The white man says so.

The Heritage Foundation, a right wing think tank, says that the budget will fail to stop India sliding into failure. TOI, 3 March. Derek Scissors, a member of the Washington-based organisation, said the budget " leaves India on the same, failing course it's been on of undisciplined spending and unrealistic expectations". In his opinion the economy is in dire straits because inflation remains uncontrolled, income growth has slowed and manufacturing, which could add jobs for young people, is not growing. " Services lead in large part because the labor market is more flexible in services industries than in manufacturing. Rather than labor market reform, the Indian government offers a state-led infrastructure program. But the infrastructure program has no chance to succeed while property rights to land remain so ill-defined," he said. He should have added that even here the government is set on the disastrous Private Public Partnership model which inflates expense because of delays and are so costly to use that people find them much too expensive to use. He goes on," The proposal for this year is a triumph of hope over courage: Spending is to increase by 17%, yet the deficit is to fall to 4.8% of GDP. This won't happen. Spending will have to be curbed or deficit will balloon again." Mr Scissors is bold enough to tell the truth probably because The Heritage Foundation has no business interest in India. Indian business tycoons are always effusive in their praise, so obviously oily to please the government that it makes you slightly nauseous. We can understand that in this most corrupt of crony capitalism they think they can make easy money by being allowed to grab public land, be gifted with lucrative public contracts, providing easy ways of skimming off the top, or be allowed to exploit natural resources without sharing with the people. It is difficult to understand why bosses of foreign banks or hedge funds are usually so diffident. Are they also partners in the extensive loot of the country's wealth? " Without a sustained reform process, which will take considerable time, India will not return to the days of fast growth. Government revenue and GDP will continue to be high, deficits will continue to be high, and consumers will continue to suffer. This is the path India remains on," he added. A junk credit rating beckons, he did not say. This is what we have been saying repeatedly for a long time but no one listens to us. Now a white man has come out with the most bitter of truths. And we know that on an international scale an American trumps an Italian every time. That is the cruelest cut of all.