Tuesday, July 24, 2012

USA versus China

Recently MIT gave innovation awards in India. Guess who owned the innovations? American companies with Indian employees ! So the innovations will always be owned by Americans where ever there are. Look at the quality of American companies IPOs versus Chinese companies IPOs. There is a marked difference in the quality. The Chinese Communist Party members, as the world is beginning to realize, are the biggest crooks and cronies on the planet, looting their own country on a magnitude never seen in human history! To complicate matters, they have no law (much like the Russians). Its just another mafia country. Your business can be stolen at gun point in both the countries. To make matters worse, the Chinese speak like they have genuine ill-will towards Americans and they are totally immersed in arrogance. As the tide turns, may God forgive them for their arrogance. Their stupidity on increasing military spending for false nationalistic notions and spreading nuke techology foolishly to rogue countries will haunt no one else but themselves. Does Pakistan not haunt America? Did Iraq not haunt America? And whose allies were they? History will repeat for the Chinese. As long as America is a capitalist country (regardless of democracy), it stands a good chance to stay on top. But alas....what is the good of all the power and wealth when the richest country has citizens who are gun slinging psychos shooting in movie theaters and public schools ? When New Orleans was in trouble, American citizens proved that they do not need Chinese/ religious bigots as enemies. They suffice among themselves as THE most dangerous pyschos. When Thailand had a flood in the same year (I think), their citizens proved what true wealth really is. They helped each other. In America, they loot and rape minors when people are in distress! America needs to do some introspection. Otherwise Bhutan beats both US and China in true wealth. Atleast your 6 year old daughter can go to watch her Batman movies and come back home alive.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

On democracy

In a recent interview, Hans-Hermann Hoppe — the author of the forthcoming The Great Fiction: Property, Economy, Society and the Politics of Decline — explained: “... it is democracy that is causally responsible for the fatal conditions afflicting us now. The number of productive people is constantly decreasing, and the number of people parasitically consuming the income and wealth of this dwindling number of productive people is increasing steadily. This can’t work in the long run.” Democracy is just a wealth-distribution (and ultimately wealth- destruction) scheme that pits the taxpayers vs. the tax eaters. In the case of Europe, Germany and the Netherlands produce and save, while Greece, Spain, Portugal and the rest consume. Eventually, a bankruptcy will bring to light the truth about democracy, which, Hoppe explains: “...is nothing more than an especially insidious form of communism, and that the politicians who have wrought this immoral and economic madness and who have thereby enriched themselves personally (never, of course, being liable for the damages they have caused!), are nothing more than a despicable bunch of communist crooks.” Democracy, simply, in Hoppe’s view, decivilizes society. Civilized people save and plan so as to take care of themselves and their families in the present and future. Fiscal conservatism and prudence is valued in a nondemocratic society, as are sound ethics. Democracy undoes the tendency for people to act cooperatively and responsibly. Politicians constantly look to appease voters with more benefits to care for them from cradle to grave, so as to win the next election. At the same time, the bureaucracy that hands out the benefits grows larger and larger and is unaccountable to anyone — especially voters. As the old saying goes, “No matter who wins, the government is always elected.” In order to distribute these benefits, the government must violate property rights. Government produces nothing; it must take from one group in order to give to another. Hoppe makes the case that individuals are powerless to protect themselves from government theft and view taxation as they would natural disasters. This alters the behavior of producers, who will tend to be less future-oriented, given that government is constantly stealing from them. This continuous theft, overtly through taxation and subversively by way of inflation, raises the producers’ time preferences, and they divert resources from producing future goods to present consumption. Over time, democracy leads to a lower level of capital being accumulated. With less capital, society is not only poorer, but less civilized. In Democracy: The God That Failed, Hoppe explains: “if government property-rights violations take their course and grow extensive enough, the natural tendency of humanity to build an expanding stock of capital and durable consumer goods and to become increasingly more farsighted and provide for evermore distant goals may not only come to a standstill, but may be reversed by a tendency toward decivilization: Formerly provident providers will be turned into drunks or daydreamers, adults into children, civilized men into barbarians and producers into criminals.” So what has kept this destructive force — democracy — alive for so long? Ironically, capitalism. Hoppe responds: “That the whole democratic house of cards has not yet completely collapsed speaks volumes about the still tremendous creative power of capitalism, even in the face of ever-increasing governmental strangulation. And this fact also allows us to conjecture about what economic ‘miracles’ would be possible if we had unimpeded capitalism liberated from such parasitism.” So many people mistakenly tie democracy and capitalism together, when in fact democracy keeps capitalism from making all producers prosperous. Laissez-faire is not a matter of electing the right person; it means simply “leave it alone,” something politicians cannot seem to do.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Deflation in progress...the healing

Livemint: Prices of Raw Goods Plunge on Slowdown Slump renews debate over longevity of the commodity super-cycle; glut of raw materials around the world The sudden economic downdraught has caused one of the biggest and broadest declines in commodities prices since the financial crisis, surprising producers and creating a glut of raw materials around the world. From crude oil to copper to cotton, prices were down an average of 9% since late February, based on the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index. Crude oil prices, well above $100 a barrel just two months ago, now fetch $84.96 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Cotton prices have tumbled 22% so far this year. The benchmark steel price in the US for hot-rolled coil is down 13% in two months, according to commodity price reporting firm Platts. The declines mark a sharp turnaround from just a few months ago, when economists were optimistic about the prospects for a US economic recovery, China still seemed to be humming, and commodity supplies were generally tight.

India versus China

India is a democracy. It does not have a ponzi / mafia political party which focuses on looting the nation. Check out the number of billionaires in the Communist Party of China. Patents are relatively much safer in India. The press is free and vibrant. There is no "mad" overcapacity in anything like empty/ ghost buildings/ cities and the like. The Indian judiciary is slow but generally very fair. India does not have problems associated with the one child policy. Air pollution in Indian cities is probably lower. Most importantly- the fundamentals of the Indian economy in few ways are better than the Chinese. India does not control its currency artificially. There are fewer Indians trying to run out of India than Chinese trying to run out of China. Infact most Indians can take foreign currency outside the country upto a limit. But few Indians do it. Most Chinese will smuggle their moneys out buying fancy properties in Mayfair/ Kensington in London. India has a long way to go..... inspite of the government (if you know what I mean).