Thursday, October 16, 2008

Simple Pleasures......

It was a laidback weekend. I dropped my car for service and I needed a ride back. Usually, I would take an auto to get home. As I was waiting for an auto, I saw four public buses in a line heading towards Besant Nagar. Like a spell cast on me, I spontaneously boarded one of those buses. As I came back to my normal senses, I was a bit tensed to think that I might not have any change other than 100 notes.

Fortunately I had some short change. I realized that I have boarded a public bus after over a decade!! I saw people boarding the bus with oversized baggage jostling with anyone on their way, ladies laughing about a harmless bump into a man as the driver slammed on the brake and yelled at a pedestrian.

It brought all the wonderful memories of my younger days when the very same public bus was the way of life for me once. I was very relaxed, perhaps, because it was not crowded. I felt a lively happy atmosphere. Having got into the habit of travelling in an AC car and feeling sorry for the people travelling in a bus, somehow, now, I felt that I am the one who should be pitied. That moment, I decided to take my son (three and half years old) on the bus to get the car back from the service station.

I yelled, as if we were going for a picnic, “Who is coming in a bus?!” My son said, “me, me, me….” Then he asks, “What bus?” I realized how insulated he was from the real world. That was his first time on a bus. So we board the bus. He never blinked once. It seemed like a ride of a lifetime for him. I got him a window seat and he was very excited. Just like any other three year old, he kept on asking questions. At times, he clutched my hands on seeing some strange looking big people. As it was a short ride, I had a hard time convincing him to get off the bus.
I spent Rs. 6 two-way rather than spending Rs. 100 two-way. This made me wonder about our lifestyle. How we spoil ourselves and then blame the system. Overall, I felt good about myself and there was something healthy about it.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Economic orthodoxy was built on superstition

I was intrigued by Madeleine Bunting’s article that featured on The Hindu/Guardian Newspapers last week. It revolves around the idea that neoliberalism is a corrupt mythology that is in tatters and the crisis of conviction is profound.

In the 90’s, during the technology boom, the entire financial world could not have afforded to ignore even the simplest comments made by one man. Alan Greenspan. The article claims that Alan Greenspan has wrote “the past decade has seen mounting global forces quietly displacing government control of economic affairs.” He blithely continued that the greatest danger facing the economy was that “some governments, bedeviled by emerging inflationary forces, will endeavor to reassert their grip on economic affairs.” As the financial crisis started unfolding, Alan Greenspan did a gigantic volte-face as he pleaded for government to do just that – reassert its grip in the form of the bail-out.

Friedrich Hayek, an influential Austrian economist, in his book (The Road to Serfdom), brought out the essence of neoliberalism. Friedrich Hayek is considered to be the father of a model of economic management which has made the mighty financial institutions collapse like a pack of cards.

Scary!! These are the people to whom the financial world looked up to for direction. Even more terrifying is the fact that this turmoil did not originate from a third world country. The common public is occupied with the daily grind of their simple lives, believing that the macro aspects of the world are being taken care of by the political and economic leadership. Well, this crisis has proved them wrong.

The senators are staging a spectacular drama by grilling the fat-cat CEOs to demonstrate that they are the protectors and saviors of the people. I wonder what these protectors and saviors were doing when complex financial instruments were developed in the name of innovation.

Karl Polanyi, with extraordinary prescience, warned that the crisis would come; he rejected the idea that the market is a “self-regulating” mechanism which can correct itself. There is no “invisible hand” such as the neoliberals maintain, so there is nothing inevitable or “natural” about the way markets work: they are always shaped by political decisions.

In the name of "Weapons and of mass destruction”, a meaningless war was waged against the so called “Islamic Terrorism” that was seen as a threat to the western civilization. A doomsday scenario that poses a far greater threat to the western civilization had been gaining momentum right next to Ground Zero, in Wall Street.
The author compares this corrupt mythology (neoliberalism) to that of the Aztecs. The scary ending is that, like that of the Aztecs, this collapse of the corrupt mythology may require a lot of human sacrifice.

The incident of the 45 year old Indian (in the US) killing all his family members (wife, three sons and mother-in-law) and himself is a poignant reminder of the beginning of just that.

Related Books
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1) The Great Transformation (Karl Polyani), published in 1944, an economic history which sets out to explain 1929, the Great Depression and rise of fascism.

2) One Market Under God (Thomas Frank) published in 2001, explains how neoliberalism entrenched its triumphalism into the political system of the U.S.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Running the Red Light

It was 2 am on a Saturday morning when the alarms went off. Although the alarm’s pleasant tone was no music to my ears, I jumped out of my bed to be on time to receive my parents at the airport. As I was mulling over a backup plan for the cab that I had arranged for 2.30 am (to avoid an IST – Indian Stretchable Time – disaster), I got a call from the cab driver. “Sir, I am waiting for you at the front of your apartment complex.” Not a bad start.

As we started moving into the dark streets, I was enjoying the tranquility in the streets. No traffic. No noise. However, as usual, I have always dreaded driving in the night as the reckless drivers run the red light as if they were absolutely sure of the future. My cab driver was no angel. He was running the red light all the time.

Then this amazing incident happened. As we were approaching a set-of-lights at the TIDEL (start of IT Highway in Chennai) the light turned red. I could barely see any movement of life anywhere in the vicinity. On seeing the ‘red’, I noticed the driver shifting to a lower gear. I thought he was just going to increase the speed. The driver slowed down and stopped at the set-of-lights. My dazed eyes widened and focused on the driver.

The driver was very calm and looked as if he had never run a red light. Now, he can’t fool me. The driver read my intrigued face and pointed me to a bunch of people standing at the set-of-lights. Cops!! No guns!! Instead, Cops with a note-pad and a pen!! I looked back at the driver with a “So??” face. The driver said, “If you run the red lights, you will receive a bill for Rs. 1,500.” I was in for a shock. I pinched myself. Sure, I was not dreaming. I was not driving on “Armstrong Boulevard” in Canada.

I could not control my excitement. I was very happy to see the enforcement working. My excitement intrigued the driver. I don’t think he ever understood why I was so happy.

I used to tell my friends that it would be a miracle to see some disciplined public system in my life time. Now, this incident is not only a proof that enforcement of law can work anywhere in the world, it also gave me a glimmer of hope that things will change for the good in India sooner than later.