted the way they did. It would appear to have been a disaster for the Congress, thrashed in UP, Goa and Punjab and only 1 seat ahead of the divided BJP in Uttarakhand. However, we know that parties which appeared to be extinct in one election gained absolute majority in the next because the party in power used the opportunity to enrich itself. Mrs Gandhi is right when she says," I do not think the results will damage the UPA ( union ) government." Every party in the coalition is gaining from ministerial positions in the cabinet, so why will they want to derail the gravy train. Even if the coalition stays safe the same may not be the case within the Congress. Maybe some within the party will start having doubts about the durability of The Family. After all even though every member of The Family campaigned in UP the Congress lost 8 out of 10 seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli which happen to be the strongholds of The Family. Also you cannot create over 10% inflation by massive injection of cash to win the general elections in 2009 and then blame others for the wretched condition of the poor. Nobody will buy this garbage. The BSP retained its core Dalit base but lost the other factions of the " Rainbow coalition " formed by Ms Mayawati because when you concentrate on enhancing Dalit pride by building statues to yourself you end up by offending others. It seems to be a massive win for SP but they should not take this as permission to terrorise the people with violence as they did the last time they were in power. There were riots yesterday in Firozabad, Sambhal and Jhansi, where journalists had their cameras smashed and were threatened with violence, when the SP candidate lost. Unless there is security there cannot be any development, as Bihar as so clearly shown. As for the BJP, it just flatters to deceive. Claiming to be a party for clean government it welcomed Khushwaha who was sacked by Ms Mayawati for corruption. Uttarakhand is a lawless state virtually controlled by the land mafia. In 2009 they financed a Congress victory in all 5 parliamentary seats in the state. Panicked the BJP removed Gen Khanduri from Chief Minister's position and brought in Mr Nishank. Corruption boomed and sensing a wipe out the BJP brought Gen Khanduri back but, although he brought the party back from the brink, he could not win. Worse, the criminals within his own party worked against him to make sure he lost his seat. The BJP should get rid of these criminal traitors by withdrawing the whip from them and precipitating by-elections in these constituencies. Even if BJP candidates lose it will send a strong signal to the people that it is determined to be clean and to future traitors that criminals are not welcome. Sadly, there will be vast quantities of hot air but no one will learn. The sit will continue to stink.

Should we learn from China?

World attention is focused on the National People's Congress in China. China has been growing at 10%+ for decades and is now the second largest economy in the world. In the early 90s China enforced a one child policy on its people which curtailed the rate of growth of the population and suddenly freed millions of women who could join the workforce. The abundance of labor depressed wages and China quickly became the manufacturing hub of the world. Cheap goods from China depressed prices in western countries keeping inflation in check and allowing central banks to keep interest rates at very low levels leading to an explosion of debt which led to asset price bubbles and then to the subprime crisis and economic collapse in Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain. Cheap money from abroad resulted in a building boom in India increasing property prices by 800% resulting in an explosion of black money and inflation over 10%. China was starting from a very low base, commodity prices were low and low wages kept inflation in check. However, commodity prices have trebled increasing costs leading to rising prices and increasing expectations of the people have led to a demand for higher wages. China has announced a budget of $1 trillion with inflation at 4%, deficit at 1.5% and growth expected at 7.5%. Defence expenditure is set to rise by 11.2% to $106.4 billion which is causing anxiety in neighboring countries. A nation of uncivilised barbarians China's behavior is rough, aggressive and impolite which leads other countries to fear and loath it. Unfortunately, the size of its economy means that everyone needs it for business. Domestic security budget has been increase by 11.5% to $111 billion showing that its own people, and not just outsiders, are opposed to the government. To keep its people happy Chinese leaders will try their utmost to maintain a high economic growth which will lead to reduction of poverty and rising quality of life. In India politicians are happy with an exploding population of illiterate poor who can be bribed at elections times and misled with lies. Perhaps the most important lesson from China is the way leaders are changed regularly. Recent Presidents have been Mao Zedong 1954-1959, Liu Shaoqi 1959-1968, Yang Shangkun 1988-1993, Jiang Zemin 1993-2003 and Hu Jintao 2003 to date. Deng Xiao Ping, the architect of the present growth model, never held any post. Their children are unknown. In India the same ugly old faces deface our TV screens for decades, refusing to die or handover gracefully. Political parties are gangs, ruled by families, passing power and looted wealth from one generation to the next. They will not allow anyone new; someone with new ideas, someone who puts his loyalty to the country above personal gain, someone who has sharam and izzat. There is no escape for us.

60 years is a long time.

The then Finance Minister of India, TT Krishnamachari had to resign in 1958 when Haridas Mundra, a businessman from Calcutta sold fictitious shares worth Rs 12.5 million to the Life Insurance Corporation of India. Mundra was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Cheating LIC was considered a terrible crime because ordinary people paid hard earned money to insure their lives so that their families would not starve if they died so it was considered the same as robbing from widows and children. It is another matter that Mr Nehru appointed Krishnamachari Finance Minister again from 1964-65. After all Congress fellows have always been above the law. In today's TOI we learn that LIC bought 95% of shares of ONGC auctioned by the government last Thursday at Rs 303.67/ share amounting to Rs 121.468 billion. The base price set by the government was Rs 290/ share so LIC paid a premium of Rs 13.67/share. Why? LIC and ONGC are both public sector companies so why did the government force it to buy shares at a premium, especially when there was no demand for the sale? Shares of ONGC were selling at Rs 281/share on Saturday which meant the value of LIC's purchase was down to Rs 112.34 billion, a loss of Rs 9 billion in a matter of 2 days. We also learn that the government is going to relax rules for LIC in buying shares of public sector banks. Rules set by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority do not allow LIC to buy more than 10% stake in any company but now it is being encouraged to do so. Public sector banks need more capital, probably because they have been forced to buy bonds that the government has been selling to finance its increasing deficit. Excessive spending by the government led to very high inflation forcing the RBI to raise interest rates which depressed the property market. Builders are sitting on large stocks but cannot reduce prices because they bought land at very high prices when the bubble was forming. If property prices fall a lot of builders will default on their loans which will leave banks with enormous bad loans on their books. Already SBI, which is seen as the most secure bank, has seen its credit rating reduced by Moody's from C- to D+. Last month LIC spent Rs 15.74 billion to buy shares of Punjab National Bank. Since LIC already owned 8.54% of the bank its stake has now gone over 10% as mandated by the regulator. LIC also owns 6% of Dena Bank but the bank is hoping to sell another 5% of its shares to LIC which will take the total to 11%. There are 47 ministries with over 80 ministers and they need to take their families to cooler resorts of Europe and America during the summer holidays so the government desperately needs money. So, use the money people have invested in the LIC for hard times to generate fictitious revenue. Rob the poor to pay the rich. Marvelous.

Do elections matter?

Elections to assemblies in 5 states are over and results will be declared by March 6. This is the time psephologists and news channels earn their moolah. Every pundit, and his uncle, knows exactly which party is going to form the government, shares of various parties in each assembly and the reason why people have voted the way they have. Politicians will do the rounds of TV stations showing confidence in winning absolute majority and news anchors will try to create excitement by shouting ever louder. Of the 5 states UP is the big daddy because it is the largest state in India with the ability to elect over 80 MPs to parliament so the voting pattern will be watched closely and every district will be analysed for the influence of caste, minorities, economy, crime and statues of elephants. But are the elections really fair and do they matter? The Election Commission is very strict but still could not stop Congress promising 9% reservation for Muslims and did not have the guts to punish Congress. The electronic voting machine is said to be proof against tampering and so there cannot be stuffing of ballot boxes as happened in the past. In the last general elections one famous candidate was behind by more than 5000 votes but ended up by winning by 300 votes. So, mysterious changes can still take place. Criminal politicians can easily threaten people to stay at home and send in his goons to vote for him. The police will look away. After all, no one wants to die for an election when most politicians are scum anyway. Index fingers of voters are marked with indelible ink to prevent them voting again but in the last elections in Afghanistan people were dipping their fingers in domestic bleach to remove the mark and voting again. Our criminals are no less cunning. Having gone through this massive exercise costing hundreds of millions of rupees is it really going to change anything? Elections are very important for politicians because they determine who gets to loot and who does not but for the citizens they are irrelevant. What does it matter which group of criminals is looting the exchequer? Prices will rise as businesses bribe a new set of scoundrels and pass on the cost to the consumer. Taxes will rise, services will remain inaccessible without bribes and crimes will go on rising. Exit polls are usually completely inaccurate because most people lie about who they have voted for. You do not want your leg broken for not having voted for the local goon. So the speculation will go on while we yawn and switch channels. Now, if Sarah Palin, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian were standing that would be real excitement.

They have no clue.

An expert interviewed on CNN said that high oil prices prevailing at present do not matter to Japan. High oil prices indicate that the world economy is recovering, increasing demand for oil. Economic growth in other countries, especially in US and China, means more export for Japanese manufacturers and is good for its economy which is dependent on exports. If oil goes up to $120/ barrel Japanese economy will grow by 2% and if it reaches $160 it will grow by 1.2% and inflation will go to 1%. Apparently some inflation is good for Japan which has been suffering from deflation for over a decade. High oil prices are not good for the US. A rise of 1 cent adds $1.4 billion to the cost of motoring for American drivers. Price of petrol has risen by 40 cents at pumps across the US which is causing a lot of anger. Even so petrol is around Rs 45/lit in the US compared to RS 70/lit in India. Although prices have reduced in recent days Light Sweet crude is still at $106.50/barrel while Brent crude is at $123.65/barrel. After today's round of elections price of petrol will surely rise adding to inflation which is still at 7.5%. The government does not want to increase the price of diesel which sells at Rs 42/lit because food is transported by trucks and any rise is diesel price will instantly reflect in the price of food. This price difference leads to adulteration of petrol with diesel and to loss for oil companies. Which is why ONGC shares could not be sold 2 days back. Public sector banks were forced to step in to save face. Credit rating of SBI was reduced to D+ from C- on October 4, 2011 by Moody's. All these banks need more capital but where is the money going to come from. Desperate to increase revenues the government wants the RBI to reduce interest rates to stimulate growth in the economy which will augment tax collections but the RBI is unable to do so unless the government reduces expenditure and fiscal deficit. In today's TOI we learn that industrialists are being encouraged to lobby the RBI to reduce rates. We know this is a very bad idea because it will fuel inflation. But who listens to us? A note released by the IMF, no less, says," Monetary policies can be eased in economies with diminishing inflationary pressure," but it adds that in India " with relatively high inflation and public debt, policy space is more limited, warranting a more cautious stance toward policy easing ". In other words, do not touch interest rates, control public spending and bring down inflation. Seeing the morons running around like headless chickens would have been fun except that we are going to suffer while they fly first class to the US for check ups. There is no silver lining.

Criminals make perverted policies.

The auction of ONGC shares by the government yesterday was a disaster. Foreign investors stayed away as the floor price of Rs 290 was seen as too high and SBI and LIC, both public sector companies, had to step in to complete the sale. It is like transferring money from one pocket to another. With oil prices so high why did investors shun this sale? The reason is perverted oil policy. The government collects taxes on oil imports and then forces companies to keep prices down at the pump. Thus petrol sells for Rs 70/lit while diesel sells at Rs 42/lit. Even on petrol companies are losing Rs 3/lit so why should investors buy such shares? An article by Rupa Subramanya in the online Wall Street Journal explains why policies in India are perverted. Matthieu Chemen, Professor of Economics at McGill university in Canada has a study which will be published in the Journal of Law and Economics. He wanted to know the effect of electing a criminal because we know that 163 MPs have serious charges of murder, rape and kidnap against them. Poverty and criminality go together so they maybe caused by the same factors. To eliminate districts with high criminality he studied only those where criminals won by a very few votes, which would be a matter of chance. He found that electing a criminal resulted in a decrease in the monthly spending of SC, ST and OBC, considered to be low in caste, sectors by 19%. Since the poor are more vulnerable criminal politicians committed more crimes against them and it was easy to rob the poor to benefit family and supporters. Murder went up by 19%, riots by 23% and arson by 34%. Crimes against women also increased. Curiously, civil servant corruption dropped by 66%. This maybe because the criminal politician took all the loot leaving nothing for civil servants and also because since was little public service people did not see the need to bribe civil servants. Politicians defend themselves angrily when called criminals, saying that the majority are honest servants of the people. But are they? We do not select candidates in primaries as in the US or by local committees as in the UK. Candidates are forced on us by party bosses in a system called " tickets ". Surely they know the criminal records of these people and yet they select these scum as candidates giving us no choice. When these criminals win they are greeted by party members with garlands and sweets. Thus there are criminals and the rest are accessories and all parties are actually political gangs. Naturally, policies are perverted. Criminals have grabbed power and we must suffer.

People are more important.

As per government figures GDP grew by 6.9% from April-December as opposed to 8.1% this time last fiscal and the rate of economic growth fell to 6.1%. Worst performing was the manufacturing sector which grew by 0.4% compared to 7.8% for the same period last fiscal. This is bad news for the politicians because less growth means less tax collections to pay for lucrative social schemes to " help " the poor. We are just finishing elections in UP after Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. Gujarat and Himachal vote later in the year and MP votes next year before general elections in 2014. India is thus in perpetual election mode which means politicians need money to bribe the electorate. Like the Moghuls and the British, winning the throne in Delhi means big riches and they will do anything to grab that. This means that they will not adopt policies which will make the country strong in the long term such as reducing government expenditure by drastic pruning of numbers of ministers and civil servants, reducing crime by freeing up the police and adopting policies to reduce population. Instead there are calls for reducing interest rates which will stimulate the property market, increase black money and jump start inflation. To improve industrial investments, rate of depreciation of machinery may be increased from 15 to 30%. This, it is suggested, will increase investment in newer machines and increase production. The thing is that most machines will be imported so the move will most likely increase balance of payment deficit and since new machines will be more automated productivity will be increased without growth in jobs. Jobless growth is one of the reasons for the slump in developed economies. The government is selling 5% of its stake in ONGC hoping to collect Rs 120 billion. There are hopes of auctioning 4G telecom licenses later this year. Telecom companies paid vast sums for 3G couple of years back and the Supreme Court has cancelled 122 2G licenses leaving some foreign companies extremely peeved. Russian company Sistema is threatening to go to international arbitration. So will anyone bid for 4G? Seems that the government is unable to explain why it suffered losses of Rs 9 billion on import of pulses from 2006 to 2011 when it sold at lower than import price to private companies which then made profits by selling to consumers. Instead of concentrating on people politicians concentrate on generating money for personal gains. Question is how to get rid of the scum.