Sunday, August 14, 2016

Would every Indian run to the US, if given the chance?

We in India pride ourselves on being the largest democracy in the world. The US is the richest, most powerful democracy. Both countries celebrate independence from the British, the US on the 4th of July while we are celebrating today as Independence Day. The US became independent in 1776, went through a civil war from 1861-1865 and fought on the victorious side in the 2 World Wars. We became independent in 1947, the humiliation of the 1962 war still burns deep and we are still begging Pakistan for peace talks despite repeatedly winning wars against it and suffering repeated terrorist attacks on our citizens. The US is almost as safe as any country can be, with Canada to the north, Mexico to the south, the Atlantic to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. India is about as unsafe as any country can be, with Blagladesh and Myanmar to the east, China to the north and Pakistan to the west. Sri Lanka to the south should have been comfortable but our politicians have managed to create tensions by their interference. The US followed a capitalist system from the beginning, with private enterprise, based on enormous natural resources and incredible innovation. Initially. a lot of the wealth was built on free slave labor. We followed a socialist system from the beginning and despite the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the example of enormous wealth creation by Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea we did not change. The reason was the rise of dynasties, led by the Nehru-Gandhi family, which controlled political parties and whose sole aim was to grab and hold on to power, at whatever cost to the nation. So, poverty has been glorified, so that the vote bank maybe bribed with handouts, and the people have been sliced into tiny segments, which maybe excited by blaming caste, promising reservation and accusations of 'majoritarianism'. Any suggestion of punishing Pakistan immediately draws abuse for 'nationalism', while glorifying the nation is happily celebrated in the US, as has been shown by their athletes at the Rio Olympics. The US even has a patriot act. The US has the longest railroads and the largest number of billionaires in the world. The rich were called robber barons in the past and silicon sultans today. Yes they are ruthless businessmen who have created monopolies but in 1924 Henry Ford had brought down the price of a car from $825 to $260, making sure that everyone could afford a car, and doubled the minimum wage of his workers to $5 a day, creating a new middle class. Today, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are free and Skype allows you to talk for free across the world. There are problems in the US. There is growing inequality since the banking crisis of 2008, which led to Occupy Wall Street and there are regular riots as blacks are being shot by the police. Every Indian, including the commies, will immediately emigrate to the US, if given the chance. Maybe we will improve.

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