Include me out?

Inclusive growth is the only way the society can go on. If 'elitists' propose euthanasia for the rest, then the population of the world will be cut by a good 90% in a day! We have accepted mediocrity as a part of life, though more often mediocrity is celebrated and thinks that it is 'superior' than the rest. Who has to decide who is mediocre and how? All such ridiculous questions can be answered in only one way - RIGHT TO LIVE. I remember Manmohan Singh talking early in his first tenure as PM about 'inclusive growth'. He is just a prime minister and he cant do much other than speaking such anodynes. It has to percolate even deeper and maybe Chief Minister can do something.

Courtesy this Depression, Krugman made a case for 'Fannie, Freddie and You'.

The most important of these privileges is implicit: it’s the belief of investors that if Fannie and Freddie are threatened with failure, the federal government will come to their rescue.

This implicit guarantee means that profits are privatized but losses are socialized. If Fannie and Freddie do well, their stockholders reap the benefits, but if things go badly, Washington picks up the tab. Heads they win, tails we lose.

It may sound cynical but it is the truth. In India, consumers (rather voters) always are gullible but state Government can hardly go to level of monitoring and protecting every family or individual. I feel that Tamil Nadu is probably the most 'socialist' of all Governments in India - centre and state - though we do have stupid communist Governments ruling in West Bengal and Kerala.

A state Government should try to protect consumers against say inflation. Obviously something has to increase revenue somewhere to offset the increase in expenditure. Ideally it should take the route of 'tax the rich and minimize the effect on poor'. It is no wonder that price rise in diesel is more important than price rise in petrol. Though some of my 'pseudo Communist' friends claim that (D)MK is a buffoon who doesnt increase bus ticket prices for 15 years just because of votes! I think in Tamil Nadu, any sensible politician - MGR, MK etc wont mind increasing, say the registration prices for purchase of land or building but (SHOULD) think thousand times before increasing the prices of bus tickets and milk because the effect is wide and immediate. In Chennnai, the point is rise in prices of bus tickets have been the most minimal, if not absent, in ENTIRE INDIA but 'special buses' have been employed with higher ticket prices. State Govt has to earn somewhere. For the under-privileged, they have buses where they can get tickets at the same price. For the rich or wanna-be-rich, they have 'deluxe/AC' buses with higher ticket prices.

In stark contrast is Karnataka (rather Bengaluru), where I have been living for a decade now. I never thought Kannadigas have some grey matter but now have come to the conclusion that they are the most gullible people that I have seen. In democracy, it is the case of Yatha Praja, Thathaa Raja (like subjects, like government). From the design of their buses and the way it operated, I knew that Karnataka has lot of idiotic bureaucrats, who have no clue about its own subjects. Any increase in petrol prices will reflect on prices of bus-tickets and milk IMMEDIATELY. The bus ticket prices have gone up in the route of Rs.8/- in 2006 to Rs.9/- to Rs.10/- to Rs.12/- now. In Chennai, the ticket from Central to Vadapalani is still Rs.5/- :o The Karnataka Govt made a great decision of fixing the property tax at the same price for 3 years! I dont know what sort of governance does the state and more importantly its people want :(

Bail-outs have to be done to

protect the underprivileged, the underpaid and the underfed

and only that can ensure that Government is indeed for the people, of the people and by the people and the 'inclusive growth' is not left to the winds.