"A Forgotten Revolutionary" - that is the title of a homage to Narasimha Rao penned by Arvind Panagariya of the USSA's Columbia University, in the Times of India.
But did that revolution work?
Or have we lapsed back into socialism, welfarism, and an ever-expanding State?
And, if so, why?
Well, what I do remember of those days is that very rarely did Narasimha Rao actually "speak." Although the USSR had just ceased to be, and the Berlin Wall had spectacularly collapsed, Narasimha Rao and the CONgress of that era were more-or-less silent on these "ideological" matters.
My very first column (published in The Economic Times) was titled "Where are we headed?" - and it was in response to a vague Narasimha Rao statement saying he was looking for a "middle path." I concluded saying that such vagueness would end up such that this "middle path" would be a "muddled path," just as this "mixed economy" was very much a "mixed-up economy." And this is precisely what has happened to that "revolution."
Anyway, those "reforms" that occurred in an "ideological vacuum" worked - but did not gather any "political momentum." Which means that the people were not persuaded to embrace free markets.
If the CONgress has neglected Narasimha Rao then the reasons must be obvious: they know they themselves benefit from socialism. So they want it continued.
Now, Manmohan Singh was Rao's finance minister, and widely looked upon as a "liberaliser."
Everyone thought he would continue with liberal market-friendly policies after becoming PM.
But he did NOT.
He did the very opposite:
1. Nuclear power - instead of privatisation.
2. Air India and all the loss-making PSUs - including the coal mines, which have caused a major corruption scandal.
And, most importantly:
COMPULSORY SOCIALIST EDUCATION.
He is nothing but "an intellectual bodyguard of the House of Nehru."
Now, as I pointed out in my last post, we need this REVOLUTION IN 'DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS' - and I used History (of the Company's Raj) to disprove all this evil "theory" that 'development economics' comprises.
I quoted Peter, Lord Bauer in that post:
Poverty indicates just one thing – the absence of
economic achievement. And economic achievements are made in markets.
In other words: Welfarism and State-handouts are NOT "economic achievements." They are all "win-lose" - the taxpayer loses while the tax-parasite gains. Of course, everyone loses if these "redistributionist transfers" are financed through inflationary means, and only the "banksters" then gain.
Trade - on the other hand - is "win-win": both the buyer as well as the seller are better off. Women emerging from supermarkets loaded with goodies they have splurged on never look like they are carrying a "burden": on the contrary, they wear big, beaming smiles while they lug their baggage around.
There is only one True Science of Economics - and its Principles apply uniformly to all times and all places. There is no "special economics" for poor nations - like the bullshit "Indian Economics" that Manmohan teaches the kids. COMPULSORILY, that too.
The Most Evil "Theory" they teach is about the supposed inescapability of poverty: The Theory of the Vicious Circle of Poverty. Well, as Bauer put it, "if the proposition were true, the entire world would still be in the Old Stone Age."
Every nation started off poor - and we have recent examples of Singapore, independent in 1965, after Nehru was dead. Hong Kong was just a barren rock when the Brits got it, and even in the 1940s it was full of shanties. South Korea has prospered and become "developed" - while there is "communist" North Korea going Manmohan's way, deeper and deeper into poverty, and firing rockets into space all the time, just as socialist India does. Socialism breeds "rocket scientists" - see the USSR, and see Kalam.
In reality, poverty is a Great Motivator - and poor people try very hard to succeed; while the rich often waste their lives and fortunes in idleness and vice. Thus, as a nation comprising mainly poor people, we ought to be MOTIVATING them to work hard - in The Market.
Instead, these evil theorists of crap are "patronising" them with State handouts. Anyway, funded through inflationism, these are nothing but "cheating the poor." Keynesianism has NOTHING to do with the True Science of Economics, which is "a study of market phenomena." Money emerged "spontaneously" from trading minds - and not from any King's head, or any State. Yet, Keynesianism is all about State money and State "monetary policy." EVIL!
Thus, the revolution we need in "development economics" is:
FREE MARKETS ARE WHAT THE POOR NEED.
This is about ECONOMIC FREEDOM.
Like street hawkers and vendors.
Like bar dancers.
Like all the rest - from ganja-charas to whatever.
So long as you do not hurt anyone else - which is a Tort - you are free, even to hurt yourself, and most certainly to engage in "consensual trades."
This FREEDOM - in "practical terms" - means nothing more than this:
THE POLICE DO NOT INTERFERE!
Thus, FREEDOM is NOT "The State At The Commanding Heights Of The Economy." That is SLAVERY!
Anything to do with The State is but a "negation of liberty" - beginning with the tax. And these are all sneaky "indirect taxes" nowadays.
Nehru got it wrong!
He and his tribe were all "control freaks" PRETENDING to be "freedom fighters."
And Manmohan is an "intellectual bodyguard of the House of Nehru."
