Business to the Buddha

Tag: The Price of Inequality

  • Economics concepts and equality







    I was thinking about this strange experiment. What is we conclude end of day today that, everyone is given a new currency DMV (Digital Monetary Value) 2000. Any currency anyone has in his /her account is NULL except DMV 2000 after end of day today. Any other assets whatsoever are also NULL.

    maxresdefaultThis will bring everyone on the same economic level.Socialists want that, right? Next day onwards everyone has to work in DMV equivalents only. What would happen? Would we see equal socio-economic status of the world in say 20 years? Because everyone started off afresh with same amount of currency? Would the world be same as it is today (without DMV), after 20 years? The inequality will creep-in. Socialism seems to miss something in that sense of the world? The inequality in the world is not only because of the madness human-beings are involved with, but also because of the way soft things are build. The lobbying would continue, even after the DMV, and citizen’s representatives will make laws to favor few. Education will also make an impact the inequality generated. Relationships will play another role in creating the difference. Result? We would end up with the same The Price of Inequality.

    Capitalists will disagree to the starting point of the experiment itself. However, if capitalists understand the basic flaw of socialists approach they can understand last three sentences of the previous paragraph.

    I noticed on the net that If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. [Tweet “Albert Einstein said – If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be #Buddhism”] Though my opinion is – one must not even accept everything in Buddhism also as  panacea. I would suggest two point if not anything else of Buddhism – 1. compassion & knowing interdependent co-arising and 2. meditation.

    The problem is the way we think, we need to change the way we think (what we think we become) [Tweet “what we think we become”]. Here is an example – Asian shares climb after dismal U.S. jobs report. This is the situation when one side of the world is in trouble the other half enjoys and makes profit. Are we going to understand the true meaning of equality? Forget meditation for some time, are we going to learn – interdependent co-arising?

    Image source – http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hdr6vSYZXGo/maxresdefault.jpg

  • Moral markets!







    Do markets have morals? When I read Mr Rajeev Mantri’s article “The morality of markets” (Link) in the Livemint, I asked this simple question to myself.

    Various things came to my mind – i. financial meltdown(s) there are numerous examples of past; namesake recent one in 2008 ii. real estate bubble (again namesake – Mumbai, I have read of similar bubble in China) iii. stock market speculations (working on scrips – I think in India markets traders call it scrip चलाना) iv. crony capitalism*. All these thought made me think the title of the article itself is an oxymoron.

    I am not against free market economy, I am neither a leftist or socialist. When it comes to economics (and politics) I prefer to take the middle path. Just to give you a perspective on why I am not completely agreeing to the point of view of Mr Mantri, watch the following video (reference – my Oct 2013 blog – The Price of Inequality) –

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM]

    Capitalism has its own’s problems, and morality is questioned more often in those economies – be it environmental damages, besides few points I raised above. I believe we should not assume development that happened in the US/Europe as the only way to grow and to prosperity. In fact, we have written records of prosperous India even before anyone knew of USA. We have history of Utopia – Ram rajya. How was it achieved? Do not you think we should try to study that as well? There are more ways than the Left and Right approach we take.

    Coming back to the article of Mr Mantri – he concludes with India having billions of dreams. I do not doubt but here my difference with our own culture comes as a stumbling block. I do not appreciate the Caste divide and therefore disagree with Mr Mantri there – there seems not to be many diverse dreams. For ages we stifled dreams by asking kids to follow a craft or business of his family caste system of old days. These things are bringing me to some circular logic – where I suggest to study old Indian economics and refute social Caste system. What is circular logic? Listen to this song you would understand – (apologies those who dont understand Hindi, it is in Hindi) –

    [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mchDikR-AAw]

    paisa kamane ke liye fir paisa chahiye.

    Paisa kamane ke liye fir paisa chahiye – Golmaal hai bhai sab golmaal hai…

    An English translation of this song in some future blog.

    Note – * Crony Capitalism – “Gas wars” a recent book in controversies is in my reading list.

  • The Price of Inequality







    I have read Dr Joseph Stiglitz. He is a Nobel prize awarded economist. The book I read first was Globalization and its discontents and recently I started reading The price of Inequality.

    I realized that Dr Stiglitz may not be the so called capitalist economist, he is capitalist but with a touch of a Just and relatively Equal society. So, when I started reading “The price of Inequality” I started wondering what kind of wealth difference exist in the US. Since, I have never been to the US so the picture of the USA I have always created is – no poverty, everyone having enough and more to not only survive but also a lavish life, a home with front garden, a car parking (of course too), wonderful interiors of the home etc. This picture is largely because of the Movies we watch – on a lighter note Hollywood is responsible for that ;).

    Well, while reading the book, I came across a video on Facebook (watch below).

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM]

    Though, some may argue this video is shared for more socialistic reform e.g. healthcare reform, but that is not the point of contention for me. Watch Margin Call to understand the point of view of the bosses of the investment banks – well to sum up “They do not care! Everything will be fine in sometime.”

    My perspective is not a fight on any economic approach e.g. socialism Vs Capitalism, I favor inclusive growth and I believe for achieving that we need to follow a middle path wherein a mixed approach be used.

    Read my previous blogs related to the book – Globalization and its discontents

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