Addu, Chiddu and Manu - Bankrupt all …

"I have told the PM several times that it would be so nice that like in foreign countries (US presidential debate), we should also have a debate. Instead of a BJP public meeting, the Election Commission could organise a meeting (for the debate)," Party's prime ministerial candidate Advani told an election rally. (via Now, Advani asks Sonia Gandhi for a debate- Hindustan Times).

All good ideas are foreign ideas ...

Advani is enamored with the idea of having debates - "like in foreign countries." I mean how much more juvenile can Advani get? And the Congress reaction - no better! "In parliamentary democracy such debates do not take place. It is only in the Presidential system..." a very superior sounding Congress Party spokesman Anand Sharma informed reporters in New Delhi.

Same logic, same ideological bankruptcy!

Just because the US has live debates, does it make the idea more attractive, Mr.Advani? If the UK does not have debates, does it disqualify the idea, Sir Anand Sharma?

The big moneybags call the shots

In both the Congress and the BJP. So, any belief that either one is any different, is all wrong. They are more or less - of the same bankrupt ideas and agenda.

Shallow thinking

Both have the same limitation in the thinking - set by external agenda and vocabulary. The difference is language. Congress swears by India (a Roman name of Bharata-ah) and BJP swears by Hindustan and Hindutva (a Levantine name for Bharata-ah). Both miss out on the Bharati nature of people.

No talk of Third currency

Neither (the Congress or the BJP) has the imagination or the strategic depth to think out of the Western box. They are all trying out the same tired Western cliches of IMF and World Bank reform - which is going nowhere. It is the IMF and World Bank which keep the Third World poor and backward.

And maybe I will vote for Mayawati ...

India's Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Star PM aspirant ...

Sometime back Chiddu came back saying that he wanted to end 5000 years of poverty! Supposedly India’s star finance minister, and a Government headed by an ex-RBI governor, says this! As though that was not enough, he now says, "

“Unless the developed world puts together a well-regulated financial system and revives its financial institutions, the shadow of failure of the western world’s financial system will fall upon all developing countries,” Chidambaram said.

Why will the developed world do anything that will benefit India! It is not their duty, their job - and they are not even capable.

It is your job, Addu, Manu and Chiddu! Get up and get going!

Sad.

Paper gold: Nice idea, but…

Having a central currency – let’s call it the Zhou-Triffin Doubloon (ZTD) – managed by a supra-national organisation would make it more difficult for any one country to get into too much debt to another. If the supply of ZTD in issue were controlled properly – say by expanding it in line with global GDP – it would serve as a steady store of value, with little risk of devaluation.

Moreover, a credible ZTD would have many of the advantages of the now-defunct gold standard. It would be strictly limited in supply and readily acceptable everywhere. Indeed, it would be even better than the yellow metal, which is after all too cumbersome for a modern economy and too scarce to serve as a measure for international trade. (via Paper gold: Nice idea, but...).

What would this mean ...

That a citizen's nightmare like the IMF and World Bank, answerable to non-one, or at least less answerable than any 'elected' Government, would rule the world currency system.

This would also mean practically immediate nationalization of gold in most countries - and restrictions on private ownership of gold.

This will also finally end with mind numbing WTO type negotiations. The West will find newer and more devious ways tyo gain advanatage; like the recent IPR related seizures of pharma products shows.

Concentration Of Power

Today the most popular methods are the Fortune 500 listing and the Forbes listing. These listings finally demonstrate that half the world’s economic output is controlled by 50 people from 500 companies - about 25,000 individuals. Add another 25,000 politicians and bureaucrats. We have about 50,000 people managing the lives of 5 billion people.

Everyone is saying …

There is rising chorus that President Obama should do what Roosevelt did. Krugman, this year’s Nobel prize winners, also said in an interview that Roosevelt’s actions need to be emulated. And what is it that Roosevelt did ...?

Roosevelt nationalized gold.

Apart from a lot of things that Roosevelt did, which can be debatable, this was the one thing that he did, that made the US into a super power - for a short while (of 70 years).

And the nationalization of gold also impoverished the Americans. Nationalization of gold enabled the US Governments to enter costly wars like WW2, Vietnam War, and now the Iraq and Afghan Wars. This allowed to US to walk into the WW2 with 25,000 tons of gold - and impose Bretton Woods on the world.

Gold production (from Ghana, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Papua New Guinea, America, etc.,) was controlled by the Anglo Saxon Bloc - and the world’s largest private reserves of gold, of India was controlled by the British. It is this choke on gold reserves that enabled the sustenance of US as a superpower.

And now they are trying it again.

Many Think ... That There Are Many More Qualified …

Paul Krugman has been (allegedly) anti-Obama - and advising Obama to pay heed to Roosevelt’s policies. Was Krugman’s Nobel Prize award to help him to increase his ‘opinion making’ powers? Was the Nobel prize fixed to meet American /Western short term requirements? Was the Nobel prize given to the Paul Krugman to make his position strong - as a part of the Obama Dream Team - or as ballast against an ‘adventurous’ Obama who may not toe the line?

Will Krugman join Warren Buffet in rescuing the Western economic system? Will they nationalize gold again - and instead promote silver? Is a new version of the bi-metallic standard coming?

Post dated cheque on a falling bank ...

Gandhiji advised Sir Stafford Cripps to the next plane back and his offer as as "post dated cheque on a falling bank." - which he later denied as having said it at all, though in agreement with the thought. And that is equally true of the US in particular and the West in general.

And one single global currency, is such a bad idea.

Church goes on damage control

The powerful Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) headquartered in New Delhi and the Archbishop's house in Mumbai are both going ahead with clarifications on the issue.

Cardinal Vithayathil's controversial remarks came at a ceremony recently to mark the publication of his biography, Straight from the Heart, in Kochi. Catholic circles point out that the timing of the news reports, during the Lok Sabha elections, has led to concern among the clergy. Cardinal Vithayathil is president of CBCI. (via Church goes on damage control - India - The Times of India).

The Vatican is a Nation

An Indian Cardinal is well within his rights, as an individual, to advice his followers, on political matters . But the representative body of the foreign country, the Vatican, which administers, the Catholic religion in India, cannot interfere in political matters. How welcome would be political fatwas from the association of holy mosques of Middle East be in Europe, Your Holiness?

The Indian Government allows a foreign Government, like the Vatican, to interfere in the political matters of India? What gives the religious representative of the Holy See, the right to advice Indian Christians, on political matters? Would the Indian Government accept if the Association of Ayatollahs, Muftis and Imams were to issue political fatwas to Indian Muslims …! Would the EU accept Association of Ayatollahs, Muftis and Imams giving political advice to 10 million Muslims in Europe? His Holiness would see crimson …

It is this interference in religious practices of Indians that makes the missionaries suspect, in Indian eyes. Now it is political advice also. What further aggravates the Indian is the apparent disinterest by the Indian Government in such meddling by foreign authorities in the lives of Indians! And then to listen to them teaching us about religious tolerance …?

How can any foreign organization, interfere in temporal matters of India.

In India, we must clearly eliminate all ‘foreign authority’ - which is implicit with religious freedom. The same Pope will of course not allow such a freedom to any foreign religious authority, in any Catholic country - to believers in any other religion. You have only to look at Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the last decade.

The saga continues

And what is the Indian Government doing? Siesta Manubhai …

Toxic toads targeted in Australia's 'Toad Day Out'

On Saturday, residents of five communities in cane toad-plagued northern Queensland state will grab their flashlights and fan out into the night to hunt down the hated animals as part of the inaugural "Toad Day Out" celebration. The toads will be brought to collection points the next morning to be weighed and killed, with some of the remains ground into fertilizer for sugarcane farmers at a local waste management plant. (via Toxic toads targeted in Australia's 'Toad Day Out').

Why ...

The same article points out, that these cane toads are no threat to human life - unless, "their poison is swallowed." There is no data on how many human being lost their lives due to these these cane toads.

The role of SPCA was interesting!

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has applauded the effort — with one caveat.

"We're only supportive of the plan if the toads are killed humanely — in other words, they're not hit with baseball bats or cricket bats and golf clubs," said spokesman Michael Beatty.

Another report observed

Hundreds of participants in five communities across northern Queensland snacked on sausages, sipped cold drinks and picked up prizes as the portly pests were weighed, measured and killed in the state's inaugural "Toad Day Out" celebration.

Environment, wildlife and the world ...

In America, the bison in the wild has been wiped out. The South American caiman was nearly wiped out. Cougar, or otherwise called the Jaguar, is a rarity. There are no other big cats in the Americas. By the time of Julius Caesar, lions, tigers and elephants had become extinct in Rome, Greece, France.

The two popular theories trotted out by Western theoreticians is that all these were extinction-prone species or loss of habitat to human beings. India disproves both these theories. Especially, once you take Indian population density into account. India becomes a unique country with in terms of wildlife conservation.

Rest of the world

One Western ‘artist’, Damien Hirst, makes art from killing butterflies, cows - and other such animals. What kind of art is this?

Two Czech scientists were arrested in Darjeeling recently - accused by the Indian authorities, of smuggling butterflies. The Czechs claim they were scientists. Indian authorities claim that the hundreds of samples that they were collecting are part of an illegal trade ring.

The role of traditional Chinese Medicine in extinction of wildlife is well known. The Chinese think that civet cats have to be eaten (till they are available), tigers flesh and bones can cure them of impotency (and what will they do after tigers are extinct?). Of course, Rhino horn and the bile juice of wild bears are essential! What will the Chinese do after these animals become extinct in the next few decades? Japanese resistance to a ban on whaling is symptomatic of a similar insensitivity to other forms of life.

Wildlife in India

India is the only place in the world which can still boast of the Big 5 - Elephants, Rhino, Bison Tiger and Leopard - except Africa! And India has tigers, which Africa does not have.

India has the largest wild tiger population in the world. And it is not an accident. In 1973, a poor and hungry India, went ahead and launched Project Tiger. In 2004, there were 6000 tigers left in the world - and 3000 were in India. Poaching, driven by Chinese demand for tiger parts, used in Chinese medicine, is reducing tiger population India.

Elephants once roamed across China, the Mediterranean, the whole of West Asia and Africa. By 850 BC, West Asian elephants were extinct. By 300 BC, elephants in China had become rare. Again, outside, Africa, India has the largest Rhino population in the world. The biggest threat to rhinos in India is the use of rhino horn in Chinese concoctions to cure impotence and increase libido. Outside Africa, India has the largest leopard population of 14,000. The world population of leopards is estimated at 100,000. India has 80% of the Asian leopard population.

Conservation in India

In October 1998, nearly eight Indian film stars were accused of poaching. This entire prosecution incident was initiated by the Bishnoi community. The Bishnois have a long tradition of conservation activity. The Bishnois were at the forefront similarly in the prosecution of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, accused of poaching.

More than 50% of grain production in the US is fed to animals, which are in turn slaughtered and eaten. This grain production comes at an effectively, after significant usage of fertilisers, pesticides, fuel, industrial processing, irrigation, etc. The carbon overload would decrease if meat consumption in the US (and similar cultures) were to reduce - like in India.

Hank Paulson Fraud III - Washington Mutual sues the FDIC for over US$13 billion - The China Post

In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the thrift's former parent accused the FDIC of having on January 23 made a “cryptic disallowance” of its claims, prompting the lawsuit.

It also accused the FDIC of agreeing to an unreasonably low price in arranging the a US$1.9 billion sale of the banking business to JPMorgan on September 25, when regulators seized Washington Mutual and appointed the FDIC as receiver.

JPMorgan did not buy the parent holding company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the following day.

In its complaint, Washington Mutual seeks to recover as much as US$6.5 billion of capital contributions it said it made to its banking unit from December 2007 through the seizure. (via Washington Mutual sues the FDIC for over US$13 billion - The China Post).

Fraud .. when people are in pain ...

This is very similar to Joseph Kennedy’s shorting the market before The Great Depression. It has always been a wonder to me how could Joseph Kennedy, a bootlegger and a friend of the mafiosi could become SEC Chairman? And after that did happen, would a Great Depression not follow?

First, the world was hit by Big Oil and as though that was not enough, came the Big Banks!

Hank Paulson Should be investigated

It was always 2ndlook’s suspicion that Hank Paulson’s behaviour in the Lehman collapse is similar to Bootlegger Kennedy’s behaviour. And this now coming out all in the open!! JPMorgan was blamed for Lehman collapse. This was reported widely including in The Times of India.

US bank JPMorgan Chase stands accused of precipitating the collapse of American investment bank Lehman Brothers by freezing Lehman assets days before it filed for bankruptcy protection, the Sunday Times reported.

After 60 Days

While deciding on Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, WaMu, was Paulson looking at his future - 60 days later, when he would need a new job!

Was the collapse of Lehman a deal for a job with Goldman - or was it JP Chase?

Naked short sales hint fraud in bringing down Lehman

The biggest bankruptcy in history might have been avoided if Wall Street had been prevented from practicing one of its darkest arts.

As Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc struggled to survive last year, as many as 32.8 million shares in the company were sold and not delivered to buyers on time as of September 11, according to data compiled by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bloomberg. That was a more than 57-fold increase over the prior year’s peak of 567,518 failed trades on July 30.

The SEC has linked such so-called fails-to-deliver to naked short selling, a strategy that can be used to manipulate markets. A fail-to-deliver is a trade that doesn’t settle within three days.

“We had another word for this in Brooklyn,” said Harvey Pitt, a former SEC chairman. “The word was ‘fraud.’” (via Naked short sales hint fraud in bringing down Lehman).

This is very similar to Joseph Kennedy's shorting the market before The Great Depression. It has always been a wonder to me how could Joseph Kennedy, a bootlegger and a friend of the mafiosi could become SEC Chairman? And after that did happen, would a Great Depression not follow?

It was always 2ndlook's suspicion that Hank Paulson's behaviour in the Lehman collapse is similar to Bootlegger Kennedy's behaviour. And this now coming out all in the open!!

U.N says world should ditch dollar - International Business Times

Multiple currency options

Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters Funds Summit in Luxembourg that the proposal was to create something like the old Ecu, or European currency unit, that was a hard-traded, weighted basket.

Persaud, chairman of consultants Intelligence Capital and a former currency chief at JPMorgan, said the recommendation would be one of a number delivered to the United Nations on March 25 by the U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform.

"It is a good moment to move to a shared reserve currency," he said. (via U.N says world should ditch dollar - International Business Times).

What Has Been India Upto?

While the US has been resisting calls for action, busy doing post-mortem, Asia and Europe have been moving. Interestingly, Manmohan Singh has done some huge work in a crucial 60 days - the nuclear deal with the USA and NSG, the IBSA Summit, the ASEAN free trade agreement and his three Asian nation visits. India’s Trade and Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, has been talking about a multi-lateral set up. The UN was made to issue a statement on this. Am I reading too much into this? At times, India has seemed clueless.

Avinash Persaud, ex-JP Morgan, at the UN panel of specialists was a master stroke. Mainline media has ignored this development.The 2ndlook proposal, on November 8th, 2008, for the Third Global Reserve Currency, named BRIX, based on first appearances, has a superstrate layer over the UN panel's proposal.

Though, I do wonder what the ex-IMF expert is doing? Will India take a leadership role?

Bush-doctoring?

What is the G20 upto

All G20 members were 'invited' to join another Western Club - the FSF. The Financial Stability Forum, another club, with the same G7 members. Just why does India join these rubber stamp bodies - and lend sanctity to the exploitative agenda of the sponsors. Does the world need another body, with the same Central Bank members, addressing the same monetary issues problems, with the same agenda?

At the sunset city of London, venue of the next G20 conference, Working Group 1, set up to suggest ways to enhance sound regulation and strengthen transparency, with a brief to

"monitor implementation of actions already identified ... make further recommendations to strengthen international standards in the areas of accounting and disclosure, prudential oversight and risk management ... develop policy recommendations to dampen cyclical forces in the financial system and to address issues around the scope and consistency of regulatory regimes.

Co-chaired by Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Tiff Macklem, Associate Deputy Minister, Canadian Ministry of Finance have readied their initial report - on predictable lines - as per the expected time lines.

Wishful thinking breaks against a brick wall of reality

Sooner rather than later, brothers!

Consistent with 2ndlook's opinion, the Chinese and Russians have been found wanting. Niether have they the respect of the G7, which they so cravenly desire and dont get - and dont value the support and standing that they have in the Third World. Russia has a fond belief that they can float a new currency bloc - with the help of China.

The Russian industrial and corporate systems are on the verge of bankrupty. Russian industry with huge debts payable to Western banks in the next 12 months, have been unable to obtain refinancing of these debts. Russian foreign exchange reserves are down from nearly US$400 billion to US$275 billion.

The Chinese have been reduced to praying for a G20 success - so that their super-prime customer the US starts buying again. Never mind if the US does not pay their purchases. Russia has been threatening to launch a new Third Currency in collaboration with China. In the meantimes, ASEAN has created a emergency fund - like an Asian IMF.

Best of luck, Brother Putin & Tao.

Does this crisis affect the poor at all?

The most dangerous of them all ...

One supra-national currency. That seems like one bad dream. One global currency seems like the ultimate conspiracy theorist. Some 5000-10,000 people will control our lives. Of course, such ideas are injected into the discourse from countries like Russia.

Indian economic model - apprenticeship vs jobs

The All India average of wages, salaries and pensions for Sate Governments is 32.8% of revenues. Gujarat at 16% is at half the national average. In fact the only state to come close to Gujarat is Sikkim which is at 21.2%.

Now this interesting.

Getting employees in Gujarat is difficult. The average Gujarathi is more interested in self employment - rather than a job. Lifelong employment as an economic model was a colonial introduction.

Now that is a good economic model for rest of India to follow. Traditional jobs in India were more in the nature of apprenticeships rather than the Western concepts of jobs and employment. The Indian apprenticeship model ensured high levels of initiative and innovation - and a disincentive towards slavery. It also made India into a sustainable and low cost economy.

Appears that Gujarat is the only state which now follows this model.

Voting your caste

As Bal Thackeray once said, Indians don't just cast their vote.

As Indians prepare not to cast their vote but “vote their caste”, as Bal Thackeray once said, our sadhus and sanyasis, mahants and maulvis, pundits and preachers must be rubbing their hands in glee.

Folk faith was common in the West too until the Age of Enlightenment and then the new economic order introduced by the Industrial Revolution led to mass education and material advance. That precursor of mental development encouraged the masses to aspire to elitist heights of thought and culture. In contrast, our elite is sinking to the level of the masses. India may lead the world in Information Technology and be able to send a man to the Moon, but the influence that the successors of Dhirendra Brahmachari and Chandra Swamy are increasingly gaining suggests that the intellectual revolution that is the essential key to modernity has passed us by. (via Sunanda K Datta-Ray: Voting your caste).

Advanced West vs ignorant Indians

Now the US votes on the basis of gender (more women voters do vote for democrats), color (more Hispanics and African Americans generally vote Democrats), age (younger voters are traditionally democrats in larger numbers), religion (only one Catholic has become a US President), race (only WASP - White Anglo Saxon Protestants allowed real power).

Now Sunanda Datta K. Ray is a bad case of vacillation - sometimes pathos and sometimes bathos. Some of his columns (Have you eaten?) is memorable for its breadth - and then you see this kind of ignorance.

In US societal divisions are called demographics and is a matter of high academic interest.(click on this link to see an interesting device to gauge demographic effects in US elections). In India, the West uses a pejorative called the caste system. The US system has ensured that the US voter gets more (Republican) or less (Democrats) of the same swill. What choice does the US voter have? The Indian voter has created a choice for himself by voting for a wide range of issues, agendas and parties.

But then the Indian voter is unlettered, ‘uneducated’ and does not speak English - and Sunanda K. Datta Ray is possibly vernacularly challenged!!

---

Change in Voting-Age Population (VAP), 2000-2007: Selected Battleground States in 2008

State	Total VAP increase	Hispanic VAP increase	Share of Total VAP Increase
			Selected racial/ethnic groups	Metropolitan areas
Traditionally Republican States
Colorado	15%	32%	Hispanics: 32%	47% in Denver
North Carolina	12%	53%	African Americans: 23% Hispanics: 18%	29% in Raleigh-Durham 25% in Charlotte
Virginia	10%	51%	Hispanics: 21% African Americans: 21% Asian Americans: 15%	47% in Northern Virginia (including exurbs)
Traditionally Democratic States
Pennsylvania	3%	44%	Hispanics: 38% African Americans: 24% Asian Americans: 20%	40% in Philadelphia suburbs
Swing States
Florida	15%	40%	Hispanics: 42% African Americans: 19%	19% in Miami-Fort Lauderdale 16% in Orlando 14% in Tampa-St. Petersburg
Missouri	7%	48%	African Americans: 15% Hispanics: 13%	35% in St. Louis 20% in Kansas City 15% in Springfield
Ohio	3%	34%	African Americans: 26% Hispanics: 18% Asian Americans: 14%	43% in Columbus 34% in Cincinnati

Note: Data for African Americans and Asian Americans are for non-Hispanic members
of these groups who did not identify with another racial group

Sources: Population Reference Bureau, analysis of data from U.S. Census Bureau,
"Annual State Population Estimates with Sex, 6 Race Groups (5 Race Alone Groups
and One Group with Two or more Race Groups) and Hispanic Origin: April 1, 2000
to July 1, 2007," accessed online at www.census.gov/popest/datasets.html on
May 31, 2008; and "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Selected Age Groups
and Sex for Counties: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2007,"
accessed online at www.census.gov/popest/counties/asrh/CC-EST2007-agesex.html,
on Aug. 31, 2008.

---

Unwholesome regulations on food

Experts are, therefore, advising caution on importing US regulations wholesale. American systems warrant a closer look not merely because the FDA is set to open an open office in this country but because an agricultural partnership launched during the Bush regime is seeking to replicate American policies here through different forums. One such is the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture (KIA), which has just completed its first three-year phase. Kavitha Kuruganti, convener of the Coalition for a GM-Free India, finds that the KIA is focused not so much on technology transfer as on changes in India’s regulatory regime ... With US multinationals such as Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland Co on the KIA board, it is only to be expected that the companies will “drive as many changes as possible to suit their business interests”, she claims.

There is a strong body of opinion which says the KIA should be put under parliamentary scrutiny so that a proper assessment can be made of its contribution to Indian agriculture, specially to the small farmer. But this is an issue that could easily turn into an ideological debate and deflect attention from the key concerns on regulation.

One worrying issue is whether revolving doors are opening up here, too. Making a presentation at a recent Delhi briefing of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) along with its founder Clive James, was C D Mayee, one of India’s top agriculture scientists. Mayee is a director of the ISAAA, which describes itself as a not-for-profit organisation that “delivers the benefits of agricultural biotechnology to resource-poor farmers in developing countries.” However, among the 21 donors to ISAAA are a clutch of biotech seed companies which are seeking to expand their markets. These include Monsanto and Indian companies which come to the GEAC for approvals. Mayee is also co-chair of the regulatory body. Not a few believe there is a patent conflict of interest here. (via Latha Jishnu: Unwholesome regulations on food).

Red flag

Latha Jishnu makes some very valid points - and flags issues that should concern all of us. A number of these issues will fly low, below the radar - and a combination of an outdated bureaucracy plus Big Business lobbying will see most of the agenda finally seeing the light of day!

Media, commentators, academia, analysts are busy with political parties and personalities. The shaping of the national agenda, is ignored - and left to chance and random outcomes.

Baroda's pearl carpet may go for well over $5m-India-The Times of India

Embellished with an estimated two million natural seed pearls as well as diamonds, the carpet sure has the razzle dazzle to attract buyers. Crafted in 1865, the Pearl Carpet has a tumultuous story behind it. In the early 1860s, Maharaja Khande Rao of Baroda, considered one of the most notable jewellery collectors of the 19th century, had a desire to offer a priceless Pearl Carpet at the shrine of the Prophet in Medina. He wanted it to be just like the Pearl Carpet over Mumtaz Mahal's tomb in Taj Mahal. (via Baroda's pearl carpet may go for well over $5m-India-The Times of India).

Is this true ...

Why would a Hindu ruler spend gad zillions on a carpet for Muslim shrine? Remember, natural pearls from Basra were more or as expensive than diamonds. Cultured pearls that we get today are 'grown' in artificial oyster farms. Back in 1860, what was pearls were salt water pearls that divers recovered from ocean beds - off the Basra coast, in modern day Iraq.

Of course, presumably, this history comes to us from colonial historians, where Hindu orthodoxy is being blamed for this carpet not reaching Medina. But, was it actually the British which discouraged this carpet from going further? After all, they were pursuing their agenda of divide et impera.

In India, the Times of India says that this carpet never reached Medina because Khande Rao's courtiers opposed the idea." But the Qatar Tribune tells us that "the intended gift was clearly never delivered as the Maharaja died before he made the donation and the carpet remained in his family", the press release by the Doha-Sotheby's said.

Dharma vs religion

Historically, India had no religions. Religions are a construct of the Middle East - and given birth to the 3 major religions of the world. Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In India, the belief structure centres around Dharma - धर्म.

The difference between dharma and religion? Major!

For one, religion is about worship - and there are many others differences. Method of worship (how you worship), object of worship (what you worship), frequency of worship (e.g. every Sabbath; five times a day), language of worship (what you say, in which language), etc.

The cornerstones of modern religions from the Desert Bloc are One God, One Book, One Holy Day, One Prophet (Messiah), One Race, One People, One Country, One Authority, One Law, One Currency, One Set of Festival - the root of most problems in the world. From this Oneness, we get the One Currency, One Language logic - a fallacious syllogism. Once you accept One, you will accept all others.

Indian worship practices are infinite. Even non-worship to is acceptable - for instance, the Charvaka school of Indian philosophy was atheistic and did not prescribe worship. Structure and deviation from worship practices are a non-issue in Indian dharmic structure. Dharma has no equivalent in the ‘Desert Bloc’ vocabulary of religions. Dharma is the path of righteousness, defined by a matrix of the contextual, existential, moral, pragmatic, professional, position, etc. Dharma is more than moral and ethics.

The really big difference is the holy books - Judaism, Christianity and Islam have one Holy Book each. No deviations. Indian dharma tradition has thousands which are more than 1000 years old - at last count.

Emperor's New Clothes

However, in my opinion there are four systemic issues involved behind this crisis. (i) The entire financial risk analysis was mainly based on an unrealistic assumption that property prices will not fall drastically, rather it would continue to rise. (ii) Too much greed and unrealistic expectations of higher return from mortgage-based loan. (via Managing global financial crisis- Comments & Analysis-Opinion-The Economic Times).

Running and hiding ...

Is it a wonder that the world is rowing through a financial crisis. The author of the above post, from India's premier business newspaper, Economic Times, Subhasish Roy, is deputy general manager, Risk, IDBI Bank. Here is someone who knows clearly what has happened - but is unwilling to point out the truth.

For the truth shall set you free ...

The current crisis happened for one simple reason - the US printed too much money, during Alan Greenspan's tenure - and later Ben Bernanke started hiding these figures. That is all.

The US is bankrupt. Effete, decadent and declining. Finito. Completo. Terminato. Endlich. Eindig. ändlig.

The Emperor has no clothes at all.

US taxpayer moans ... while the Asian worker groans under the weight of US consumer debt!

There is another aspect of the deep dive that most Asian economies took in the last quarter of 2008 that is interesting. Over the years there has evolved an arrangement: Japan exports machinery and high-tech stuff to China; S-E Asia ships intermediates to China. All of this is then used to make goods for sale in the US. At each stage there is some value added and the final product on sale in a US department store is the sum of all of the value added.

However, the total of the transactions — the imports from S-E Asia and Japan into China and its exports — is much more. So when demand sank in the US, the impact on the supply chain was much larger. The freezing of the inter-bank market and the disappearance of trade credit following Lehman’s demise put each of these elements into jeopardy. The sum total of the damage was much larger than the slippage in the final aggregate demand emanating from the US consumer. (via Poisonous fallout of Q3 dislocation- Opinion-The Economic Times).

Suggestive statistics is like a bikini ...

This is interesting. It makes a mockery of ASEAN claims that,

“East Asia already trades 55% of its output within the region. India’s trade with China, Japan and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is increasing. That is the structural shift which will have to happen.”

What we have now is a funny situation

The customer is a nation (USA) with outstanding debts, equaling 300% of its GNP. It's banking systems is in shambles. It insurance industry needs protection. Its mortgage institutions are bankrupt. Its manufacturing is uncompetitive. It also happens to be the world's largest economy.

On the supplier side are China and the 'Asian Tigers.' Till recently, home to some of the poorest people on earth - and colonial subjects, battered by continuous propaganda. Collectively, the US owes them, US$2.5 trillion.

US pay its debt ... Smell the coffee ...

The only way that the US will repay this debt is by devaluing the dollar - either openly and transparently, or by covert means.

One way or the other, this is a debt that will not get paid. While the US tax payer moans, how Wall Street has ripped the US, fact is, it is the poor Asian who is footing the bill of the US consumer spending.

The way out ...

China, ASEAN, Japan must wean themselves away from dollar denominated trade, reserves, and transactions. Replacing it with the Euro will obviously, not make a difference. That will benefit the effete Europeans - instead of the US. A new global reserve currency, a third currency option is the way out. The London summit is an eye wash.

Or is it a brains wash!!

Alan Greenspan Says the Federal Reserve Didn't Cause the Housing Bubble - WSJ.com

As I noted on this page in December 2007, the presumptive cause of the world-wide decline in long-term rates was the tectonic shift in the early 1990s by much of the developing world from heavy emphasis on central planning to increasingly dynamic, export-led market competition. The result was a surge in growth in China and a large number of other emerging market economies that led to an excess of global intended savings relative to intended capital investment. That ex ante excess of savings propelled global long-term interest rates progressively lower between early 2000 and 2005. (via Alan Greenspan Says the Federal Reserve Didn't Cause the Housing Bubble - WSJ.com).

I can see the Nobel prize slipping away ...

Poor Al! He can see it slipping away from him. What cane he do? Blaming the Asians is good start point. He is not below using Ben Bernanke's rubbish to save his sagging hide.

What does this mean

An Indian economist explained this rather well. Suman Bery, writing for a direction towards Toward a robust globalisation, explained,

In a famous speech exactly four years ago, Fed Chairman Bernanke represented the US as responding passively and benignly to the global “savings glut” which had developed following the East Asian crisis of 1997-98.

Even though most closely associated with Chairman Bernanke, this formulation is widely shared by respectable economists and commentators, such as Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, Professor Richard Portes of the London Business School and the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and Professor Max Corden of the University of Melbourne. The task of recycling these imbalances fell on the sophisticated financial systems of the advanced countries. In the event, for a variety of reasons, even they proved unequal to the burden placed upon them.

Thus Spake Ben Bernanke

Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C. November 21, 2002 (ellipsis mine)

U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press … that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. … …the Fed could find other ways of injecting money into the system–for example, by making low-interest-rate loans to banks or cooperating with the fiscal authorities … If we do fall into deflation, however, we can take comfort that the logic of the printing press example must assert itself, and sufficient injections of money will ultimately always reverse a deflation.

A terse anouncement by the Federal Reserve Board said,

“On March 23, 2006, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System will cease publication of the M3 monetary aggregate. The Board will also cease publishing the following components: large-denomination time deposits, repurchase agreements (RPs), and Eurodollars. The Board will continue to publish institutional money market mutual funds as a memorandum item in this release.

On November 10, 2006 Ben Bernanke justified,

“As I have already suggested, the rapid pace of financial innovation in the United States has been an important reason for the instability of the relationships between monetary aggregates and other macroeconomic variables.”

Ben Bernanke has given ample (and more) indications about what he will do. In fact, more than indications, he was brazen enough to say, what exactly he would do! How can the world blame him now?

The Asian ‘savings glut’ was the problem …

Ben Bernanke joins a long list of Western propagandists, who find ‘specious’ ways to blame others for Western problems. His most recent propaganda gem was to blame Asia for a ‘savings glut.’

a satisfying explanation of the recent upward climb of the U.S. current account deficit requires a global perspective that more fully takes into account events outside the United States. To be more specific, I will argue that over the past decade a combination of diverse forces has created a significant increase in the global supply of saving–a global saving glut–which helps to explain both the increase in the U.S. current account deficit and the relatively low level of long-term real interest rates in the world today.

After Ben Bernanke opened the flood gates of such logic with ‘helicopter drop of dollars’ and ‘printing press technology’, and now the ‘savings glut’ - others such ‘economists’ have rushed in to do another tom-tom dance around this logic.

What’s the word for a red neck economist?

A so called economist, weighed in with two bits, Dani Rodrik: Who killed Wall Street?

…the true culprits lie halfway around the world. High-saving Asian households and dollar-hoarding foreign central banks produced a global savings “glut,” which pushed real interest rates into negative territory, in turn stoking the US housing bubble while sending financiers on ever-riskier ventures with borrowed money. Macroeconomic policymakers could have gotten their act together and acted in time to unwind those large and unsustainable current-account imbalances. Then there would not have been so much liquidity sloshing around waiting for an accident to happen.

The Real Culprits …

Dani Rodrik does not mentioned Ben Bernanke even once. Bernanke’s printing press and helicopter’s are not mentioned even once. The evasion of Federal Reserve on M3 figures are not mentioned even once.

China which has funded the US to the extenet of US$2 trillion is not even mentioned once. Japan which has funded the US to the extent of US$1 trillion is ignored.

Alan Greenspan is mentioned once.

But Asians

countries whose reserves are getting wiped due to dollar depreciation - are instead mentioned as culprits.

Wow. This is a new level in brazen-ness. Keep it up Ben, Al - and not forget you, Dani boy.

Let us see .. what this means …

Lawrence Summers (correctly) described the current global financial system as a “balance of financial terror”. Lawrence Summers could not have been more clear than this. In a speech on March 23, 2004, at the Institute for International Economics, Lawrence Summers described the US strategy. Again on March 24, 2006, at the Reserve Bank of India lecture, he repeated his message.

In the last 5 years, more than US$10 trillion were printed and the world is awash with dollars. Where did this money go? How was this used?

“Lendings by US commercial banks in the period 2000 to 2004 soared by altogether USD 1,500bn to USD 6,750bn. In the European Monetary Union lending to the private sector by monetary financial institutions (MFI) climbed from roughly EUR 6,200bn end-1999 to not quite EUR 8,700bn at the end of last year.” - Allianz Report, Dresdner Bank.(Links mine)

The recipients of this largesse, mainly Western banks made (it was whispered) bad loans worth 300-400 billion dollars. Actual figures coming out now are about 20 times as much - much higher.

The loans story does not end there.

These loans were in turn sold and re-sold, then packaged and mortgaged, derived and contrived - finally ballooning into the ‘sub-prime’ crisis. Are these welfare payouts by another name? Who will pay for this “lending”? US Consumers are not repaying their housing loans.

Some one has to!

And that is the root of the problem. The West is trying to make Asians pay!! And people like Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan et al are paid hacks to create a logic by which the West will try and make the poor pay.

Nothing less!

Toward a robust globalisation

Manu and Chiddu are wasting time

In a famous speech exactly four years ago, Fed Chairman Bernanke represented the US as responding passively and benignly to the global “savings glut” which had developed following the East Asian crisis of 1997-98.

Even though most closely associated with Chairman Bernanke, this formulation is widely shared by respectable economists and commentators, such as Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, Professor Richard Portes of the London Business School and the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and Professor Max Corden of the University of Melbourne. The task of recycling these imbalances fell on the sophisticated financial systems of the advanced countries. In the event, for a variety of reasons, even they proved unequal to the burden placed upon them.

Not surprisingly, quite a different view is taken by the major current account surplus countries, notably China, but including Germany, Japan and, for a while, the major oil-exporting countries. Here, the finger is pointed squarely at the monetary policies followed by the US Federal Reserve

The G-20 is not the perfect vehicle for India to show leadership, but it is a start. India should grasp the opportunity being given to it and run with it. (via Suman Bery: Toward a robust globalisation).

Promising start.

The post laid out the position of the world economic structures and developments in the last few years, rather well - and the way Bretton Woods unravelled.

And then the last paragraph. Suman Bery suddenly, from nowhere comes out that India is being ‘given an opportunity’!

And makes out as though India(ns) should be grateful - and bless the benefactors. And, before they change their mind. Run with the bone that they have thrown at India!

Note the language …

This is the language of recipients, of pleading and impotence. Chidambaram says that ‘they’ will now “give greater representation and voice to developing countries” Manmohan Singh mirrors the sentiment when he says,”consultations were merely for the sake of form”.

The Developing World FTA

Instead of breaking heads with the WTO, the Developing World should declare a 100 country FTA. As Rajat Nag, of the ADB points out,

“East Asia already trades 55% of its output within the region. India’s trade with China, Japan and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is increasing. That is the structural shift which will have to happen. Our forecasts are not based on any dramatic shift”

Put the Doha round in deep freeze, and turbo charge work on a FTA within the developing world. That can add another 2%-4% to economic growth - especially to the poorest countries.

The Third Global Reserve Currency

To this add the Third Global Reserve Currency option - and junk the Dollar and the Euro. With this, the World economy will have two strong drivers for economic growth - without dependence on the West. The world needs to move away from the Dollar-Euro duopoly to tri-polar currency regime.

This calls for leadership - intellectual and political. Does the developing world have it? Can India provide it?