Do we hear our children weeping?

Take it from the top. Only 10% of the 3,54,421 graduates from 3,364 management schools in India last year are employable. Why so? A lot of the institutions are rubbish, run by politicians or shady business fellows, charging vast fees from students, desperate to increase their value in the extremely competitive job market. Why are our students so desperate that they and their families are willing to spend so much for dubious degrees? Because only 37% of our college graduates are employable, of whom 38% are women and 34% are men. Again reputations of different colleges vary widely and those with unwanted degrees from low grade institutions look for ways to stand out from the crowd. Social prejudices play a strong role. Every parent wants to boast that her son is a manager. It is not just that managers are paid a higher salary but the enhanced status helps in getting a pretty bride for the son, because no mother would want to give her daughter in marriage to an artisan, even if he is earning much more than someone with a desk job. Those who have rich parents can buy their way into good private colleges by paying cash under the table, called capitation fees, but those who cannot afford the millions of rupees required resort to cheating or bribery to get a piece of paper which may help them earn a living. But why do these children end up in third rate colleges? Because most of our schools, especially government ones, teach nothing. Teachers are not competent to teach even classes 1-5. According to the Annual Status of Education Report shows how badly our children are being betrayed. Only 23.2% of class 8 students know how to subtract, 74.6% can read class 2 text and 68.2% can make sense of a sentence in English. Under the Right to Education Act the Congress stopped all exams in schools, apparently to reduce stress on children. With no way of judging whether children are being taught anything at all teacher attendance in primary school, classes 1-8, has dropped from 86.4% in 2010 to 85.8% in 2014. Although salaries of teachers in government schools are higher even poor people prefer sending their children to private schools. Apparently. it will need Rs 2.32 trillion, on top of the vast sums already being spent, to bring government schools up to par with private ones. Spending on public schools is higher in every state, varying from 8.1 times that on private schools in Goa to 0.9 times higher in Bihar. And yet private schools far outperform in results. The only solution is to pay private school boards to run public schools but there will be tremendous resistance, even violence, from the teachers who know they are useless but want to protect their earnings. So our children have no future to look forward to. Do we hear our children weeping?

Three cheers for the RBI? Depends on who you are.

Yesterday the Reserve Bank suddenly cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75% from 8%, well before its monetary policy review meeting on 3 February, causing the Sensex to zoom up by over 700 points. " It will lead to more money in the hands of the consumer and greater spending. It is a positive for the Indian economy. It will certainly help in reviving the investment cycle the government seeks to restore," said our Finance Minister. Really? Half of our top companies are nose deep in debt and will need around Rs 7 trillion to survive. According to a report by the Bank of International Settlements, till the end of June 2014, Indian banks and non-banks had borrowed $204 billion from abroad. The rupee fell on news of the rate cut and since most of the foreign debt is in dollars a significant fall in the value of the rupee could see many firms going bust. It does not mean more money in the hands of the consumer because interest paid by banks on term deposits will also fall and since that is a significant portion of our savings it will result in a fall in income, especially for pensioners. Also 25 basis points is too little for people to rush out to take loans to buy cars and other luxury goods. Debt of Indian households has grown 7 fold in cities and 4 fold in rural areas in the 10 years from 2002 to 2012. About 22% of households in cities and 31% of rural households are indebted. Besides low interest rates help only those who have the means to repay loans, which means those with high incomes, but are of no use to the middle class and the poor. Still the cut in the repo rate is good news because it shows that the RBI is now comfortable with the decline in inflation and does not see rising prices in the near future. If oil and other commodity prices remain subdued for the rest of the year the RBI could cut rates further, in steps. Industry fellows want a reduction of at least 200 basis points which will really make a difference. It will allow them to decrease their borrowing costs by paying off old loans with new ones and will allow banks to cut down their non-performing assets. Banks hold $48 billion in Non-Performing Assets and $52 billion in restructured loans so if banks can clean up their books they will be able to start lending again, especially for infrastructure projects which have a very long gestation period. However, the really resounding cheer is for the real estate sector which is beginning to stagnate. As prices rose so state governments increased taxes on properties which added to the cost. Besides since the white money portion of the cost of any property has increased hugely it is difficult for people to account for that money. With sales falling real estate companies are finding it difficult to borrow so they are cheering to the rafters. If prices collapse all the black money will be wiped out. We do not want that do we?

Confusion of central banks amusing. Good for India?

Last year one man, Steven Major in the US, was convinced that yields on 10 year US Treasuries will drop to 2.1%. Since yield is inversely related to the price he was betting that prices of bonds will go up. So, when others were selling he was buying. Bond prices tend to drop when interest rates go up so that yields are in line with the interest at which the Fed is raising money. So, what Mr Major was betting on was that the Fed will not be raising interest rates any time soon and says that yields could drop to 1.5%. One or two people even think that the Federal Reserve may have to restart bond buying, also called Quantitative Easing, in late 2015 as the weak global economy impacts the US and the strong dollar cuts exports. Major says that the weakness in the global economy is similar to that after World War II and it will take a long time to start growing again which means that inflation will stay low, thus obviating the need to raise interest rates. Public debt globally reached 108% of GDP in 2012 and will be around 106% this year. The global bond market has soared 40% to $100 trillion as governments have borrowed to support banks and the fall in tax receipts, because of the slowdown, means that governments are sitting on big debts and a higher interest rate will increase the amounts of interest the governments will have to pay. In Britain inflation rate has fallen to 0.5%, raising the fear of deflation, wherein prices keep falling as people postpone big purchases hoping for prices to fall still further. Sterling has fallen to its lowest level in 18 months against the dollar. In the Eurozone inflation rate is even lower at 0.3% and the European Central Bank wants to buy back bonds worth $593 billion to encourage some inflation. But Germany is against any quantitative easing because they think that buying Greek sovereign bonds means rewarding irresponsible spending and will encourage bad behavior in the future. The German Constitutional Court has referred the matter to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to decide whether the constitution of the ECB allows it to buy bonds. Japan has revealed a record budget to beat recession. After suffering a decade of deflation the government is determined to raise inflation rate so that wages start rising and people start spending again. Government debt of Japan is at a record 227% of GDP and the government wants to raise tax revenues to cut its debt. But when it raised the sales tax to 8% from 5% in April of last year public spending fell and the country went back into recession. China is trying to maintain its high growth rate by infrastructure spending and increasing bank lending. It may be forced to devalue the Yuan to stimulate growth. All central banks in a state of confusion. Amusing.

Democrats not friendly to our democracy.

Bad news for the residents of Delhi. The government is going into ' overdrive ' to ensure the security of Barack Obama during his visit for the Republic Day celebrations. At least 10,000 paramilitary troops will reinforce 80,000 Delhi Police, which means the entire force, to guard just one person. The center of Delhi will be cordoned off for days as the fellows practice how not to fall over as they keep barging into each other. There will be massive traffic jams as the center and north of Delhi are cut off from the south, causing people to miss their trains, to be late for work, unless they start at dawn, and patients to die because they could not reach hospital in time, as has happened many times before. However, since we have invited Obama then the onus is on us to ensure his safety, regardless of the cost or inconvenience. The point is whether such a march-past is justified, or even decent, in a democracy. March pasts are reminiscent of Nazi Germany and Russia during the Soviet Union, when photographs were keenly analysed to see who was still in favor and who had been purged. Today North Korea still holds such parades as does China. When we keep shouting from the rooftops that we are the largest democracy in the world does it behove us to be seen in such company? And why on Rajpath, in the center of Delhi? We know that Delhi is the capital of India and that the Rajpath leads from India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, where the President resides, but it was built by the British for the then Governor and is thus a reminder of the centuries we spent as slaves to the British, and the Moguls before them. Should our politicians be celebrating a republic by disrupting the lives of 25 million people, crammed into this city, by showing that they are our new masters and that we are still not really free? Apparently, US Secret Service personnel will take control of nearby high rise buildings, such as North and South Blocks, Rail Bhavan, Vayu Bhavan, Shastri Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan and Jawahar Bhavan, all of which house ministries of the central government, and Indians will not be allowed in there. Which means that our sovereignty will be handed over to the Americans for a couple of days. Wonderful. And what do we stand to gain from such servile generosity? What gifts does this Obama come bearing for us? His last 6 years in office have not been exactly friendly. His administration has constantly griped about our patent laws and tried to restrict our IT companies while supplying sophisticated weapons to Pakistan, with which to kill Indians. Bill Clinton imposed sanctions on India while turning a blind eye to Pakistan's nuclear program. Bush got rid of them and signed the nuclear treaty with us. Republicans have been better for us than Democrats. Is it likely to change? We shall see.

Find what attracts Americans.

The Prime Minister is working hard to expand India's manufacturing sector many times over. The US being the largest economy in the world, sucking in around $240 billion worth of imports every month, it makes sense to lay it on as thick as possible when Barack Obama visits Delhi for the Republic Day functions on 26 January. Thanks to the scorched earth policies of the Congress, with shortages of coal, power, and roads, our infrastructure is unable to cope with the present low base of manufacturing and there is no money for the massive investment required. The Private Public Partnership model was defective from the start when companies paid a premium to be awarded projects with very low bids, knowing that the government would bail them out in the end. Sadly, the economy tanked, deficits went out of control, leading to a severe contraction in government expenditure, and the outcry against corruption meant that the usual fun and games had to stop. Companies are deep in the red and banks are unwilling to lend to borrowers who have defaulted on their payments. So the onus is on the government. But there is no money. Much of the growth in the much vaunted years of high growth during the Congress decade was because of high inflation but now that the rate of growth has fallen revenue collections have fallen with it. Even while the fiscal deficits of the center and states was between 6 and 10% during the Congress years the ratio of debt to GDP was falling. The ratio fell from 90% in 2003-04 to 68.5% in 2013-14. How could public debt be declining when the government was borrowing heavily to finance its deficits. The Congress wrought this magic by generating inflation above 10% which brought down the cost of its debt. Inflation, especially of food, hurts the poor, which the present government cannot afford. The Consumer Price Index rose to 5% in December, compared to 4.38% in November, but is still lower than before. The government has already spent 99% of fiscal deficit for the entire year in just 8 months so it will have to reduce its borrowing to keep fiscal deficit within its target of 4.1%, while continuing to fund the social schemes started by the Congress and finding the trillions needed for building infrastructure. Talk about a Gordian knot. The government has to raise tax collections by increasing taxes on petrol and diesel, as their high prices are already factored in, sell stakes in public sector companies, sell off loss making units, such as Air India, reduce non-essential spending and increase spending on infrastructure, which will generate jobs and encourage business. Americans are good at innovations. If only we can make it attractive for them.

Are the poor happier than the rich?

An article by Arun Maira, former member of the Planning Commission asks a very pertinent question: What we really want? He says that concentrating solely on accelerating the growth of the GDP of India would be a mistake. For instance, India has 10 cars per 1000 people while Korea has 300 and the US has 600. What would happen if the number of cars in India were to increase 30 times to reach the level of Korea? More cars would cause more accidents and more pollution, leading to higher medical costs, higher clean-up costs and higher litigation costs, all of which would lead to a higher GDP, because GDP is a measure of gross economic activity, without distinguishing between good and bad. There are many things that cannot be measured by monetary means and yet increase a nation's well-being, such as dignity, trust in one's neighbors and a sense of fairness. Bhutan has pioneered an index of Gross National Happiness which elevates satisfaction felt by citizens above that of material wealth. India ranks a lowly 111 on this index, below Pakistan and Bangladesh. But could it be that people in India are unhappy because they do not possess cars or are unable to fly because they cannot afford to? It is instructive that the top 10 countries on the list are all rich western countries, Australia coming in at number 10 with its vast mineral wealth. Mr Maira cites the example of the French who work fewer hours and take longer vacations and asks would the world be a better place if the productivity of the French increased to the level of the Americans? The unemployment level in France is 10.4%, while it is 25.4% for those under the age of 25 years. In the US the rate is 5.6%. Trouble is that you need people to work to pay taxes which can finance welfare payments. The higher the productivity the more the taxes that accrue. Socialist policies breed a sense of entitlement in those who have jobs, who restrict competition, to hang on to their perks. The French would rather close down a factory than lose their privileges. In the long run it destroys the economy, reduces employment and reduces the power of the trade unions by decreasing the number of members. Which is what happened in Bengal. If everyone would be happy with a minimalist existence then the hippie culture would not die down. A comparison of the weekly food shopping in countries across the world shows that happiness cannot buy food, money does. A family in Germany spends 320 pounds sterling on food every week, in Luxembourg it is 298 pounds, in India it is 25 pounds while in Bhutan it is a meager 3 pounds 20 pence per week. The quantity of food depends on Purchasing Power Parity but even so the comparison is glaring. Surely, it is better to be a well-fed rich than a happy poor.

Utopia or pressure cooker. We wait to see.

The world is a much safer place since the end of World War II. And there are figures to prove it. More people are living in democratic nations, which means that the majority of dictators have been eliminated. President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has just been thrown out of office. Brutality won the war against the Tamil Tigers but, as with any dictator, he did not know how to win the peace. He apparently asked the army to use force to overturn the election result to keep him in power. The army refused. Corruption, appointing his brothers to key ministries and sending General Sarath Fonseca to prison on trumped up charges, which would have been insulting to the army, resulted in his defeat. Globally, death from wars and homicide are markedly down, absolute poverty has been reduced, nutrition of populations across the world has improved and even rates of malaria are coming down. Although people continue to die of HIV/AIDS, numbers of new cases are falling slowly. The levels of education are rising everywhere. In India even illiterate people have become aware of the value of education, with even daily wage earners striving to send their children to good schools. Whether the availability of cheap televisions, bringing pictures of the world to our living rooms, and mobile phones have spread this awareness we do not know. If so, it would mean that entertainment is a valuable educating tool. Rapid increase in technology is improving the quality of life. The advances in fracking have brought down oil price, helping to reduce the cost of transport of goods and making travel cheaper. So, is it a chance to rejoice? Is Utopia finally here or is it the " End of History " as Francis Fukuyama predicted in 1992, who thought that with the collapse of the Soviet Union there will be no more wars in a unipolar world under the dominance of a benign US? The attacks in Paris in the last few days have shown that it is not so. In the 1970s and 80s you would never see any woman covered in a burqa in the UK or in Europe. Today it is a common sight. Will there be a Clash of Civilisations after all? The steep fall in the price of oil, while good news for India, is devastating for the economies of Russia, Nigeria and Venezuela. Europe is looking at the possibility of deflation and if Russia were to default on its debt European banks will take a massive hit. If Venezuela or Russia do default on their international obligations there will be a stampede out of emerging markets, and their currencies, which will be very bad for India. Incidence of suicides are the highest in low income countries. So is the world becoming a happier place to live in or is it a pressure cooker waiting to explode? Time will tell.

Just tax it like smoking.

Even before funerals have been held for the victims of the killings in Paris the excuses have started pouring out. These are just a handful of criminals, the rest of them are wonderful chaps really. And, this has nothing to do with what is written, it is a " perverted interpretation " of the text. Apparently, ' blasphemy ' does not exist but has been invented by vested interests to further their own agenda. If only a few perverted criminals have invented the crime of blasphemy as an excuse for killing then why has a blogger been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes in Saudi Arabia. According to Pakistan's constitution blasphemy is punishable by death. So what happened in Paris is not an aberration, a crime carried out by a few misguided individuals, but state policy of the faithful. Congress MP, Mani Shankar Aiyar justified the killings as a reaction to attacks on their communities, drawing enormous criticism from the chatterati. But he is not totally wrong. These attacks are happening because western idiots removed Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi, thus letting the proverbial genie out of the bottle. China reacts very differently to such attacks. But if we say anything it will be branded as stereotyping, racial profiling or hate speech and we might end up in prison. Why are our politicians so careful and polite in dealing with terrorism when innocent citizens are being killed regularly? Because they gain from it. Enormously. It gives them the reason for Z+ security, official cars and luxury bungalows in the secure zone of Lutyens Delhi. It also gives them the excuse for greater surveillance of ordinary citizens with biometric identity cards, CCTV cameras everywhere and curtailing our right to free speech. Not just in India but also in the citadel of free speech, the US, which sees nothing wrong in a film which shows Kim Jong Un's face being blown off. Thus, a low level of terrorism allows ' democratic politicians ' to add to their powers enormously while keeping the great unwashed under control. It also allows for an increase in the defence budget which increases profits of those industries and contribution to campaign finance. As long as those fellows do not get out of hand and start blowing up planes because that results in massive insurance payments and losses for the companies. It is like smoking. There is now no doubt that smoking kills. It affects virtually every organ in the body. Even passive or secondary smoke is dangerous for human health. Smokers are treated as pariahs. You cannot smoke in public places, cigarettes cannot be kept in plain view and taxes are astronomical. But surely if something is that harmful it should be banned? Not a single country has banned it. Why? Taxes bring big money. Start taxing terrorists heavily. That will make them think.

Appeasement is cowardice.

In September, 1938 the then Prime Minister of Britain, Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler in Munich where he agreed that the Czech region of Sudetenland would become a part of Germany. After the slaughter of World War I he thought that giving a little bit to Hitler would appease him, but it did not. In March 1939 Hitler annexed the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia and in September he invaded Poland, and World War II had begun. This lesson was absorbed by western countries and Israel: Appeasement does not work, it encourages villains to become more murderous. Thus, when Argentine forces occupied the Falklands in 1982 Margaret Thatcher, with US help, responded with full force. Argentina is yet to recover from that defeat. Israel instantly responds to any rocket attack from the Gaza strip by bombing Hamas assets. Planes, hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists, slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on 11 September, 2001, which came to be known as 9/11. By 7 October 2001 US forces launched a full scale attack on Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom. Yet when it comes to Pakistan, which is the capital of terrorism in the world today, the policy is one of total appeasement. The 9/11 attacks were surely masterminded by the ISI because Saddam Hussein hated the Al Qaeda and Bin Laden was hiding in his cave at Tora Bora. Even if this is mocked as a conspiracy theory there is no doubt that the ISI was supplying arms and information to the Taliban to kill US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Bin Laden was killed in the garrison town of Abbottabad. Ayman Al Zawahiri, who took over command of the Al Qaeda after Bin Laden's death, is still hiding in Pakistan, as is the Taliban chief, Mullah Omar. With a mountain of evidence of its   duplicity the US is to resume supplying aid to Pakistan after Secretary of State, John Kerry certified that it is showing " sustained commitment " in destroying terrorist networks. Why? Having eyes do they not see? And, of course, if they choose to be intentionally blind then their brains are unlikely to work. The US is genuflecting to the ISI not to destabilise Afghanistan after US forces leave. They do not care that their craven stupidity is encouraging Pakistan to indiscriminately shell Indian areas of Jammu and Kashmir, killing our soldiers. And that is because India has been appeasing Pakistan for over 70 years. Every time our soldiers have sacrificed themselves to defeat the cowards our politicians have given away all gains, thus turning victory into defeat. We must build a wall separating us from Pakistan before it turns into Somalia. As it surely will. soon.

A murder mystery which cannot be solved.

Can a woman be killed twice? Yes, the first time when she is poisoned and the second time when her murder is covered up to save the killer. Sunanda Pushkar was no ordinary woman. She was rich and was married to Congress politician, Shashi Tharoor who was a minister in the last government. Her marriage to Mr Tharoor was certainly eventful. She became embroiled in a financial controversy as a partner in a consortium that bid for a cricket team called Kochi Tuskers which was ejected from the Indian Premier League. Other politicians have alleged money laundering in that franchise and claimed that she was murdered to shut her up. In a series of tweets she accused a Pakistani journalist, Mehr Taraar of stalking her husband. What was a minister doing with a Pakistani woman? Pushkar died on 17 Jamuary, 2014 and suddenly after almost a year Delhi Police are claiming that she was murdered. And that she was poisoned with Polonium 210. How did they arrive at such a conclusion and why now? Polonium has been used for poisoning people in the past but being a highly radioactive mineral, access to it is restricted only to senior government officials and scientists. It apparently has a half life of 138 days so cannot be detected now. How very convenient. The doctor who conducted the autopsy has been insisting that she had been poisoned but was ignored. He says that 2 former ministers pressured him to report that her death was due to natural causes. Have the police questioned those 2 ministers as to why they wanted to interfere in a criminal investigation? Mr Thoroor is also supposed to have written to the Delhi Police Commissioner alleging that the police had beaten up his domestic help to extract a false confession implicating him. A few days before her death Pushkar had a thorough medical check up at a super-specialty hospital in Kerala who found nothing wrong with her, which was the opinion of doctors at AIIMS as well. The police are going to send her viscera abroad because India does not have even one laboratory which can look for unusual poisons. They suspect that her clothes were changed by the assailants so they are going to study all the CCTV footage provided by the hotel. What were they doing the whole of last year? They are not sure if the poison was administered orally or by injection. That is really hilarious. Would a strong young woman not scream her lungs out and put up an almighty struggle if someone was trying to inject her against her will? Unless she had been drugged so that she was too drowsy to resist. In which case a hypnotic should be detectable in her stomach contents. The police are not to blame. Politicians must have been behind it. But who? That, sadly, will remain a mystery.

Should not start a fight you cannot finish.

What a change a new year makes. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas Americans would have felt invincible. The price of oil was going down, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising ever higher, despite the discontinuation of the bond buying program by the Federal Reserve, consumer confidence was up, leading to higher consumer spending,  US troops were coming home from Afghanistan and the Russian bear was out for the count, knocked out by western sanctions and the falling price of oil. Could it be the end of Vladimir Putin? One week into the new year things look completely different. The slide in the price of oil shows no signs of stopping, the Dow is down 2.54% and the US oil industry, along with industries supplying rigs and equipment, is shedding jobs. And wicked Putin, vilified by the western press as a thug, a kleptomaniac, a killer and a wife beater, is still there. Not just that, Russia, along with Iraq, has actually increased production of oil, making the glut worse, and putting further downward pressure on prices. But what about Obama, the gasbag? His popularity rating will surely see a boost as low pump price of petrol puts an additional $100 into the wallets of US consumers and brings down inflation, by bringing down transport costs, and adds another $100 billion stimulus into the economy. He should be feeling pretty pleased with himself. After all it was western governments who engineered and supported the armed coup in Ukraine that deposed an elected president with the help of extreme right wing nationalist Svoboda and the neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs. When Russian speakers in the eastern half of the country revolted against the fascist government in Kiev they blamed Russia and imposed sanctions on it, trashing its economy. Trouble is, having started the mayhem they cannot control it. Stock markets are falling because investors fear that the global economy is going to slow down. The Eurozone economy grew by a mere 0.1% in the last 3 months, inflation in Germany was down to 0.2% in December, leading to a fear of deflation, and yields on bonds are down to almost zero. Fresh elections in Greece threaten to elect the Syriza Party which is against austerity and has promised to renegotiate the terms of its loans with the ECB and the IMF. Others, led by Germany, are threatening dire consequences if Greece refuses to abide by its commitments. The ECB is almost certain to resort to quantitative easing of its own very soon. With such uncertainty there has been a flight to the dollar which has become stronger against all currencies, which will hit US exports. Yields on 10 year US bonds are down to 1.8% which signifies low inflation, possibly due to low growth. You may start a fight but the finish will depend on the opponent. They do not seem to understand.

The haves will benefit from technology.

In a thought provoking article Prof Nouriel Roubini predicts a future in which technology will perform most of the tasks which provide jobs to human beings today. " Recent technological advances have three biases: They tend to be capital-intensive ( thus favoring those who already have financial resources ); skill-intensive ( thus favoring those who already have a high level of technical proficiency ) and labor-saving ( thus reducing the total number of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in the economy )," he writes. Developed countries not only have the money and knowledge to employ such technology but a falling birth rate makes it essential to transform humans from workers to supervisors. ".....in the next decade, Foxconn, which produces iPhones and other consumer electronics, plans to replace much of its Chinese work-force of more than 1.2 million with robots," he says. Robots do not need wages, can work 24/7, and, definitely, never threaten to commit suicide. Perhaps, in future they will also learn to smile. What does this mean for us in India where the Prime Minister has sought to boost manufacturing with his slogan " Make in India?" It will not be easy as with western economies slowing down India will not be able to export its way to wealth as China and Japan did so successfully. Indian companies do not spend on research, preferring quick profits by selling shoddy products and services to the vast multitudes at home. Imported technology, which quickly becomes outdated, as in the auto industry, or reverse engineering patented products of other companies cannot be a long term solution. They prefer to buy common drugs from China to package and sell in India because margins for such drugs are slim. We have enormous problems. Our infrastructure is still in the bullock-cart age, taxes are too high, corruption is widespread and decades of socialism has produced an almost complete dependence on the government. While corrupt government employees will resist any attempts at privatisation millions of families are dependent on child labor to survive. To protect their own industries developed countries want to bring in strict labor laws into the WTO agreements, which is resisted by the poorer countries. Rich countries realise that they are losing jobs to cheap labor in poor countries and labor is cheap because of the high birth rate. How long before they put up trade barriers to restrict cheap imports? The good thing is that automation makes people dumb which means that we can become wealthy if we reduce our population, ensure top quality education and eliminate corruption. Fingers crossed.

Cashless will result in loss of cash

The Prime Minister is thinks that cashless transactions will get rid of black money. That is because payments involving cheques and credit cards leave a trail which can be followed. Is it possible to become totally cashless? While use of cash has become infrequent in the US and UK, on the continent of Europe shops and restaurants still demand cash. In India any work involving labor must be paid in cash. Housemaids, car cleaners, drivers, plumbers, painters, electricians, small shops, all demand cash. Perhaps Mr Modi thinks that if everyone has a bank account, as in under Jan Dhan Yojana, then money could be transferred from one account to another, even via a cell phone. A plumber in Delhi earns between Rs 25-30,000 per month, which makes him liable to pay income tax. Inflation has increased the cost of living so high that a man living in a rented flat, with a wife and 2 children, going to school, can barely manage on Rs 25,000 a month so he will do everything to avoid paying tax. Thus there is a huge parallel economy which survives only on cash transactions and millions will lose out if it came to a halt. But why should individuals be asked to be cashless when the government itself discourages such transactions. If you buy a train ticket online you have to pay a service charge of around Rs 50 and 2% on the cost of the ticket if you pay buy credit card. On petrol you have to pay 2% for payment by credit card unless the company has a tie up with the bank whose card you are using. If you buy Rs 30,000 worth of petrol every year you save Rs 600 by paying cash. Everyone knows that nearly half the value of any property is paid by cash, or black money, but that is only half the story. Massive amounts of black money is generated by the rent industry. As millions of people migrate from villages to cities looking for work landlords have added extra floors to their buildings, mostly without planning permission or proper foundations in buildings, by paying bribes to municipality fellows. Rooms are rented out for Rs 3-5,000 per month, collected in cash. Electricity is charged at Rs 12 per unit. As the cost of real estate has zoomed, due to black money, properties have become out of reach for the vast majority of people, enabling landlords to charge any amount as rent. To compensate labor wages have soared, adding to inflation. Even for those who pay by cheque the Rent Control Act has made it very expensive to rent an apartment. Rent agreements are only for 11 months and you have to vacate the apartment or pay 10% more every 11 months. This adds 10.3% to your cost of living every year, again adding to inflation. Mr Modi has good ideas but he has to undo 67 years of injustice to get a clean society. Best wishes.

We know how to spend our own money.

The Prime Minister has advised people to have trust in banks. Mr Modi said that people should not buy gold but keep their money in banks, which is good advice because buying chunks of gold and storing them in bank lockers is the most nonproductive use of money. Since gold has to be imported it means transfer of our money to other countries. Keeping money in banks earns interest for the account holder and banks lend money to individuals, to buy properties or cars, or to companies to invest in new projects. In each case it creates new jobs and stimulates economic growth. The problem, however, is not a deficit of trust in our banks as a visit to any branch of the State Bank of India will prove, where you will see hundreds of people waiting patiently to transact their business. When Global Trust Bank, a private bank, failed the Reserve Bank encouraged the Oriental Bank of Commerce to take it over while the Punjab National Bank took over customers of Nedungadi Bank, so that depositors did not lose a paisa. Since then stringent supervision by the RBI has prevented a repeat of bank failures. So people know that their money is safe in Indian banks. It is the government they do not trust and blame for all their ills. They do not understand monetary policy, fiscal or current account deficits or the distorting effect of quantitative easing in the US and Japan but they blame the government for double digit inflation, which burns a hole in their wallets. The Congress never understood that and paid a heavy price. The Congress blamed external factors for the inflation and was baffled by the ingratitude of the voters despite the trillions of rupees given away in handouts. True, the Congress was not responsible for the subprime crisis in the US or the sudden jump in the price of oil to over $140 a barrel in 2008 but the very handouts that the Congress used to bribe voters boomeranged by creating inflation. The Congress compounded the problem by pressurising the RBI to keep interest rates low in the mistaken belief that everything would be alright if they could increase the growth rate somehow. High inflation reduced demand, forcing companies to reduce investment in new projects and people resorted to buying gold because their savings were being eroded by negative real interest rates. Politicians must get rid of the colonial mindset where all assets belonged to the crown and we had to pay for them. Telecom spectrum and mines belong to the people and raising money by auctioning resources increase costs for us. Same with airports where private companies will increase charges making flying more expensive and reduce the number of passengers. We realise that the government needs money to function but it is our money and we know how best to spend it.

What you can do, I can do better.

Last year oil prices began to drop as supply outstripped demand due to the production of shale oil in the US and economic slowdown in Europe and China. Previously the OPEC would reduce production to reduce excess supply and thus raise the price of oil but this time Gulf countries have said that they will continue to pump oil even if the price falls to $40 a barrel. Various explanations have been offered: Gulf countries want to cripple US shale oil industry, US and Saudi Arabia are conspiring to bring down the price of oil to punish Russia for annexing Crimea and supporting Bashar Al Assad of Syria, By reducing the oil price they want to cut the financing of ISIS, Sunni Saudi Arabia and Israel cannot allow Shia Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has been playing games in negotiations on inspections of its nuclear enrichment program and falling oil prices will really hit its economy, which is already suffering from sanctions imposed by western countries. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has $750 billion in reserves and so can withstand low prices for much longer. However, the price of oil dropping to almost half its value will have intended consequences. The North Sea oil industry is suffering huge losses, leading to job cuts. The British economy is not doing as well as thought and disposable income of families remains suppressed. The pound has dropped from Rs 103 in February last year to Rs 96 today. The Chancellor of the UK is hoping that a debt-fuelled spending spree, encouraged by low interest rate, will help him balance his budget. The US is not immune either. The shale oil industry was growing on money borrowed at near 0% interest rate and $550 billion in loans could become stressed. The President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi thinks that Europe is in danger of deflation as inflation rate is expected to fall to 0.1%. This is seen as signal that the ECB is preparing a bond buying program, known as quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve in the US used 3 doses of QE to weaken the dollar and got the economy growing again. Since the Fed stopped its bond buying program couple of months back the dollar has been getting stronger against all currencies. Japan has resorted to bond buying which has weakened the yen against the dollar and helped exports. Whether this will cure deflation or result in hyperinflation remains to be seen. Now it seems that Russia and Iraq are also increasing supply of oil. Is this a riposte to the Sunni gulf states by Russia and Shia Iraq. Why? Do they think they will have greater lasting power than the Gulf countries?  It is lucky for us as it will drastically reduce our import bill. Hope the government uses this luck wisely. 

A citizen's New Year wishes.

India maybe lacking in many things but we surely have a surfeit of experts on every subject, who emerge around the beginning of the year, with a cacophony of advice for the Prime Minister on how to run the country. Since we are no experts we do not presume to give advice but as citizens, whose welfare is dependent on the welfare of Mother India, we would like to present our wishes for the New Year. Please get rid of the term ' demographic dividend '. It is a canard spread by those who would like a huge poor underclass so that they can spend trillions of taxpayer money on social schemes, which can be looted to pay local party workers. Poor people hate being poor, dependent on handouts to survive and ending up as bonded labor to local moneylenders in the event of an emergency, such as an accident or an illness. An excess of poor provides cheap labor to the rich, deprives the poor of bargaining power and intensifies inequality. Every effort must be made to reduce the numbers of children. That will improve the health of women, drastically cut the time they spend in unproductive housework and give them the time to earn real money. That will be the real demographic dividend. Please get rid of this constant whining about interest rate. True, if interest rates are too high companies cannot borrow but the reason why investment is low is because there is no demand because of very high inflation and taxes. Companies are borrowing abroad at around 1% interest so there is no shortage of liquidity. If interest rate is too low, as during the Congress regime, real returns are negative. To protect their savings people resort to buying gold which is a totally nonproductive investment and plays havoc with the Current Account Deficit, as gold has to be imported. Why not pass a law saying that the interest rate must be kept 200 basis points above the rate of retail inflation. The Reserve Bank will intervene only in unforeseen circumstances. That will assure people that real returns on their savings will always remain positive, get rid of the present mistrust in government and stop the accumulation of gold. Bring down taxes to the lowest level possible. Taxes are legalised extortion. We do not see why we have to pay so much for politicians and civil servants to  enjoy foreign junkets with ' companions '. Please get rid of ' targeted subsidies '. This is another canard spread by the same people who ' love ' the poor so much that they want them to remain poor forever. Part of our taxes should go to a national insurance scheme so that the middle class is provided with unemployment benefit, old age pension and affordable healthcare. That will give them the courage to spend, which will increase demand and boost the economy. Finally, we hope that someone will bring our wishes to the notice of the Prime Minister.

Xenotransplant, not plastic surgery.

Self proclaimed historians are incensed with the Prime Minister for his attempt to rewrite history through " ancient mythology ", ' speculative chronology " and " fresh myths ". These fellows call themselves the Indian History Congress which automatically makes them suspect of being crypto-commie, pseudo-secular, Congress supporters. Their ire has been aroused because the PM claimed that the Hindu God, Ganesha, obtained his elephant head through advanced plastic surgery in the distant past but the knowledge has been forgotten. They passed a resolution saying," Unfortunately even the Prime Minister has suggested that in the hoary past Indians had learnt, and then, forgotten, plastic surgery of a kind going far beyond what is now possible." And," It also calls upon all members of the political establishment to refrain from making statements contrary to well-established historical facts." Thing is if the past is so hoary how can they be so well-established. Beyond about 3 thousand years the history of the past has been destroyed by wars and natural disasters so no one can really know. Also if Lord Ganesha is a myth what about the universe being created in 6 days, a woman being merely the 12th rib of a man and ' immaculate conception '? Religions are also called faiths because no one has seen God and if anyone has then it is impossible to describe the infinite. Lord Ganesha is therefore as plausible as an old gent with white hair and white beard draped in a loose shroud. In their haste to condemn the Prime Minister these fellows have missed the glaring mistake made by Mr Modi when he called it ' plastic surgery '. It was not. It was a xenotransplant, in which live animal tissue is transplanted to a human body. Normally pig organs are used as pigs are genetically closer to human beings than other animals which are slaughtered for food, such as cows and goats. Another Congress, this time the Party, has objected to  the ordinance amending the Land Acquisition Law by calling it a return to the days of the Raj. But which Raj? We had the Mogul Raj followed by the British Raj, then the Nehru-Gandhi Family Raj which practised the licence-permit raj, the neta-babu-dalal raj, coalition dharma raj and the National Advisory Committee raj which cooked up this subversive legislation as a scorched earth policy so that all business and infrastructure activities come to a stop. " This ( ordinance ) is 1894 land law with higher rates of compensation and R&R package," said Mr Jairam Ramesh. If the rates of compensation are higher then why is it bad? Thank God, at least it is 1894 and not 1984. We don't want pigs to walk on 2 legs, do we?

Will 2015 really be happy for everyone?

While the rest of the world was engaged with the civil war in Ukraine, the Ebola epidemic in west Africa, the shocking abduction of 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, the extreme brutality of ISIS in Iraq, the sudden collapse in the price of oil and the unexplained disappearance of flight MH370 with 227 passengers in 2014, for us in India there was a political earthquake when the BJP achieved absolute majority in the Lok Sabha in the general elections on 16 May while the Congress got just 44. Apologists for the Congress blame corruption by its allies in government, the fall in the rate of growth because of the global economic shock in 2008, precipitated by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the unfortunate inflation and intolerant Hindutva for the defeat of the Congress but in doing so they are probably ensuring that the Congress gradually withers away as a party. True, Lehman Brothers took the whole world by surprise but the rest of the problems were created by the Congress itself. Corruption was casually brushed away as ' coalition dharma ', while ruthlessly beating up anyone protesting against it, inflation was a result of massive social schemes, which increased labor costs by putting a floor under rural wages, and Hindus were forced to unite due to the polarising effects of pseudo-secularism, which sought to portray all Hindus as aggressors while protecting so-called minorities. But the BJP could not have gained so many seats with only Hindu votes, especially as many Hindus are vehemently anti-BJP, which means that sections of every other community must have voted for the BJP as well. There are those who even today try to minimise the victory by saying that it is a minority government because the BJP received only 32% of the total votes cast choosing to forget that the Congress came to power by winning just 145 seats, with 26.5% of the votes cast, in 2004 and proceeded to wreak havoc for the next 10 years with the help of fringe parties. For the Congress to get back to power it has to realise that the people voted for its exact opposite. The Congress is a sycophantic party devoted to The Family while the leadership of the BJP passed from Vajpayee to Advani to Modi. For the Congress anyone from The Family is automatic choice for prime minister while Modi has no children and does not favor his own family. Finally, the secularism practised by the Congress is actively anti-Hindu as proved by its blockage of key legislation over reconversion while not explaining why it is fine to convert Hindus. We pray that 2015 is a year of sense when the selfie-stick and Kim Kardashian's booty are banished forever. A Happy New Year to everyone who reads this.

2014 ends as it began.

Perhaps it is a good thing that things do not change much for us in India. After the 10 years of plunder, misuse of taxpayer money and economic destruction by the Congress and its associates it is reassuring that India is getting no worse. In test cricket our valiant players lost to New Zealand by 40 runs in February, went on to lose the series against England by 3-1 and are battling to save the third test, having lost the first two against Australia. They are at 105 for 4 at tea, having been set 384 to win, with Virat Kohli out to a gentle loosener. It is as if having scored a century in the first innings, which secures his place in the team, there is no need to battle hard on the fifth day. As with our cricketers so with our politicians. Although the BJP has absolute majority in the Lok Sabha the opposition blocked legislation in the Rajya Sabha, not by reasoned debate as they were elected to do, but by rowdy behavior, just as the BJP had been doing for the last 4 years. And just like the Congress did the BJP has resorted to passing ordinances, which means that the government gets to do whatever it pleases without our objections or suggestions being heard. Since an ordinance has to be ratified by the parliament in the next session it does not breed confidence in investors. The government could call a joint sitting of both houses of the parliament where it would have the requisite majority to pass all bills but that might enrage the opposition even more and the resulting pandemonium would preclude all business. Just as the previous Finance Minister went on whining about high interest rates so is the present one. Just like the previous Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, the present incumbent, A Jaitley was a high-priced lawyer in his previous avatar, which means that he is equally adept at confusing black with white. High interest rates are not the cause. They are the result of double digit inflation and uncontrolled fiscal and current account deficits engineered by the Congress, led by a man who actually claimed to have an Economic Tripos ( whatever that means ) from Cambridge and a D Phil from Oxford. What these exalted gentlemen seem unable to grasp is that there will be no investment unless there is demand and there can be no demand if inflation and extortionate taxes are emptying our wallets. If the Retail Inflation was at 4.38% in November it does not mean that consumer goods are getting cheaper. It merely means that prices are not rising as fast as before because a Rs 10 rise of an article costing Rs 100 means a 10% rise but a Rs 10 rise of an article costing Rs 200 is a rise of 5%. This is known as the base effect and in absolute terms the consumer is having to spend equally higher. At least we are not hurtling downhill as with the Congress. A large peg to that.

It will take a long time.

The BJP government in Delhi is not going to be popular with civil servants or politicians. Civil servants have been asked to declare foreign bank accounts, cash, local bank accounts, as well as expensive furniture and art collections. However, this alone will not be enough. No one has accused our civil servants of being stupid, especially when it comes to filling their pockets. Even ordinary furniture may have hollow legs filled with gold biscuits and properties maybe registered in different names. Politicians may change with every election, which is why they are referred to as ' aya Ram, gaya Ram ', but civil servants are permanent which means that they are impossible to dislodge. All these years the CBI had to take permission to even investigate a senior civil servant but in May the Supreme Court struck down that provision. Even so it is almost impossible to catch one of these fellows because they know how the system operates and vital files have a habit of catching fire if the heat is getting too close. How badly the civil service is worm-infested was vividly illustrated when UP police filed First Information Reports against 5,000 people in the food distribution scam. The system works as a chain, with money going all the way up to the minister. If one officer is honest the chain is broken and he is punished by repeated transfers to obscure departments. When a new government comes in after an election it transfers all the officials of the old government. This is to bring in officials loyal to the elected party, who can advise on how to game the system, and to prevent information of illicit activities being conveyed to the previous regime who may use it to embarrass the incumbents. Major scams, involving trillions of rupees, would be impossible without the extensive knowledge and cooperation of bureaucrats. The present government also wants the details of Aadhar, which is a biometric card with personal details, to be included in every civil servant's file. Apparently this will help in keeping an eye on the efficiency of each individual civil servant. In fact, every civil servant must be paid his salary only to his Aadhar account. At one stroke this will eliminate all the ghost officials that plague state governments and, especially, municipalities. Ghost officials are those who draw salaries but do not exist. The money is withdrawn by someone masquerading as an employee and then divided among higher officers, union fellows and local politicians. To really rid the nation of corruption campaign finance has to be reformed, every political party must have to reveal detailed accounts of donations and not one person with criminal charges must be allowed to stand for election. There is a long way to go.

Do unto Americans as they do unto you?

In this season of goodwill we wonder whether the CIA is serving roast turkey, a selection of vegetables, mashed potatoes and pudding to the prisoners in its clutches. Are they being served food on plates, with cutlery to eat it with, or up the rectum, all pureed together. A US Senate report has cataloged a list of horrific torture inflicted on prisoners abducted from all over the world in a program of ' extraordinary renditions ' following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The most amazing thing is that 54 countries collaborated in the kidnap and torture of their own and citizens of other countries without bothering to ask if the men were at all guilty of any crime. A former CIA agent has revealed how he was ordered to torture prisoners after he objected. It is not surprising that John Brennan, Director of the CIA, has defended his agency but what is infuriating is former, Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that torture was " absolutely, totally justified ". He is the man responsible for the totally unjustified attack on Iraq which resulted in the death of up to 200,000 civilians and if anyone deserves to be fed rectally it is Cheney. If he has the slightest humanity left in him Cheney should reflect that the torture and beheading of innocent Americans by ISIS is a direct result of his own savagery. They are doing to the British and American hostages exactly what the CIA did to Muslim prisoners. Worst of all the Senate report shows how futile the torture was. Regardless of what Cheney may claim torture was not effective in revealing terrorist plots. The release of the report at this time may be related to the results of the midterm polls. With both houses of the Congress in Republican hands the report may have been buried for the next 2 years, when the presidential election comes round. With Jeb Bush as one of the possible candidates the Republicans may find it difficult to brazen it out if more Americans are tortured and beheaded. Of course, the US would never be able to commit such heinous crimes without the unconditional support of the British and the Australians. These 2 Anglo-Saxon nations instantly support the US no matter which political party is in power, as Tony Blair, of left wing Labour Party, showed by behaving as the poodle of George W Bush of the right wing Republican Party. The British government has spent nearly 400,000 pounds of taxpayer money in trying to silence a Libyan dissident who was handed over to Gaddafi's thugs. British hostages could face even tougher times in the future after it was revealed that the wife of one of the hostages, who was beheaded, was having an affair while tearfully requesting for his release. Do unto others, and so on, what?

Charity comes from an honest heart.

A World Giving Index 2014, devised by Charities Aid Foundation based in the UK, put India in the 69th position among 135 countries, when it comes to giving for charity. Which is surprising when the government forces companies to allocate 2% of earning for social schemes under the Companies Act 2013. This index measures charity only in monetary terms leaving out the value of time. Kailash Satyarthi received the Noble Peace Prize this year because of his work for preservation of childhood, and against child labor. Admittedly this is a political prize because it was shared equally between and Indian and a Pakistani, Malala Yousufzai but the fact that Satyarthi was chosen among 1.2 billion Indians makes it significant. Perhaps the reason why Indians do not want to donate to charities, despite getting tax relief on donations, is because they do not trust anyone. Politicians are seen as criminals with one third of the present MPs declaring serious crimes, such as murder, kidnap and rape, registered against them. The rest are seen as beggars whose sole purpose in getting elected is to occupy luxury bungalows, show off false status by getting Z+ security and beg for various perks, such as free tickets for ' companions ', a generic term which could include voluptuous pulchritude. Giving money to NGOs is also not safe because India has 200,000 of these, one for every 600 people. Since they do not reveal their detailed accounts no one knows how they spend the money they raise. You will see many politicians running NGOs and educational institutions, masquerading as charitable institutions when they are siphoning money into their own pockets. There are stories about charities fooling people by raising money on false promises. Once you have handed in your money you have no control on how it is spent, rather like the taxes we pay. And therein lies the problem. But surely rich people can control the way they spend on charities? Indeed they do as Azim Premji and Narayan Murthy have shown. These men entrepreneurs who became rich through their own ideas but most businesses in India are owned by families. Since independence India has been ruled by the Congress or its surrogates, except for 6 years of BJP government from 1998 to 2004, and pursued a most pernicious form of crony capitalism which meant that only friends and families were given licenses to run businesses. These are bandits and bandits do not engage in charity. Secondly, to run any business requires hefty bribes to be paid to politicians and civil servants, leaving little for profits, let alone charity. Altruism comes from the heart but needs a clean mind. 

India proves Darwin's theory.

Seems that more Indians are being forced into debt and levels have risen 7 fold in the 10 years between 2002 and 2012. In urban areas 22% of families were in debt and the average amount was Rs 3,78,238 while in rural areas 31% of families had average debts of Rs 1,03,457. The difference in the value of assets owned by the rich and the poor was stark. In urban areas the richest 10% owned assets worth Rs 146 million while the poorest had assets worth just Rs 291. Since consumer goods, such as mobile phones and televisions, and jewellery were not counted as assets the difference is between those who own real estate and those who do not. Thus, 47% of the value of assets was from land and 45% was from buildings. In rural areas the rich were worth Rs 57 million, 73% coming from land and 21% from buildings, while the poor owned assets worth Rs 2,507. Interestingly, 40% of loans in rural areas were for business purposes. That maybe because the government forces public sector banks to lend at low interest rates and farmers expect their loans to be forgiven, come election time. Rural folk are also allowed to enjoy themselves by using Kisan Credit Cards which could add Rs 2 trillion of bad loans for the banks. The mystery is that with so much money being doled out in rural areas  farmers are still committing suicide. Why are they having to borrow from moneylenders when banks are willing to lend without collateral and the NREGA scheme acts as an unemployment benefit in rural areas? Is it because crops are failing because money for irrigation is being stolen or because, as land has been divided onto smaller bits among succeeding generation of children, each family holding has become too small to provide sufficient income. In urban areas, on the other hand, 82% of debt was used to finance housing, education, marriages and so on. It is not surprising because the Congress engineered an inflation induced explosion in property prices and school fees soared by 433% as the Congress forced private fee paying schools to reserve 25% of seats for children from poorer sections, without adequate compensation. Corruption boomed under the Congress  to pay for which taxes were increased to extortionate levels. As taxes are levied on prices, the higher the price the more the taxes. Hence, the Congress ended by taxing inflation which only added fuel to the fire. A recent committee has suggested that indirect taxes at an eye-watering 27% would be ' revenue neutral ' under the GST act. As people became poorer they were unable to spend and had to take loans to maintain their standard of living. Survival of the fittest. As Darwin predicted.

You have to die to enter paradise.

A Dutchman, who has lived in Delhi for the last one year was wonderstruck on returning to the Netherlands for Christmas. He found paradise. " In the Netherlands, it struck me how utterly complete the project of nation-building is. In my view, the country is more or less finished. The roads are perfect, it is safe and clean, healthcare is superb, the cities are pleasant, gross domestic product-per-capita is among the highest in the world, we rank high in global happiness surveys, the legal system is impartial, we have an open economy and a strong liberal democracy, and the list goes on," he writes. This surely is paradise right here on earth. But, strange as it may seem, even here there are doubts. " And that is: what's next? What do you do as a nation when material aspects of your wellbeing are in place. My sense is that the Dutch are a bit clueless," he thinks. How true. Because there is nothing, indeed there can be nothing after paradise. It is alright for the dead because they have the whole universe to explore for eternity but for the living, restricted inside a destructible body and stuck to mother earth by gravity, it is difficult to be perpetually happy, with no challenges to overcome. And when you have paradise you will have barbarians at the gates clamoring to be let in to share in the bliss. To keep out the hungry hoards you must pull up your drawbridge and drop down the portcullis but that is impossible for a member of the Schengen area within the European Union which allows free movement of people without any restriction. Hence, Mr Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party has a pact with Ms Marine Le Pen of Front National of France to bring about a disintegration of the EU. They may have a point, as the murder of Theo Van Gogh in 2004 so clearly showed. Dutch passengers died needlessly in the shooting of flight MH17, in a war between other nations while Dutch UN peacekeepers were responsible for not preventing the murder of 300 Bosnians in 1995. But will a break up of the EU into nation states allow the Dutch to preserve their paradise in splendid isolation, secluded from the rest of the world behind high fences? And therein lies the problem. The wealth of the Netherlands comes from trade which will surely suffer if every country erected its own barriers, with import taxes and control their currencies through interest rates, as Switzerland did recently. So how to preserve paradise from outsiders? Perhaps it should be left to the Americans who are not hesitant about taking direct action. It takes a lot of killing to preserve a paradise. A sad fact of life.