We want a long-term solution because we care.

' The road to hell is paved with good intentions ' or ' hell is full of good wishes or desires '. There are lots of people with good intentions, who work hard to help others, but are they really doing any good? To question, or doubt, the efficacy of their work will invite instant scorn and accusations of being selfish and heartless. A long article tries to make a case for diversifying policies for the poor. " A staggering 75% of rural households have monthly income of less than Rs 5,000 and around 38% of rural households are landless and dependent on manual casual labour as their main source of income," says the article. As per the last census 833 million people live in rural areas, so 75% of that is a staggering 633 million people, that is more than half the population of the whole of the African continent, or 27 countries combined. " The figures show that the multiple social protection programmes implemented by successive governments, such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act and National Rural Livelihoods Mission, have been unable to reach the extreme poor." So, stop these useless waste of money? Good heavens, no. Instead the authors recommend " a productive asset such as livestock or supplies for petty trade, technical skills training, savings support, temporary cash or in-kind support to tide over immediate consumption needs and regular mentoring and coaching over 18-24 months..." A long list at a huge cost. A lot of people will be required to identify such people, give them training, supervise the distribution of "temporary cash", mentoring and coaching and all these mentors and coaches will presumably get nice fat salaries. We get the picture. Apparently, " the ministry of rural development has recently incorporated this evidence into the design of a newly proposed scheme, tentatively named the Grameen Swarozgar Yojana." Of course, they have. Politicians have to win elections and 633 million make a huge vote bank. Besides it does not cost the politicians anything because they are throwing taxpayer money. Inflation is an ever-present danger in India, as the figures for June show. Increased fiscal spending by the government will raise inflation, current account deficit will rise and the rupee will fall, as happened in 2013. We are not immune to the suffering of the poor but we have a right to know why 6 decades of handouts have not reduced their misery. When is India going to become a wealthy nation so that unproductive handouts come to an end? We are moved by tear-jerker articles but would politely like to know why people who have no food nevertheless have so many children. What is the economic benefit? Do they get greater subsidies depending on the number of children or do they use them as collateral to borrow money from local lenders? Unless we have proper answers there can be no remedy. Sadly, there is too much money to be made from altruism so there is little interest in long-term solutions. Truth.

Will it be colonialism if we learn from the Brits?

Our politicians glibly justify ever rising taxes or another law restricting our liberties by pointing to western countries, guessing rightly that people will see such changes as beneficial because western countries are so wealthy. We hope that they have been watching the rapid smooth change in administration in Britain this week, especially since a lot of our laws, and the civil service, are a continuation of colonial British practices. This came about because in 2013 the former Prime Minister, David Cameron promised a referendum on continuing membership of the European Union, to unite the Conservative Party and to stop traditional Tory supporters from voting for the UK Independence Party, led by Nigel Farage, which wanted to exit the EU. Cameron's strategy was a great success in that he won an absolute majority in parliament, which meant that he was set for another 5 years as prime minister. However, he had promised a referendum, which was held on 23 June. Cameron campaigned strenuously for the Remain camp and was expected to win, but when the reult was declared the Leave camp had won. Here is where we want our polticians to pay particular attention to events as they unfolded after the result was declared. 1. David Cameron promptly resigned his post as Prime Minister, showing a sense of honor and pride. Our politicians cling on and on, as we grow tired of their ugly corrupt old faces tainting our televisions screens. Regardless of charges of serious crimes or scandalous behavior or after being booted out in elections they hang around completely shameless in their dishonor and may even beg their way into that dustbin of rejected politicians, the Rajya Sabha. 2. Five people stood for the leadership of the Conservative Party but within a week we have Theresa May as Prime Minister. As soon as her victory was confirmed Cameron met the Queen to resign his post and promptly moved out of 10 Downing Street, the official residence, with his family and May moved in. Unlike our lot who refuse to give up their official residences with excuses, whining and begging, their armor plated skins oblivious to the intense disgust of the people. 3. Theresa May has appointed her cabinet, consisting of 22 people. We have 78 ministers. Why? Just to please the toadies and bag-carriers at taxpayer expense? 4. Surprisingly, May has appointed Boris Johnson, who was expected to be the Prime Minister, before being stabbed in the back by his mate, Michael Gove, as Foreign Secretary. Perhaps a case of 'keep your enemies closer'. She has fired the powerful Notting Hill set but they will not go off to form a breakaway party, like our lot are prone to do. What do we do? A summary of events since 24 June should be shown to MPs when parliament meets at the start of the monsoon session. But will they learn? 

If there is no car people will take buses.

The price of oil has fallen from $115 per barrel in 2014 to around $46 per barrel today. Cheaper petrol prices has meant that demand for oil has grown by 12.6% in the first 6 months of this year in India, compared to 2015. If oil companies were hoping that India will make up the slack in demand from the rest of the world they are going to be disappointed. Our demand for oil is never going to catch up to that of China. We need 544,000 barrels of oil per day while China needs 2.8 million barrels. Why so much difference? Because our growth in oil consumption is driven by rising use of motorcycles. Last year 16.5 million motorbikes were sold in India, up from 11.8 million in 2010-11, compared to 24.6 million in China but, and here is the massive difference, 25 million cars were sold in China last year, compared to a tiny 3 million in India. In fact, car sales have fallen from 300,000 per month in 2010 to 215,000 per month today. Why? Because average Indian salary is $1,440 per annum, compared to $9,000 per annum in China. Aslo because since independence our politicians have defined India as a poor country and have been against car ownership. More than 20% of workers walk to work and less than 15% use public transport. Around 2.7% use cars or jeeps and 3% use either autorickshaw or taxis. Of the 4 metro cities, only 2.93% use a car to go to work in Kolkata, it is 4.78% in Mumbai and 6.14% in Chennai. Delhi comes first where 10.79% drive a car to work. Why so few people own cars in India? Because cars are expensive, about 5 times the average annual salary, cars use more petrol, roads are narrow and politicians are always looking for ways to penalise car owners. Thus, Delhi Chief Minister forced restrictions on car usage even though it showed no improvement in pollution levels. He is threatening to bring it back again in winter, maybe to increase earnings of autorickshaws. Some suggest introducing congestion charges on cars, as is the case in London. Others are suggesting increasing parking charges to astronomical levels. So how will people travel? There is the metro, but most people need some transport to get to a metro station. Besides trains are already overcrowded during peak hours. The government proposes to buy 25 electric buses but Delhi needs 10,000 more buses to provide a proper service. In last 5 years the Delhi Transport Corporation lost Rs 50 billion so we can imagine how much more it will lose with more buses. Some countries have over 600 cars per 1000 people, while India was said to have just 32 cars per 1000 people in 2015. If politicians do not want cars why is the government looking to spend so much on building highways? While a German company is designing a flying car by 2018 we are going back to bullock carts. If we are not allowed to own car stop manufacturing them. 

A pressure cooker ready to explode.

As expected, an international tribunal at the Hague has ruled decisively against China on its claim on the entire South China Sea. China has drawn 9 dashes on the map of the South China Sea, the so-called 9-dash line, just off the coasts of other countries bordering the sea and says that all the area inside that line belongs to it. It has been building artificial islands on reefs within the sea and has stationed armed vessels on those islands. Other countries bordering the sea also have claims on its waters. The former president of the Philippines, which brought the case to the tribunal, compared China's actions to those of Nazi Germany. The Tribunal also found that Chinese fishermen have seriously destroyed coral reefs and depleted the sea of fish and endengered species, like sea turtles and giant clams. Also as expected, China, a nation of uncivilised barbarians, has reacted by threatening and snarling at its neighbors. What happens now? Nothing in the short term. China will presumably continue to tighten its grip on the Sea. In the long term it depends on the economy. A government economist said that its total debt is more than double its GDP, at $28 trillion by the middle of 2014. Companies have borrowed heavily from banks and since the government owns the banks any problem will quickly become systemic. Assets controlled by shadow banks amount to 80% of the GDP, which are now lending to commercial banks. Total US debt is over $19 trillion. Around $5 trillion worth of shipping passes through the sea every year so we shall see if China decides to levy taxes on ships passing through if there is a sudden deterioration of its finances. The IMF has warned China of the risk of its corporate debt. With global growth remaining tepid China cannot export its way out of the problem. The government is doing everything to stimulate the economy by focusing heavily on innovation. The government is encouraging the creation and manufacture of robots but like all its efforts this has also turned into an investment bubble. Its drive for innovation has turned into another property bubble. Innovation takes time and has to make allowances for failure. Local government officials cannot afford to fail so they must be showing investments in real estate as progress. The world is poised at a very interesting point. The UK has left the EU which could come under further economic strain. US jobs report predicts a rise in interest rate. China is not only depleting the South China Sea it is depleting other oceans as well. Those countries are poor and weak but may retaliate. How many wars is it going to fight? China harvests organs from innocent people accused of subversion and arrests anyone who protests. It is ready to explode and events far away may act as catalysts. We hope it is very soon.

Bonds have to be repaid, bank loans are for free.

Last month the Federal Reserve, in the US, published the result of a stress test on large banks. 31 out of 33 banks were cleared, 2 European banks failed. This exercise showed that the Fed is vigilant against a repeat of the Lehman Brothers fiasco in 2008 that almost resulted in a global financial meltdown. A similar exercise by the Reserve Bank in India showed that gross Non Performing Assets, as bad loans are called, have grown from 5.1% to 7.6%, and could rise to 9.3% by March 2017, even as high as 11% in public sector banks. Since 2010 the government has handed Rs 677 billion to public sector banks and has promised another Rs 700 billion to recapitalize them. The RBI does not identify the banks with the highest bad loans for fear of a run on the banks, which will create and emergency for the government because these banks are government owned. Not just banks. The Comptroller and Auditor General calculated that 157 public sector companies have cumulative loans of Rs 1.1 trillion and of these 64 companies have a net worth of zero. Whose money is being wasted on these useless companies? Taxpayer money, of course. Whereas the US government made handsome profits from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, when it loaned $700 billion to troubled banks the hapless Indian taxpayer is always a loser. Who gains from the government largesse? The obscenely rich fellows, known as poromoters, who have borrowed from the banks. These fellows do not have to provide any personal guarantee for the loans they take, which was the biggest mistake of Vijay Mallya, whose debt is minuscule compared to some others, and keep a low profile or are friendly with politicians. Promoters reduce their exposure to zero by borrowing against their shares. Distress sale of shares will see a collapse in their values and taking over a business with negative net worth will yield nothing. So, the crooks win and we are the losers. Recapitalizing banks and keeping sick public sector companies alive with taxpayer money just keeps the sore festering. What is the long term solution? Privatise. Public sector companies may not have any net worth but they have large tracts of extremely valuable land, which will yield vast sums of money, and by saving on bank losses the government can spend on infrastructure projects which will lead to jobs and growth. Restructuring will be opposed by vested interests who are making vast sums of money by milking the state. The other option is to ask promoters to borrow directly from the public by selling corporate bonds. Companies used sell bonds about 20 years back, paying interest on how they were rated by rating agencies. If a company defaults on bonds its share value will collapse and it will fail. Better to borrow from the taxpayer, which need not be refunded. Cute, what? 

Nothing succeeds like enjoyment.

Our Finance Minister said yesterday," Recent reports have indicated that there is a sizable dip in Indian holdings outside the country." He meant black money. Hallelujah. The Finance Minister has also promised that no questions will be asked of those who voluntarily declare black money and pay tax on that. That indeed is generous of him. But what about politicians? Of the 19 new ministers sworn into government 7 have serious criminal charges against them, such as attempted murder, communal rioting, bribery and possession of deadly weapons. The standard response of politicians is that these charges are politically motivated, made by opponents to gain electoral advantage. Why not pass a law that any politician making charges, proven to be false on investigation, will have to pay heavy penalties? Because charges against politcians can never be proven, because they control the police, so those making charges will always be penalised, which they will decry as politically motivated. Of the 78 ministers in the cabinet 24 have declared serious criminal charges against themselves. Why do we need a huge mob of 78 in India, which is a $2 trillion economy, while the US, which is a $16 trillion economy, has a Vice President, 15 cabinet secretaries and 7 other posts of cabinet rank, making 23 in all? Apart from occupying huge bungalows in Lutyens Delhi, having brainstorming sessions in 5 star hotels and going on frequent foreign tours, to make India great again, what exactly do these people do? How do they pass their time? It must be very hard to create endless enjoyment at taxpayer expense. What sacrifice. If all these people fail to improve the economy then the Congress, which has ruled India in 55 out of 68 years since independence, is waiting in the wings to take over. We are waiting with breathless anticipation to know whether Ms Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, sister of Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi, and wife of the famous magician, Robert Vadra, who is reputed to make millions out of nothing, will be joining the fray. The Family has a tried and tested method of winning elections - dole out subsidies. Subsidies have amounted to 9.2% of GDP, that is Rs 6.90 trillion, when The Family was in power, compared to 5.3% of GDP, which was Rs 1.83 trillion, when others formed the government. Naturally, expense grew by 9.1% during The Family rule, compared to 5.6% when it was not in power. That increased government debt, led to inflation and increased poverty. " All political lives end in failure," David Cameron is reputed to have said after losing  the Brexit vote. Indian politicians never fail. Because they are here to enjoy. So they never go.

If cows are fed pizzas will we pay less tax?

Assaults on the middle class in India is relentless. Kerala imposed a 14.5% on pizzas and burgers. What is the reasoning? A study showed that there are more fat students in private schools compared to government ones in Kerala, middle class children go to private schools, middle class people tend to eat in restaurants, and junk food has been blamed for obesity in western countries. Ergo put a tax on junk food, pretending to protect the health of children and the government earns an extra Rs 100 million. After all, politicians have to travel to cooler climes in Europe or the US, for study, and civil servants have to be paid humongous increases in salaries as prescribed by the Seventh Pay Commission, to rule us. Never mind that studies show a higher incidence of obesity in poorer people in western countries and sugar has been blamed the most so that Britain has levied a tax on sugar. Sugar is as addictive as drugs, as Mexico has discovered, where consumption of sugary drinks are rising again after a 10% tax was imposed 2 years ago. The Kerala government has not bothered to study whether better vaccination against childhood illnesses or lack of exercise, because of middle class obsession with marks, is responsible for overweight children. Just bash the people, they cannot do anything for the next 5 years anyway. Haryana government has proposed taxes on marriages, cinemas and even foodgrains to pay for looking after cows. Why? Once cows are old and stop producing milk the owners let them out on the streets. These people should pay, as well as those who strongly believe in not eating beef. This tax will only allow the western media to mock Hindus. Then there is the constant assault on cars, because cars are owned by the middle class while the poor drive mopeds. The automobile industry constitutes 10% of GDP, generates $145 billion and employs 25 million people. There was the odd-even assault in Delhi when people were being fined Rs 2,000 if they drove on the wrong days by mistake although repeated studies showed no benefit. It did increase earnings of auto-rickshaw drivers, who are ardent supporters of the chief minister. Speed-breakers outside schools definitely increase pollution, but they are not being removed. The government has suddenly woken up to the noise pollution caused by honking and is thinking of imposing heavy penalties. Why do people honk? Because there is no policeman to control traffic, people drive wrong and potholes cause accidents. People on two-wheelers do not look where they are going, while zigzagging though traffic. Car drivers are always blamed for any accident so they honk to warn dangerous drivers. A newspaper has decided to join the bandwagon without any analysis. Not a word on banning loud speakers which produce much more noise and are of no use. Potholes kill over 11,000 people every year. Repairing roads and traffic control cost money, fines and taxes result in greater enjoyment. Journalists probably get a share. Bharat Mata ki jai.

Is it all because of mobile phones?

In 1991, a taxi driver, Rodney King III was severely beaten up with batons by 4 Los Angeles Police officers. In 1992, all 4 officers were found not guilty of charges of using excessive force, which resulted in riots in Los Angeles for days, 55 people were killed in the riots, 2000 were injured. Eventually 2 officers were found guilty of violating civil rights and 2 were acquitted. Even that would not have happened if the beating had not been recorded on video by an onlooker from a balcony. Today everyone has cell phones with built in cameras so police brutality is being revealed regularly. In Baton Rouge a shopkeeper who filmed the killing of his friend, Alton Sterling, hid his phone from the police because he thought they would destroy evidence. He was questioned for hours by the police, first in a police car and then at the police station till 3AM. Why? Were they trying to frighten him into changing his story? In another killing the girl friend of Phillando Castile started broadcasting live on Facebook immediately after the shooting. She was handcuffed, separated from her daughter and not given food or water. We in India have not forgotten the near torture of Krittika Biswas, a teenager, by New York Police, without bothering for any proof, the vicious assault on a grandfather, out for a stroll, or the sexual assault on Devyani Khobragade, who was set up by a racist woman at the US Embassy in New Delhi. Police are human and liable to make mistakes, like anybody else, but their inhuman treatment of witnesses and their total immunity from any punishment make people angry. This anger exploded in Dallas yesterday when an army veteran shot dead 5 police officers, 7 others were wounded. The shooter was later killed by a robot controlled bomb. Sounds like official terrorism, does it not? The deadly attack on police was rightly condemned by politicians, including Obama. We do not know if this is the beginning of a racial war but more such killings are bound to happen as the US is awash with guns. The National Rifle Association actually has the audacity to rate politicians on their support for guns, like credit rating agencies rate businesses. Bernie Sanders has a D- rating. The NRA recommends that," The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun." So, why did the good guys with guns die in Dallas? A black professor writes of the fear, anger and hopelessness of blacks while a white former Congressman threatens blacks with vengeance," This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you." So which America is real? A white policeman with a gun or a black person with a mobile phone? The result can only be tears.

If it was just, can there be any justice?

The Chilcot report on Britain's involvement in the Iraq war has been published having taken 7 years and cost 10 million pounds. Superficially, it seems to be a damning indictment of the then Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair. The report says that there was no proof that Saddam Hussein had any weapons of mass destruction, the intelligence was faulty and Blair chose what bits of intelligence to present. There was no legal justification for war and Blair ignored warnings of unleashing terrorism in Iraq if Saddam was removed. British and American eagerness to go to war is probably based on the hypothesis of a 'Just War'. However, it is difficult to understand how killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in a country far away can be morally justified as self defence. It is more probable that victory in the 2 world wars and the enormous superiority in firepower, especially from the air, give the US and the UK a gung-ho attitude to war. Even now Tony Blair is being blamed for the death of just 179 British army personnel killed in the war and not the 150,000 Iraqi civilians slaughtered unnecessarily. At 6,275 pages and 2.6 million words is the Chilcot report an attempt at covering up Blair's crimes in a flood of verbosity? The report does not mention the UN Arms Inspector, Hans Blix who repeatedly warned that Saddam did not have any WMD, and now says that Blair considered himself a "global sheriff", whose mission was to rid the world of evil dictators, so he resorted to "spinning", which means lying, Britain into war. However, Hans Blix is mentioned by Tony Blair in letters to Bush, where he says that they would have to "trick" people into supporting the war. What was this absolute intelligence that justified killing 150,000 people? A chemical engineer from Iraq, code name 'Curveball', convinced the CIA with drawings of fictitious WMDs, while British intelligence was convinced by stories of glass balls from the Hollywood movie, The Rock. It gets better. Two psychologists were paid $81 million to torture prisoners with beatings, sleep deprivation and water boarding, to extract confessions. Even now Blair shows no remorse, insisting that he did the right thing by removing an evil dictator and he would do it again. It has not occurred to him that he maybe a bigger evil than Saddam, as innocent people continue to die in Iraq. Why are the British and Americans allowed to write there own version of history? Because we in Asia are divided. Those who come to power through the deaths of their fellow citizens remain silent, which allows the aggressors to write history as they choose. Thus silence of Indian politicians has allowed the British to portray Churchill as a hero when he was responsible for the deaths of 3 million Indians. Of half a million children killed in Iraq, Madeleine Albright said," I think this is a hard choice but the price, we think is worth it." Her ancestors were Jews. 

Why do lawyers run our economy? Are they hiding evidence?

The Indian economy grew at 7.6% in 2015-16 because of higher farm ouput, electricity generation and mining production. The severe El Nino last year does not seem to have impacted farm output and hydroelectric power production. A report from the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs of the State Department in the US says," Ostensibly, India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, but this depressed investor sentiment suggests approximately 7.5% growth rate may be overstated." " There are few quick fixes to the structural impediments, poor regulatory environment, tax and policy uncertainty, infrastructure bottle necks, localization requirements, restrictions in many services sectors, and massive shortage of electricity that hinders India's economic growth potential," says the report. Obviously the State Department is looking to help US businesses so it wants an open economy without localization requirements or restrictions in services sectors but some of its observations make sense, such as structural impediments, which means reform the civil service, and refraining from frequent changes in rules and tax rates, so that businesses can plan their investments for medium to long term. We do not need to build more power plants for the next 3 years as our electricity generation is sufficient and highway construction reached a record 28 km per day in June. The US report does not state what our politicians of all hues consider the most vital elixir for economic growth, and that is low interest rates. That is it. They would love an interest rate of near zero, as in the US, UK, Europe and Japan, never mind that retail inflation jumped in April to 5.39%, that there is a huge rise in real estate prices, which may collapse, and that near zero rates in the developed economies have not worked. With Rajan having resigned the government wants the RBI to target a higher inflation rate so that it can spend more to increase growth. Low interest rate helps the government to borrow at lower cost but increased expenditure will increase fiscal deficit and increase inflation. Economists argue that our inflation is contained because of low oil price so we should keep our spending low at present so that it can be increased if high commodity prices result in global recession, which seems likely. Anyway, if the economy is already growing at 7.6% what is the need for a stimulus? The previous governor of the RBI has belatedly realised that inflation is very hard on the poor but politicians are not listening. They have not learnt anything from the Congress experiment when the government forced the RBI to lower interest rate, resulting in double digit inflation and a rout in 2014. Maybe that is why all finance ministers in India are lawyers and not economists. They can defend the murder of the economy.

It maybe defective but it is no worse.

Historian, Ramachandra Guha writes about a book on democracy written by a British lawyer, Anthony Lester. The book is relevant to us in India because we follow a 'Westminster model' of government, a legacy of 200 years of British brutality. So what are the lessons from the book? 1. Democratic progress is slow and halting. Or it may reverse as it did when Indira Gandhi declared Emergency on 25 June 1975 to hang on to power, after having been disqualified by a court. This dark period was to last till 21 March 1977. 2. Civil servants are more dangerous than politicians because they know the minute details of how government functions, protect their powers through a secret brotherhood of cadres and are an almost unbreakable wall against any reforms because that may reduce their privileges. Politicians frequently talk about inducting professionals directly into the bureaucracy but are frightened out of it by the bureaucratic mafia. No wonder it has been voted the worst in Asia. 3. An independent judiciary is crucial. Absolutely. But 4. the judiciary must not be radical and try to make laws, which is a function of the parliament. At present judges to the higher courts are chosen in secret by a 'collegium' of judges without any input from citizens. The government wants to be involved in the selection of judges but the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill was rejected by the Supreme Court, so now appointment of new judges has come to a complete standstill. Citizens suffer as cases pile up for years so that people are denied justice. Judges cannot be sacked for any reason but maybe removed only by two-thirds majority in parliament, which makes them akin to the civil service. They are so powerful that an unintentional insult to a reitred judge incurred a fine of Rs 1 billion. Trouble is that in the absence of any accountability of politicians and civil servants people have to approach courts for redress, politicians file frivolous cases against each other and business fellows take out injunctions on legitimate tax demands. If the government is seen as predatory people will go to court. 5. Repressive laws inherited from the British have to be repealed. The article does not mention the unlimited power of politicians in India and, what is worse, their refusal to go. David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister and leader of the Coservative Party after losing the referendum on membership of the European Union and Nigel Farage resigned as leader of the UK Independence Party, because he has achieved his ambition of Brexit but did Sonia or Rahul Gandhi resign their positions after being humiliated in the 2014 general election? " Lester is scathing about the deficiencies of British democracy; but in fact their democracy is far less imperfect than our country," says the article. Not true. Democracy does not end at the country's borders. Acting as US mercenaries in illegal attacks on Iraq and Libya is not democracy. India is no worse than Britain.

No one said life is easy. Especially in India.

A survey conducted by a newspaper revealed that 82% of taxpayers have never cheated on paying taxes, while 13.6% have cheated just once or twice. 85.4% will report and pay tax on interest from fixed deposit, if tax had not been deducted by the bank, but 58% of people will not pay taxes if they can get away with it. That is astonishingly honest because 19.7% think that tax laws favor the rich and 53.7% think that they favor dishonest people, making 73.4% of taxpayers who feel that the laws are unjust. It maybe that people do not follow business news because they would realise that the government may have to write off Rs 7 trillion in corporate taxes. Although this figure covers disputes over several years it is still huge because the entire direct tax collection for the last financial year was Rs 7.48 trillion, which includes income tax, wealth tax on individuals, capital gains tax and corporate tax. Clearly, rich fellows are getting away with not paying their fair share. A large number are paying because of fear of tax officers, with their unlimited power to assault and harass citizens. This is like Delhi Chief Mininster, Kejriwal claiming huge support for his perverse odd-even policy because people stayed at home for fear of fines of Rs 2,000. One of the greatest desires of all Indian politicians is to widen the tax base, which means get more people to pay income tax. Why? Because only 4% of all Indians file tax returns and only 1% actually pay any tax. More than half, 54%, of those who filed tax returns did not earn enough to pay any tax. Why? Because there are too many people competing for jobs which brings down their bargaining power. Comparing with other countries is of little use. In China personal tax rate goes up to 45% but taxes start after 3,500 renminbi per month, which converts to about Rs 35,000 per month, or Rs 420,000 per year. Whereas in India we are allowed Rs 250,000 per year, which converts to $3706 per year, or about $10 per day. That maybe 5 times the World Bank's absolute penury level of $2 per day but it is nowhere enough for a man to pay rent, feed his family and pay school fees for one child. As for Scandinavian countries we cannot compare at all because the govenrment provides for free education, healthcare, pension and old age care for every citizen, whereas in India taxpayers get nothing in return for the taxes they pay, whereas those who do not pay any taxes can get free education in private schools, almost free food and free healthcare in private hospitals, because they have Below Poverty Line cards. Trouble is there is a lot of similarity between Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Modi. Both are bachelors and both have not worked to support a family. Modi went into politics from selling tea while Rahul Gandhi owns the Reserve Bank. No wonder all US Presidents have been married. On the other hand not having criminal children is good for us. Can't have everything, can we?

Use your power, use your pens as swords.

Journalism is a dangerous profession in India. India is ranked 133 out of 180 in the index of press freedom, 39 journalists have been killed since 1992, in 96% of cases the killers went free and in 4% there was partial justice and politics was the most dangerous field to report on, followed by crime. That is not surprising because criminals have the required illicit cash to bribe and the thugs to intimidate voters, to win elections. In India there is no system of primaries, as in the US, to select which candidate will stand for election but a system of 'tickets' decided by party high command. Thus, political parties deliberately pick criminals as candidates, because they have the money and muscle power to win. For criminals being a politician offers safety from the police, so politics and crime are intimately entwined in India. The previous prime minister insists he is honest because he did not gain from all the corruption in his government. Even when all the crime was revealed he did not have the decency to resign his post. He says that "history will be kinder" to him, which shows that he has absolutely no sense of honor. Not just physical violence, politicians use various statutes of the constitution to harass and intimidate journalists. In the world map of press freedom India is just above China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, not an achievement to boast about. Even though newspaper sales are declining in the rest of the world, with the rise of digital news, sales in India are booming, although most people have televisions in their homes today. Being such a vital service one would have expected enormous public support for journalists but that does not seem to be the case. Perhaps, there is a perception that the media is biased against certain political parties and certain communities. While there was a very high decibel witch-hunt for weeks over an alleged killing of a man who had allegedly slaughtered a cow, there is no reaction at all to the call to kill IAS and IPS officers by an Al Qaeda operative in India. Nor to the financial help provided to Islamic State militants by a member of parliament, who no doubt took the oath to protect the sanctity of India. Not just journalists, activists exposing crimes under the Right to Information Act are attacked and many have been killed. However, the biggest protection for criminals in India is our justice system which takes forever to pronounce a verdict. While ordinary people lose precious time and money criminals are free on bail to continue their with their luxurious lives. If journalists want to practise their profession in safety they must make common cause with the people. They have the unique power to mount a campaign for justice and punishing the wicked. Continue to write until it happens.

If only we knew who is bluffing whom.

A report by 'experts', which means anybody from the west, has found that China executes 60-100,000 prisoners every year, whose organs are then harvested for transplants.  Since 2000, 1.5 million people had their organs removed at 712 centers for liver and kidney transplant and there have been 300,000 in unregulated centers. Surgeons have been removing up to 6 livers everyday. Most of the prisoners are apparently members of the Falun Gong, who practise a weird dance like meditation. How it differs from the usual Chinese exercise routines, and why adopting strange postures is considered so dangerous by the Communist Party is a mystery. However, we are ready to believe this 'report' because we know that the Chinese are an uncivilised, barbaric nation who eat every living thing. If the report had claimed that after removing the organs the meat of the prisoners is then cooked and served in high-end restaurants we would be ready to believe it. But what about the US? Do we believe when Obama says that drone strikes have killed up to 116 civilians? Isn't that cute? The attitude is,"Although we do not believe that we hurt so many we are ready to own up to 116 because we are such good chaps. It is for their own good anyway." It is much more likely that indiscriminate drone strikes have killed thousands and Obama is getting away with blatant lies because no one is going to travel to these areas to verify the figures for fear of getting kidnapped or killed. Americans like to kill. There were 93 additional deaths from guns in 72 hours, not including those killed in the Orlando massacre, which happened within that period. Turkey claimed that in 2015 it had warned about one of those who attacked Brussels airport in March but when Istanbul airport was attacked a few days back it did not seem to have a clue. Erdogan paints these attacks as terrorism by either ISIS or the Kurds but the truth is that he is directly responsible for these attacks. In June 2015, HDP, a Kurdish party won 81 seats in parliament which stopped Erdogan from changing the constitution so that power would be transferred from the prime minister to him, as president. To get the Kurds out of parliament he unlaterally broke the 2013 peace treaty with Kurds and started bombing Kurdish areas. Naturally the Kurds retaliated with bomb attacks of their own. Turkey is also bombing Kurdish fighters in Syria, which helps the ISIS to enter into Turkey. On the other hand Nato planes are bombing ISIS from a base in Turkey. Meanwhile, the US claims that its missile defence shield is against Iran, with which it has signed a nuclear deal. Naturally, Russia is not buying it. Politicians like to play games. Are we supposed to trust them?

If the old is not working should we not try something new?

" Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union is already threatening to unravel a democratic bloc of nations that has coexisted peacefully together for decades. But it is also generating uncertainty about an even bigger issue: Is the post-1945 order imposed on the world by the United States and its allies unraveling, too?" laments the left wing New York Times. "Imposed" is the most important word in the paragraph, and imposed it was most brutally at times. With napalm, dioxin, white phosphorus, depleted uranium, cluster bombs and land mines on any nation that dared to challenge the hegemony of the west. They were even prepared to use nuclear weapons on the Middle East to prevent the Soviet Union from capturing its oil wells. It is impossible to understand why Indians are mourning the possible break-up of the European Union, calling it "ultra-nationalism and racist-xenophobia". We have suffered from the previous world order in which one Democrat President imposed sanctions on India for our nuclear tests while another Democrat President has been supplying the latest sophisticated weapons to Pakistan, despite repeated terrorist attacks on us. Democrats are supposed to be liberals, and Hillary Clinton, linked to both those presidents, is running for the White House. Brexit is perhaps the best thihng that could happen for India. So is the US the last remaining bastion of liberalism left standing? Maybe, but here too areas which were a solid base for the Democrat Party have turned Republican as jobs in coal and steel have disappeared due to globalisation. Both socialist Bernie Sanders and right wing Donald Trump campaigned on the basis of renegotiating trade deals. China and Vietnam have benefited from free trade because they erected barriers whereas Mexico has not done as well by relying on free trade alone, writes a professor. A British journalist calls globalisation a giant con trick. Citizens of poorer countries, even China, see themselves as 'global citizens', which probably means a desire to migrate to the west, while people of western countries are much more reluctant to label themselves as such. Apparently, around 20% of people in the western world are supporting fringe parties but the majority would like to stick to the status quo. Well Brexit has put an end to that. Now there are calls for 34 separate referendums in Europe. Trying to protect their jobs and standard of living, when the rich are benefiting from monetary policies of central banks, is not xenophobia. If politicians fail to recognise that it may lead to another war even as they remember the fallen, at the battle of the Somme. This time the outcome could be worse.

Is technology good, or bad, for us?

What we have always suspected is partly true. Companies do manufacture products with limited lifespan so that customers keep buying their products. The Centennial light bulb is still burning after 115 years in a fire station in Livermore California and the Queen Mother's refrigerator is still working after 64 years at the Castle of Mey in Scotland. Its doors are 6 inches thick as opposed to the thin plastic of today. So are the companies ripping us off? Not always. Some products such as washing machines and cars have parts moving at high speeds which make them wear out and making goods lighter makes them cheaper which allows the vast majority of people to afford these luxuries. Children's clothes and shoes need to be replaced every few months so do not need to last a long time. Manufacturing household goods creates employment for millions of people, creating wealth. People will buy a luxury watch for an enormous sum of money because it denotes status but if they make a razor blade to last a lifetime at a cost of Rs 1000 each how many of us would buy it? Perhaps no one. Today, even illiterate laborers own smartphones which have more technology than an Orion rocket. Unfortunately, technology does not increase intelligence, as shown by the number of deaths from selfies. Also it is creating mountains of waste, toxic to the environment. Not just goods, we use services as well. With rapidly changing technologies we would expect an equally rapid turnover in the companies which provide us with these technologies. After all, with almost unlimited computing power, one would expect new companies to come up with new ideas, challenging the older ones. Already teenagers are moving away from Facebook, which is apperently being used by older people. But the older companies, like Google, Apple and Facebook, are thriving because of their size and ability to buy up start-ups because of their financial clout. Thus, teenagers may think that Facebook is not cool anymore but when they use Instagram they are using Facebook, which bought up the company for $1 billion. Unfortunately, human beings have an infinite capacity to pervert every scientific advance for warfare and killing. The wheel allowed people to travel great distances but also allowed the creation of the chariot. Navigation made it safer to sail the oceans but also made the slave trade possible. And while we chat on Sype or Whatsapp a whole army of cyber-warriors are at work, trying to hack into to government and commercial data. Even as we use technology to devise more lethal weapons Mother Nature tries to heal the wounds we leave behind. Technology has certainly enriched our lives. Will it kill us?

A steel frame or a straitjacket?

The government has accepted the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, more than doubling the salaries of our ruthless masters, the civil service. A salary of Rs 7,000 per month jumps to Rs 18,000 and a salary of Rs 90,000 per month jumps to an eye-watering Rs 250,000. Civil servants are fond of comparing their salaries with the private sector, conveniently ignoring the humongous hidden benefits, which are free medical care for life, including treatment abroad at taxpayers expense, with attendant, pension for life, which will also jump with this award, and, the most humongous of all, they are never sacked, unless someone has been absent from duty for 24 years. Cost to the taxpayer? Over Rs 1 trillion, which will put a strain on the budget deficit and increase inflation. Politicians are putting a brave face on it by saying that it will increase demand, which will stimulate growth, and increase tax revenues, both direct, because they will be paying income tax at a higher rate, and indirect, because they will spend more on goods and services. We can understand paying higher salaries to the army, who risk their lives for the nation, and the police, who risk their lives to keep us safe, but to give such enormous salaries to a bunch of autocrats, who sit in air-conditioned offices which we enter with folded hands, after going 'through proper channel', begging for services which are ours by right. Or 'shake hands' under the table. Are we being too harsh? An officer of the Indian Administrative Service, the aristocrats of the civil service, writes a spirited defence of his colleagues. The lower ranks are corrupt but cannot be punished because they are unionised. Business fellows slander honest officers if denied lucrative government contracts or expensive land. He lists honest officers who were punished for daring to take on criminal politicians. But then he asks us to understand "the puissant interplay of self-interest, perceived self-interest, self-preservation, ideology, maybe even inchoate experiences that shape his thoughts and actions". Sorry, that is no excuse. Get out and take your chances in the private sector. What is the excuse for mistreating disabled athletes or wasting Rs 1 billion aid for flood victims on food and drinks? The CBI reckons that over 2,400 top officials are corrupt. No wonder that the Indian bureaucracy is rated the worst in Asia. Because status quo is so beneficial to them they resist any reform on the specious excuse that they maybe investigated, leading to 'policy paralysis'. The IAS is a continuation of the ICS and still functions as a colonial power. Even Nehru could not reform it. The only way is to close the IAS school in Mussoorie. Appoint officers directly and train them on the job, as is done in all other professions. Apparently, Sardar Partel called the IAS the steel frame of India. They have become a straitjacket on the nation.

Why are they surprised?

There were angry exchanges at the European Parliament yesterday where members used undiplomatic language to express their anger at Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party, who along with Boris Johnson and Michael Gove of the Conservative Party, was responsible for the UK's exit from the European Union, dubbed Brexit. Farage defended himself strongly when he derided other members that they never " had proper jobs " in ther lives. Sounds like India where politicians hang on into decrepit old age because, hey, India is a democracy and people voted for them. But when people boot them out they still wangle their way into the dumping ground of rejected politicians, the Rajya Sabha. " But the main reason the UK voted out was that you have by stealth and by deception without telling the truth to the people of Europe continue to impose on them a political union," accused Farage. The European Union started off as the European Economic Community of 6 nations, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, also known as the Common Market. Germany and Italy were the Axis powers and the others were part of the Allies in World War II. Germany was divided into 4 zones of occupation by the US, Britain, France and the Soviet Union and so would have been glad to become part of a trading bloc with their erstwhile enemies. The European Union was established in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty. Now Germany is the largest economy in Europe, the fourth largest in the world, with the highest trade surplus in the world which gives it the clout to dominate the Union. Starting as an economic union it has become a highly political organisation as it has rapidly admitted new states born from the disintegration of former communist countries in Europe, apparently to enhance peace, so that the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012. Which is not true because most members of the EU are also members of NATO, a supranational organisation for genocides. Sanctions on Russia was an unnecessary act of aggression for a peaceful entity. Unrestrained movement of people created pockets of stress. " A British plumber is not likely to welcome the entry of an experienced Romanian plumber into the local labour market as this clearly implies a one-way movement in his wages," writes a professor. Globalization has benefited the wealthy while the poor have suffered. Thus, Apple transfers money from the US to manufacture its iconic iPhone in many countries but does not take US workers to those countries. It withholds a large amount of money abroad to prevent paying taxes in the US. Shareholders and company executives gain while ordinary folks lose out. Brexit done, President Trump to follow?

Why are they so confused?

A columnist from the US writes that " Trump's bluster helps radical Islam ". As part of the surge against the Al Qaeda by George W Bush the US military formed an alliance with the sheikhs in Anbar province in Iraq who were strong believers in Islam. This was possible because Bush " did not describe juhadists in explicitly Islamic terms ". If he had then it is probable that the sheikhs would not have cooperated with the Americans. Is that right? This is the same US army which had used white phosphorus on the civilian population in Fallujah, which is in Anbar province, in 2004, under the leadership of Bush. Surely, it is more probable that the US paid the sheikhs in dollar bills like they did with Saddam's generals, to betray him. Saddam's officers are now helping devise war strategy for ISIS while many of the same Sunni sheikhs have pledged allegiance to ISIS. Apart from money, it is also possible that the sheikhs saw the US as a lesser evil than the Shia majority in the south and hoped that the US would protect them from Shia rule. They must have felt terribly betrayed by the quick pull of US troops under Obama. In response to Donald Trump's use of the words "radical Islam" Obama said," We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam." The view, that Trump's words are more dangerous than thousands of innocent civilians killed by indiscriminate drone strikes ordered by Obama, means that all terrorists are fools. A recent strike on an Al Shabaab training base in Somalia apparently killed 150 'suspected' terrorists. Is it possible that the camp had no cooks, drivers, wives or children? The strike was described as "defensive" by the US. How can it be defensive when they blow up a bunch of civilians in another country thousands of miles away from the US? " At the end of his second term, Obama is trying to recreate in Syria the success of Bush's alliance with the Anbari sheikhs," writes the article. Is he? He seriously underestimated the threat of ISIS, calling them "junior varsity" in 2012. It is hard to know what he has been trying in Syria. The US has been actively supporting some groups fighting Bashar al Assad while Turkey, which is a member of NATO, has been making money by helping ISIS smuggle looted Syrian oil. It is only after Russia started targeting ISIS that the US took it seriously. Russian bombing of oil trucks infuriated Turkey which shot down a Russian jet returning from a bombing mission. Russia refuses to make any difference betwen 'good terrorists' and 'bad terrorists', like the US, which leads to confrontation. Finally, the article says," Senior war planners understand that the prospect of a Kurdish force liberating Raqqa risks alienating the local population..." Not true. It is Turkey which sees Kurds as enemies and is bombing Kurds in Syria. Seems that the correspondent has no clue about the Middle East. Neither does Obama. Nor Trump.

How much worse does it have to get before it gets better?

The Vix index, or the volatility index, has jumped 49.33% to 25.76, but it is still below 30, which would indicate extreme volatility. The euro has fallen to 1.10 to the dollar, from around 1.14 and the pound has fallen to 1.34 to the dollar, from 1.50, from just before the Brexit vote. In hindsight, it seems that the Federal Reserve was wise not to raise interest rate at its last meeting on 15 June. The Eurozone, comprising of 19 countries, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Japan have negative interest rates so a rate rise in the US would have put financial markets in confusion. Negative interest rates are meant to weaken the currency, which increases exports by making them cheaper, and increase inflation. Is it working? Probably not. The European Central Bank has been buying back government bonds, worth $90 billion per month, to increase liquidity in banks, in an effort to force them to lend to businesses because negative interest rate means they have to pay to park money with the central bank, which hurts their profits, but has now resorted to buying junk corporate bonds because there are no more government bonds left to buy. OECD, a grouping of 34 countries, fears that members are trapped in low growth trajectory and are not making the structural adjustments needed to stimulate growth. David Cameron tried a program of austerity to reduce government spending and budget deficit after the financial crash of 2008 but that caused enormous public anger, because they blamed falling living standards on globalization and increased spending on immigrants, which made people vote for Brexit. After all, Greece is a part of the Eurozone and has been made to suffer extreme hardship by Germany so that educated people are having to search through rubbish bins to find food, as Germany has built up a huge current account surplus, helped by the weak euro. Older people in Britain voted for Brexit because they did not see why Germany should be the power in Europe when their generation had to make huge sacrifices for World War II while 72% of those between 18 and 24 years voted to remain a part of Europe. Is it any wonder that ordinary people everywhere are fed up of globalization, which they see as helping the rich to increase their wealth by investing wherever returns are good while folks back home remained poor. Since record low interest rates and quatitative easing have not worked is it time to try something different? Low interest rates trap money in losing companies, depressing growth. If interest rates are raised bad companies will fail which will free up money to lend to productive concerns. No politician will allow companies to fail when unemployment rates are already high. Until there is another crisis. We wait till then.

India is the most entertaining country in the world.

Journalists in India have been excited about the US presidential election and the referendum on leaving the EU in Britain so they have neglected the entertainment in India. Bihar Police have arrested 3 students who came first in their respective streams in school leaving exams but could not answer simple questions put to them by journalists. Attention has been centred mostly on 17 year old Ruby Rai, who said that political science is about cooking. This is Bihar where Ms Rabri Devi was Chief Minister for around 8 years in total despite being completely illiterate, so obviously degrees do not matter. What is Ms Ruby Rai's crime? Her parents paid the bribes, examiners took the bribes and someone wrote the exams in her stead. She benefited passively. Her crime is that she was being an obedient daughter, as is expected in the Indian patriarchal system. After all, the Bihar government has money to buy presents for politicians but not to pay teachers, so why will they teach. In Delhi a 17 year old, convicted of murdering a child, was released after 2 months, only to murder an old lady. The most brutal of the 3 rapists in the 2012 gang -rape in Delhi was released after 3 years. His name was never released and he was known simply as 'the Juvenile', whereas Ms Rai has her photographs plastered everywhere. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister, Odd-Even Kejriwal is becoming increasingly bizarre everyday. Yesterday, the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association filed a police complaint about some threatening behavior by the Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia. Kejriwal tweeted that Sisodia would surrender to the Prime Minister so 65 AAP politicians marched towards the the PM's residence this morning. Kejriwal apparently has a degree from IIT but seems unaware that the PM has no authority to arrest anyone. Kejriwal and Sisodia both ran NGOs, which is how they met. According to the Delhi High Court 99% of NGOs are fraud and money making devices. Oh dear. When a MLA of his party was arrested for molesting women Kejriwal accused the Prime Minister of imposing Emergency on Delhi. Would he have had the guts to abuse Indira Gandhi in such foul language during the real Emergency in 1975? After the Brexit referendum in Britain Kejriwal wants a similar referendum in Delhi. Is he intending to secede from India? Another great leader, Rahul Gandhi is apparently in London. Wonder if he voted in the Brexit poll. He taunted Modi on the failed NSG bid on Twitter. Why is he happy? Surely, if he is an Indian citizen he should be unhappy. Unless, of course, he is a British citizen or he really is Raul Vinci. No need to look anywhere else, all the entertainment is here.

Could we profit from the confusion?

After the turmoil of Britain's exit from the European Union, known as Brexit, we have miles of analysis this morning. The Leave side won by concentrating on uncontrolled migration, not just from the Middle East, but mainly from eastern Europe. Were they being selfish? Nobel Prize winner, Angus Deaton has studied global poverty and writes that there is genuine suffering in rich countries, like the US. " International development aid is based on the Robin Hood principle: take from the rich and give to the poor," he writes. Currently $135 billion are transferred from rich to poor countries. This is known as "cosmopolitan prioritarianism". This makes sense because a dollar or a euro goes twice or three times further in a poor country than in a rich one. The problem is that " those of us who make these judgements are not exactly well placed to assess the costs". The poor in the US have suffered from globalization. How badly? "....several million Americans - black, white and Hispanic - now live in households with per capita income of less that $2 a day, essentially the same standard that the World Bank uses to define destitution-level poverty in India or Africa. Finding shelter in the United States on that income is so difficult that $2-a-day poverty is almost certainly much worse in the US than $2-a-day poverty in India and Africa." People get angry when they read lurid accounts of aid money going to dictators who are hostile to their country. While they are reading such articles they are told that the government has to reduce spending to reduce its debts so their services must be cut. Local councils have drastically reduced services, directly affecting poor people who are dependent on such services. Does austerity result in increased growth in the economy? Seems that the International Monetary Fund which was a strong believer in austerity now believes that fiscal expansion is much better. A report from 2012 says," ( Economic ) activity has disappointed in a number of economies undertaking fiscal consolidation....So a natural question is whether the negative short-term effects of fiscal cutbacks have been larger than (we) expected because fiscal multipliers were underestimated....(our new) results suggest that actual fiscal multipliers were larger that (our) forecasters assumed." That is why Donald Trump has so much support in the US. What about India? Our exports have been falling for 17 months and are a small part of the economy. It was difficult to negotiate with Europe as a whole so our businesses may benefit. If increasing protectionism causes a hard landing for the Chinese economy so that there is widespread civil unrest in China it will be heaven-sent for us. Its all in the stars.

Is it a rejection of Brussels or a rebellion against the elite?

Britain has just voted to leave the European Union. Within the UK there is a strong divide with England and Wales voting Leave and London, probably because of vast numbers of immigrants, Scotland and Northern Ireland voting Remain. What was this referendum all about? Already there is speculation about who wins and who loses but it may not be that simple. Prime Minister David Cameron called the referendum in 2014 because he wanted to unite his party, the Conservatives, for general elections in 2015. He also wanted to blunt the challenge of the UK Independence Party and its leader Nigel Farage who wanted the UK to leave the EU. In 2014 there was a referendum on independence in Scotland which was defeated because the Scots were told that an independent Scotland would have to renegotiate its membership of the EU. In 2015 the Conservatives won absolute majority in general election by scaring English voters that a coalition between Labour and the Scottish National Party would give the Scots veto power over the English despite being a smaller country. Having given his word Cameron decided to hold the referendum on 23 June, probably sure that the British will vote to remain a part of the EU. Well, they have voted to leave. Now what? Markets all over the world are falling, the pound has fallen to 1985 level and the Euro has dropped sharply, as traders seek safety in the dollar. Markets do not like uncertainty so volatility will persist for a while but will stabilise once politicians start working out the detailed steps of the break up. There will be unintended consequences. Having won an election by promising the referendum Cameron will probably have to resign, Nigel Farage will find his support disappearing as the reason for his party becomes moot, and the Scots will want independence from Britain to stay as member of the EU. A Sinn Fein leader has already called for a united Ireland, because his party had campaigned for Remain. Britain is a country where political correctness has reached such an extreme level that children as young as 4 years of age were given a choice of genders that they would like to belong to. So, was it racism that made people vote to leave the European Union? It was probably economics. The working class have not recovered from the crash of 2008. They see migrants flooding into Europe and are afraid that migrants will take their jobs. Also they do not trust their politicians. The irony is that the champions of the working class, both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are educated in Oxford which is apparent in their English pronounciation. Will Brexit improve the fortunes of the poor? We shall see. It is a bold experiment.