ANTIDOTE

The Greatest Creative Flowering Of The Human Race - And Uniform State Education: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:46:49 PST

Today is Saraswati Puja - the Minerva of us Hindus - and I thought that I ought to continue where I left off yesterday.

Our socialist, centralised The State now occupies the "commanding heights of education." It thinks it is the fount of all knowledge. So, this The State runs an institute of fashion technology, another on films and television, yet another on journalism and mass communication, on medicine, on veterinary sciences, on forestry, fisheries... the list is really endless. And right on top are the "elite" institutions this The State has established - the 5 Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the 3 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), which date back to the 1960s: that is, they were set up at the height of socialism and autarky.

First: All these are "businesses" - and personnel of the State run these businesses. In most cases, just selling admission forms and collecting fees for the entrance exams earn huge profits. These profits occur because this same State disallows private entrepreneurs from setting up such institutes. The shortage of such colleges leads to all kinds of malpractices. But let us leave these issues aside and focus on the "knowledge." And let us look at the elite institutes: the IITs and the IIMs.

Socialists can never ever produce "technology" - which comes from the market, and requires capital. Socialists can only teach science. Hence, the former Soviet Union had the highest number of scientific PhDs per capita in the world - and was devoid of technology. I can think of not a single useful technology produced by any IIT. Today, we have modern cars, phones, household gadgets and so much more - and all this technology is imported. Free trade allows the importation of knowledge - while State education in a closed economy is a recipe for disaster. The 1960s and '70s were disastrous decades for India.

Ditto with "business administration" - which is a skill required in the market economy, by big firms. Such firms did not exist in India in the 1960s and '70s. Thus, IIM-Bangalore specialised in training managers for the State-owned industrial sector.

Also - and this is very important to note - the IIMs have always preferred to train engineers from the IITs. Why? Methinks our The State wanted Indian managers to be fatally infected with a "social engineering" mindset. They also wanted to deviate attention from Economics proper - the subject that they had also monopolised the teaching of, and thereby destroyed. The Delhi School of Mathematical & Statistical Economics is also State-owned.

A State - or, to use a better word, a government - is NOT an institution society requires for learning, for knowledge development, or for knowledge transmission. A government - and a civil one at that - maybe required, if at all, for other things, the most important of which is the apprehension, trial, conviction and punishment of those who are "anti-social": that is, those who are enemies of the market order, who are enemies of property. Even this can be better provided by a system of Torts. Law comes first - and then come courts, lawyers, policemen, magistrates, etc.

Now, when we look at the real hard knowledge that a civil government ought to possess, we find that our fellows know NOTHING at all! Our courts, police, road traffic, public works - these are all a huge big MESS.

Indeed, even the IAS Academy in Mussoorie teaches rubbish to its recruits: Marxist Theory, Central Planning, etc. One Director of this Academy even had the temerity to tell me, after my lecture there, "we are knowledge-proof."

"Are you fellas bullet-proof too?" I politely inquired.

I conclude with some words from Ludwig von Mises on "education for the poor" and also education in "business administration." These lines are from his magnum opus - Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, from Chapter XIV: "The Market." Do read this chapter for your own benefit. They don't teach such stuff even at Harvard, I can assure you.

It is often asserted that the poor man’s failure in the competition of the market is caused by his lack of education. Equality of opportunity, it is said, could be provided only by making education at every level accessible to all. There prevails today the tendency to reduce all differences among various peoples to their education and to deny the existence of inborn inequalities in intellect, will power, and character. It is not generally realized that education can never be more than indoctrination with theories and ideas already developed. Education, whatever benefits it may confer, is transmission of traditional doctrines and valuations; it is by necessity conservative. It produces imitation and routine, not improvement and progress. Innovators and creative geniuses cannot be reared in schools. They are precisely the men who defy what the school has taught them.

In order to succeed in business a man does not need a degree from a school of business administration. These schools train the subalterns for routine jobs. They certainly do not train entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur cannot be trained. A man becomes an entrepreneur in seizing an opportunity and filling the gap. No special education is required for such a display of keen judgment, foresight, and energy. The most successful businessmen were often uneducated when measured by the scholastic standards of the teaching profession. But they were equal to their social function of adjusting production to the most urgent demand. Because of these merits the consumers chose them for business leadership.

So, let us not worry too much about education.

And, most certainly, let us get our completely IGNORANT The State OUT of the knowledge business.

This ignorant The State requires knowledge - like, for example, how to design and engineer safe roads.

This ignorant The State does NOT possess any hard knowledge in any field whatsoever that it can impart.

What this ignorant The State is actually doing is harming knowledge.

They are also AKAL ke DUSHMAN.

This The State is an enemy of Saraswati.

The Greatest Creative Flowering Of The Human Race - and Uniform State "Education"

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:48:29 PST

Handia, the smackie next door who makes Delhi's best aloo tikkis, has a young son who has dropped out of school in order to learn his father's art. I congratulated him heartily - and wished him success.

Later, I told some other fellows in the neighbourhood the story of how a young law student who had attended my lectures in Mangalore dropped out of the legal profession and returned to learning his own father's art - which was chaat. I even visited the small town in the Westrn Ghats of Karnataka where his father ran a popular chaat shop - and found him there managing the business, while also planning to expand into other nearby towns. There, he told me how his father had ambitions for him and so had forced him into an "education."

On these occasions I also tell the tale of a young boy I met on the Mall in Kasauli, the small hill-station near Simla, who was running a tea-and-samosa stall - and how he told me that he hated school, wanted to earn his keep selling tea and samosas, and how his good father had hauled him out of education and sent him to his friend in Kasauli who ran such a stall, in order to "learn on the job."

These are mere examples of poor people opting out of education. Yet, the "greatest creative flowering of the human race" - a phrase Karl Marx used with powerful effect - cannot ever be achieved through UNIFORM STATE EDUCATION. This is because the market economy is based on the "fragmentation of knowledge" - and much of this knowledge is "uncodifiable": music, dance, art, craft, theatre, cinema... all these and more are not really taught in school and college, nor can they ever be. Uniform State education can only produce a nation of dullards - who will surely opt for State Employment. Nothing more.

Anyway, getting back to Handia's young son, yesterday he came out with something new: he set up his own stall selling chow mein. Good fella! Handia showed him how to stir it all up - and the boy sped off to market. Handia later told me that his biggest investment for his son's stall was the kadhai - the stirring pot. And this is precisely what the predatory municipality personnel confiscate whenever they can. The Predatory State is an enemy of each businessman's poonji - his precious Capital.

Note that the Act passed by Parliament is titled "Free and Compulsory Education." That is: BY FORCE. It is funded by an "education tax" - which is FORCE, once again. All this is "misuse of force."

I, for one, am opposed to schooling in general. In our country, almost all schools get their textbooks from the State - and all these textbooks deserve to be burnt. The schools are run by administrator-disciplinarians - and the teachers are just hired hands who never "produce knowledge" themselves. They merely parrot what the State textbooks say. This is not "dissemination of knowledge." This is but the "dissemination of State propaganda." Such an education is actually harmful for the mind.

Handia also has a little daughter - and she attended my early lecture on the fragmentation of knowledge and decided to run a small shop during the holidays when school was closed. She set up a small stall and sold biscuits, tobacco poducts, and some other snacky stuff to the people around. She seemed quite happy earning money.

Now, school has re-opened and I see her every morning in her uniform. One day, I asked her something about the Ganga and Gangotri and she said she had never heard these words before! I inquired as to what she learnt every day in school and she told me this sad tale - that her "teacher" just comes in, signs her register, and leaves! The kids spend their time writing essays on what they did the previous day. And her father says that the school hassles him about his "papers." "Compulsory education" will only "empower" such "educational bureaucrats." They will hassle everyone - especially the poor. And they will also hassle "educational entrepreneurs." All this is actually "anti-education."

The Greatest Creative Flowering Of The Human Race cannot be achieved via State Education.

Abolish State Education - NOW!

PS: This post is continued here.

National Economy: The Greatest Delusion, Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:20:29 PST

I came across two young lads studying for a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in the bus yesterday - and, quite naturally, I quizzed them on their political beliefs. The more aggressive of the two proudly declared:

We need someone to "manage the economy."

I told him that capitalism is about each individual managing his own economic life himself, taking orders from no one. His Capital is his - as his his Labour. He uses both to speculate on uncertain future conditions, hoping to make profits, and thereby accumulate capital.

Thus, capitalism is all about "private economies": millions and millions of them. Each "managed" by those who own it. It is a Private Property Order.

And as for the State managing the whole economy - just take a look at the RBI and see what a great folly such an idea is: that money is communist! Do read my "The Case for Private Money" - which you can find here.

Now, what these BBA students are learning - that someone is required to "manage the economy" - is The Greatest Delusion Ever, one that has virtually destroyed the entire world. This delusion is best called "National Economy." Those whose minds get affected by this delusion think that The Economy is a potted plant on manmohan or montek's window-sill - and without their careful watering and caring for it, this economy cannot survive.

FALSE!

Capitalism means nothing other than the fact that each Individual is the Proprietor of his own Capital - and he tends to his own potted-plant himself. He is answerable to no one. He is the "architect of his own fortune."

Anyway, I told these boys to quit their BBA programme and actually work in a company and "learn on the job." They asked me whether they ought to shift to a BA Economics programme - and I advised them against that, too.

It is my belief that, to understand how an economy actually works, there is no alternative to thoroughly studying Ludwig von Mises' Human Action: A Treatise on Economics. For beginners, I suggest the chapter titled "The Market" - the longest chapter in this book. After going through this chapter, I suggest going to one of the closing chapters that explains why the study of Economics is so important; indeed, it is every citizen's "civic duty" to do so. Then, study the whole book carefully, from beginning to end.

Think right. Think straight. Then only will all be well.

To conclude: The delusion of "national economy" is what has caused each "nation-state" to retreat behind tariff walls and fiat paper currencies - and then engage in "international politics" with all other similar nation-states. It lies at the root of protectionism. It lies at the root of fraud paper money. And it lies at the root of war itself.

It is an EVIL idea.

Get RID of it.

The Responsibility Of The Economist

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:50:51 PST

The "personal responsibility" of anyone who calls himself an "economist" is truly enormous. After all, for almost everyone, earning one's keep - and all the "toil and trouble" involved - is what life is all about. There are but a few who can step out of this sort of life and actually study the subject of wealth-creation dispassionately as well as scientifically, so as to be able to enlighten public opinion.

The vast masses are all woefully ignorant - as we saw the other day in the case of Khuch-Khuch the auto-rickshaw driver who felt machines are bad for humanity because they cause unemployment. I saw another such case today, when a taxi-driver observing a new car being brought in for repairs because of a road accident commented that such crashes are "good for the market" because they give employment to all our denter-painters. How can the destruction of property be good for the market? Bastiat's "Broken Window Fallacy" ought to be widely read.

Which brings me to the huge responsibility placed upon economists - and that is, to weed out errors from their science. Errors like he antipathy to machines. Like the Broken Window Fallacy - and so many more.

Unfortunately, those who call themselves "economists" - particularly in India - have utterly failed in fulfilling their responsibility. Our entire economic system is riddled with errors. Even the MGNREGA is an error - another Broken Window. Rural Development is an error, too - for Economics is about markets, and these are in cities and towns. The entire money and banking system is in error - which is why it is entirely based on fraud.

The main reason why Indian economists are so neglectful of their responsibilities is because almost all of them are beholdened to our The State - like manmohan and montek. Their loyalties lie with the CONgress and the gandhis - not the people, nor their Science. Thus, their anti-people, anti-market ideas have made almost every servant of this Socialist State into a bazaar ka dushman: an Enemy of the Market.

Yet, the fact remains that trade is the only moral way of survival. When economists say the market should not be free and that State interventions are required, they ought to carefully think through the implications of their policy prescriptions. What we see in India is a market riddled with politics, with legislation, with bureaucratic and police regulations, and with consequent endless litigation (which benefits lawyers). All this is actually harmful to society. It encourages anti-social behaviour and discourages honest enterprise. Even to hold on to one's property where there are no titles means that an honest man has to become a kind of dada: a bully, a toughie, a gang-leader.

Socialism is anti-social. Period.

And there is more. The other day, a huge police conference was held in this area to discuss a "spate of robberies." Yet, if we do not encourage honest enterprise, will not more and more people turn to crime? And should not more and more "consensual exchanges" be de-criminalised, too?

It is The Market that is the source of "social order." It is in The Market that all wealth is created - and re-created anew. How can we have "economic development" if we have enemies of this market all around, pretending to be economists? As Deepak Lal has shown, what is called "Development Economics" is actually the cause of mass poverty.

Yes, all this widespread poverty in India has been caused by our economists - who are almost all anti-market.

They have all failed as economists.

I have not.

Who Is The REAL ADDICT Here?

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:17:45 PST

I am, of course, a "certified addict." The good doctors at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore have provided me with a certificate that says I am "dependent" on tetra-hydro cannabinol (THC), nicotine and alcohol - in that order. The certificate also says that I do not possess the "motivation" to undergo their de-addiction programme. That is, I am happy with my addictions. Since I do not harm anyone else, and I also do my Daily Work well, no one should have any legal ground to hassle me about my addictions.

Now, our The State is also an "addict." In their offices they drink sweet, milky tea all day. But their real addiction is something else: DEBT.

Our The State Is Addicted To Debt.

They are spending borrowed as well as newly printed paper money. This year, their borrowings will cross 4,00,000 crores. (1 crore is 10 million.)

They use all this "funny money" to pay off their innumerable servants, and also buy Ambassador cars for them. And their servants are as useless as that car.

Thus, their welfarism is NONSENSE because it is funded through inflationism. They are destroying capital - especially the capital of the poor, who save.

The poor are being drained of their life-blood by this process.

The State Is Addicted To The Blood Of The Poor.

It is like that old song:

Maine pi sharaab,
Arrey tum ne kya piya?
Arrey tum ne kya piya?
Aaadmi ka khoon?
Main zaleel hun,
Arrey tum ko kya kahoon?

I am glad that I am not addicted to debt, at least. I borrow very little - and promptly repay, as soon as able.

Never a borrower or a lender be - and that's an Old Proverb, too. It's my motto.

I must also add that not a single person employed by this The State creates any wealth: sonia, rahul, manmohan, advani, et. al. - they are all "tax parasites." And we the sheeple are supposed to think that they will make the poor wealthy! Garibi Hatao! What NONSENSE! In reality, these bazaar ke dushman are stopping poor people from creating wealth for themselves.

And as for my addictions - cannabliss, nicotine and alcohol (in that order) - these are the Joys of My Life. My morning begins with a chillum - otherwise, I don't quite feel right. Some people like making love in the morning - and both Donovan as well as Leonard Cohen have written great songs about doing it at that time. I don't. To me, "the night time is the right time to be with the one you love." And the morning is the right time for a SMOKE.

I LOVE MY BHOLA

And if you don't like what I do - well, you can FUCK OFF!

The Are Making You BLIND!

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:54:10 PST

Khuch-Khuch, my auto-rickshaw driver chillum and daaru yaar of many years, who lives nearby in Islam Colony, shocked me the other evening when he said something to the effect that computers are bad because they cause unemployment among clerks.

"Machines are bad," said this man who survives because of a machine.

"Without your auto-rickshaw, you would have been a palkiwallah, you fuckin' moron," I told him harshly, "and you would have been singing 'Dola Dola Dola' all your life."

[The palki is a palanquin, and "Dola" is a great song about the hard life of palkiwallahs, who carry the King around. Metaphorical... if you get what I mean. Bhupen Hazarika made this song famous; but the rock band Euphoria play it best.]

We were drinking, and my temper was rising because of his idiocy - so I continued to impress upon him how very wrong he was.

"Khuch-Khuch," I said, "You have a machine that barely works. Every second day it is in the repairs shop. Now, suppose you had a second-hand BMW 7-Series taxi with a big fridge in it, in which you stocked cold beer and sold it to passengers at double the market price. Would you not be better off with a better machine?"

The stupid fucker got the point.

And so I told him the old joke about this fallacy - pointing to the digging going on nearby.

"Here are twenty or more labourers digging away with spades. Now, suppose they were replaced by one earthmover - which would complete the job in hours - operated by just one man. Would this cause unemployment?" I asked.

The stupid fucker got it wrong again! He said the earthmover would cause mass unemployment and should be avoided like the plague.

And so I delivered the punchline.

I asked him: "Then why don't we take away the big spades of these labourers and replace them with tiny spoons? Then, millions more could be employed."

Khuch-Khuch now paused to do something he had never ever done before: THINK.

He thought, and he thought, and he thought.

He shook his head this way and that, and this way and that way again, and again.

Yet, he did not speak.

And so I continued:

"A machine reduces labour - the physical mehnat - of the labourer. Is that a good idea or a bad idea - from the labourer's point of view?"

"Good idea," said Khuch. He seemed to be getting it, finally.

And then, I delivered the hammer-blow: "Have you ever heard of the Hindu god Vishwakarma - the God of the Machine?" I asked him.

He shut up after that.

My point is: Why was Khuch so BLIND?

Answer: This is the kind of NONSENSE he hears all around him. Gandhians are big villains in this story. It is they who have spread this hatred for machines.

In reality, the machine raises one's productivity - and, thereby, one's wages. If we are "labour surplus" as a nation, then our only way up the economic ladder is to add more and more capital to labour - which means machines: "capital goods." And it really does not matter whether these capital goods belong to oneself, or whether they belong to someone else. Just as Khuch drives an auto-rickshaw that belongs to someone else, so do autoworkers in a modern factory work with robots that belong to the shareholders. The Marxists and the trade unionists are as wrong as the Gandhians. As are the isolationists - for we also need to import capital.

Lastly: The question does arise as to what the labourers digging ditches with spades will do if they are replaced by an earthmover.

One short answer: They will do something else - but we cannot say what.

The economy will expand - and productivities will rise across the board. Opportunities will increase.

Think of how SMS replaced the dit-da-dit-dit Morse Code telegraph operators.

Or how ATMs replaced bank tellers.

Capitalism, with its consequent "capital accumulation," converts science into technology - thereby benefiting mankind. All these machines are GREAT INVENTIONS.

And this includes the computer, now powered by the Internet.

Not very long ago, writers wrote with paper, pen and ink.

And then they corrected and edited their manuscripts.

Finally, the finished manuscript was ready.

Labour. Labour. And more Labour.

"Labour-saving devices" - that is what machines are.

I love them.

WORK IS DISUTILITY!

Not An Occasion To Celebrate

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:14:09 PST

Republic Day is just a few days away, and it is worth wondering whether this day, on which this socialist constitution was adopted, is worth celebrating.

As I was saying yesterday, the difference between capitalism and socialism is that between Private Property - which belongs to the Individual - and "collective property," which belongs to The State: like Air India, SAIL, ONGC, the keekar bushes, et. al.

Now, this morning, as I was sipping tea with a couple of Gujjar lads, a municipal cattle-truck passed carrying "confiscated cattle." The Gujjars told me that they were a constant threat to their livelihood - and, further, these cows were never returned. Gone. Stolen.

The Law as The Thief.

The Law as guilty of the very crimes it is supposed to punish.

Surely, this cannot continue.

They have not made space for humans in this "planned Garibabad." What space could there possibly be for cattle? Then they go around persecuting cattle owners. Just as they persecute and rob all the street vendors.

Socialism is "legal plunder" and "false philanthropy," said Bastiat.

Indeed, just the other day in Islam Colony, I was enjoying a fire with some wizened old men when the conversation turned to Republic Day. One of the old men said that this was the day when India gained azadi: that is, freedom. I corrected the old man, saying azadi came on August 15, and 26 January was the day we got ourselves this choron ka samvidhan: this Constitution of Thieves.

The old man was a trifle shocked - and so I explained.

Do you want a constitution under which the government can take away your property?

Or do you want a constitution by which the government has the duty to protect your property and never violate it?

All the old men there got the point.

In any case, what really is there to celebrate about this The State, this constitution, and this pulis force that has locked up every ganja dealer in town in advance because of Republic Day? How do we "celebrate the occasion," anyway?

Once again, we must realise the vital importance of the Principle of the Inviolability of Private Property - and its relevance to Constitutional Freedom.

My lungs are my property. The ganja farmer's crop is his property. The ganja dealer's stock is his property. And so on. And so forth.

No property means no liberty.

NO FREEDOM IS POSSIBLE UNDER SOCIALISM.

This is why 15 August, 1947, was a false dawn. And 26 January was even worse.

We must now throw these socialists out.

Or we must quit their rule and establish our own capitalist city - at Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea.

The latter is what I advise:

It is "constitutional" - in the "historic sense."

It is peaceful.

It is voluntary.

So, as he good copywriter put it:

Let's
Just Do It!

Gujjars, Cowboys - And Socialism

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:11:46 PST

I live among Gujjars now - these tribes of traditional herdsmen who continue in the manner of their ancient forbears. These tall, handsome Caucasians are seen throughout North-Western India - in the hills, the foothills and the plains. They are the first "capitalists" of the world - and their cattle and other animals was what "capital" meant before gold and silver were discovered. Live animals as well as hides were "money" - and the word "buck" means the skin of this particular deer, which was money in some parts of Old America.

In India, Gujjars are relatively "poor" - the picture above is of the nomadic Gujjars of Kashmir, with their herds of cattle and sheep. They possess these animals as their only Property - their "capital on the move." They have no "landed property." No "ranch."

Our Gujjars possess all the ancient "knowledge" handed down over generations - and use some modern veterinary science as well. But they are "poor." Some might even call them "uneducated." I don't.

To my very Misesian eyes, all Gujjars come equipped with all the "mental categories" that make up the "logical structure of the human mind": like Capital and Income. Like Arithmetic, too. They count their animals - and they ensure that the size of the herd keeps growing. That is, they make sure they are not "consuming capital."

Now, the "mind" of these Gujjars is not at all different from those of American cowboys, or Australian and New Zealand sheep-ranchers. These people, in the old days, were not "educated." But they knew what cattle and sheep were all about. And they knew how to count them. They too possessed the very same mental categories of Capital and Income and made sure that they "accumulated capital."

The question then arises as to why the American cowboys, and the Australian and New Zealand sheep-ranchers of the West have prospered so, while ours have not. This is where Economics turns to Sociology - and we investigate the "rules of the game." Societies that play the game under the best rules prosper; others flounder.

American cowboys, and the sheep-ranchers from Down Under all came from England - where the Law of Property has always existed. When they migrated, they took this Law with them. They "homesteaded" property - instead of being "nomads." They settled down in huge "ranches." It was Landed Property that made them prosper. Notice the fence in the photo of one such ranch on the left. Not in the photo is the road - to the city. And the "milk truck."

Today, there were ten or more cows - and some frisky calves, too - outside my home in Islam Colony, all the property of Gujjars. There is no space for these animals. Lala, a Gujjar, keeps dozens of buffaloes within the colony, in a tiny space. Teju keeps his in far-away Aya Nagar - and he motorcycles around delivering perishable milk in this area. Tough life.

Inside each and every Vasant Kunj DDA Flats enclave, there are State-owned Mother Dairy SHOPS selling milk, fruit and vegetables. They have big, refrigerated trucks. They have "market access." They have Property. The people don't.

What I told some of them is that in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea they will "ranch" their animals - and perhaps other animals too, like deer. I told them that they are exactly equal in "intelligence" to their Western counterparts - the only difference being that they do not possess property, while the westerners do.

And this, in essence, is the difference between Socialism and Capitalism. Socialism is about "collective property": Air India, SAIL, ONGC, et. al. Capitalism is about Private Property - that which belongs to the Individual. American ranchers "branded" their cattle; and cattle-thieves - "rustlers" - where major "outlaws" who were hunted down by the cowboys themselves, who were armed.

With socialism, it is The Law that becomes an "outlaw": guilty of the very crimes it is supposed to punish. Nationalisation makes The Law a thief.

And as for our socialist central planners, they do not possess even the basic intelligence of the unlettered Gujjar, for all they seem to be engaged in is "capital consumption." From Air India to welfarism funded by inflationism, their entire enterprise is all about the consumption of precious capital.

And this is the reason why we have been headed down the road of "de-civilisation" all these past 60 years.

So, Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea - Here We Come!

And, remember, the California Gold Rush was perfectly orderly because of the Golden Rule of Property. If you found gold, you made a "claim" - and received a "title."

Good rules create order - and prosperity.

That is what happens when the right Economics turns into the right Sociology.

Science - not Error.

Don't Blame God, Blame The State

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:47:16 PST

"I blame God for one thing - that he made me poor," said Hanif, the Master Tailor in leather who lives nearby, and who was smoking his evening chillum with me in Islam Colony.

I was horrified.

"Poverty tends to make a person an unbeliever," said the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him - and the emphasis is on the word "tends."

And so I endeavoured to restore Hanif's faith to him.

I told him that God has made us humans different from all the other animals in one very important way - and that is, while all animals fight over food, we humans profit by feeding others: the good old "profit motive" born out of our "natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange."

We are NOT "self-sufficient" - as animals are.

We trade.

We serve others - our customers.

From the profits, we purchase our own satisfactions - in the market economy.

God has given us this gift because he made us "born to be rich."

How is it Allah's fault that you are poor? I asked Hanif.

And then I told him who his real enemy was: The State.

It is this fucked-up socialist The State with all its gandhian nonsense about "self-sufficiency" that has created widespread poverty - by stopping us from creating wealth for ourselves. We are one of the most "economically unfree" countries in the entire world.

Indeed, in Nude Elly, none can even open a beer bar!

So, what can be said about ganja-charas - which are impossible to come by.

I then told Hanif of the CRPF jawan I met the other day - a lad from Kerala. He was looking at the car ads in a newspaper, and I told him that if ganja was legal every ganja farmer in Kerala's Idikki district would own one of these far out SUVs. He agreed.

Hanif then got the point.

And he deeply regretted his apostasy.

His faith was re-affirmed.

Yes, we are all born to be rich - not poor.

It is State Socialism and its restrictions on economic freedom that are keeping all of us poor.

As Bastiat put it:

To believe in Liberty is to believe in God,

And have faith in His creation - Man.

Today, it is another world, a world in which we must say, as Lord Acton did:

Power tends to corrupt,

And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Again, the word "tends" - only in the first line.

Our socialist, centralised society is the second line: absolute power.

It is this that has corrupted our lives. And politicised everything.

And kept us poor.

Miserably poor.

Without property.

Without Liberty.

We must break free - I told Hanif.

And he agreed.

Inshallah - we will.

We shall overcome, some day.

HIGH! - From HERE to ETERNITY

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:11:24 PST

Continuing from where I left off yesterday, let me add that all "highs" are also fragmented bits of hard "knowledge." The LSE has a "Wine Appreciation Society" - and lots of foreign students join up. I did not - but there was a "Beers of the World" shop near my home, and I learnt a lot there. The owner, of course, possesses hard knowledge about beer. Interestingly, travel also matters - because in Germany, Holland, Belgium and some eastern nations, you find great beers that even this London shopkeeper knew nothing about.

Now, as in the case of beer and wine, so in the case of ganja-charas, all this is VERY OLD KNOWLEDGE.

It is a HISTORIC FACT that ganja-charas-bhang have been used in our region for millennia - as the sadhus bear evidence. A book of etiquette popular among Mughal gentlemen prescribed the smoking of charas - and Babur himself was a charsi.

Tobacco and tea are both NEW KNOWLEDGE - in our region.

Why should we throw the old knowledge out?

This "fragmentation of knowledge" is what makes the "centralisation of knowledge" IMPOSSIBLE. From central planning to centralised education to centralised decision-making on which high is "good" and which should be proscribed - all this is asking for an "omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent" STATE. This is the essence of STATOLATRY: The Worship of The State.

Then, there is the OTHER WAY:

To believe in Liberty is to believe in God,

And have faith in His creation - MAN.

By and large, people are "prudent." And getting blown is "risk-taking behaviour." However, even here, all the old, traditional highs - from beer and wine to ganja-charas to coca and khet - are surely the most healthful. They are so because men through the ages have opted for these - and survived pretty well, enjoying their lives, too.

So, let us make Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea a city where the phenomenon of the fragmentation of knowledge is well appreciated - especially in the nasha business. Let nashas be "knowledge-driven."

Today, this is also an area where IGNORANCE marks the TYRANNY that is the prohibition of ganja-charas in India.

Dictatorship of the Morons - once again.

Getting HIGH! - In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:10:32 PST

As anyone who has known me all these years will testify, I have always HATED life in Nude Elly and repeatedly tried to move out. Apart from the weather, what really gets my goat about this city is the fact that ganja-charas of quality is impossible to come by; and as for the alcohol, the government shops suck. I believe in recreation after work - and I do not want to live in a place where that essential recreation gets fucked.

Take yesterday. It really was a "perfect day" - like in the Lou Reed song - for a CHILLUM, or two, or three, or four. But, for some strange reason to do with Republic Day, the viklang ganja dealer nearby got busted or whatever, and the chillums I was thirsting for never happened.

And let me tell you that my travels also took me to Amsterdam - read this post about that "trip" - and I know something about what QUALITY ganja-charas are all about. Nowhere in India do you get such great stuff to smoke.

My travels have also taken me repeatedly to the devbhoomi - to Haridwar, to Rishkesh, to Gangotri - and in these Holy places I have often encountered Holy Sadhus who, after learning that I was a journalist, would earnestly plead with me to tell the world that even they have problems getting the Holy Herb.

In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea I intend to establish a city that will COMPETE with Amsterdam as far as QUALITY of ganja-charas is concerned. And I am sure lots and lots of sadhus will come visiting.

Our City Flag, of course, will be the Ganja Leaf against a white background - the white indicating that all nashas in this city will be sold in the White Market. No black market all all.

Our City Drink will be draught beer - and there will be many, many beergardens.

Our City Paan will contain two leaves of coca, too - to take on the Banarasi paan.

But there are lots and lots of other highs that will be freely sold - subject to Torts, of course. So, if you sell bad stuff and someone is injured in any way, you will have to financially compensate your victim. This will make all nasha dealers careful about the health of their customers.

Indeed, Chanakya's Arthashastra has a chapter on the regulation of drinking taverns - and there is an interesting proviso that says that if a traveller were to pass out in a tavern and his goods were to get stolen, the tavern-keeper would be liable. There must have been lots and lots of these taverns in ancient Takshashila and Pataliputra. Chanakya lists out the drinks that were sold - with a separate, and longer, list of IMPORTED drinks!

Among the other highs I have tried are MAGIC MUSHROOMS - and I recommend this to all. In India, you get them only in Kodaikanal. But they are legal in good ol' Amsterdam.

Then, there is ECSTASY - a pill that makes you feel the party is inside your head. It is also a great high - but the next day you might not feel too good. But, once in a while, this "party drug" can be used without too much physical harm. Tourists like parties - "rave parties" - and Ecstasy is their preferred drug, usually.

I also found another "designer drug" recently called MDMA - and had a great trip, without any ill-effects the next day.

So, in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea, where we will live in a "private law society" and compete for tourists, all nashas will be openly sold. Hard "knowledge" about these nashas will also be made available - so that "informed choices" are made. Torts will apply - as mentioned earlier - if bad stuff is sold.

Now, let me conclude with a "thought experiment" I have often tried out on this issue - with great success.

Suppose I were to throw a party and invite lots of ordinary folk. And suppose that one table had all the alcohol - and the other table had all the "drugs": ganja-charas, cocaine, opium, heroin, magic mushrooms, mescaline, peyote, Ecstasy, MDMA... the works.

The question is: How many will try out all these?

Indeed, if you think things through, you will surely realise that VERY FEW will try these things - because this is RISKY BEHAVIOUR.

At most parties, most people do NOT get drunk. And that is how the story goes.

So, that's what life will be all about in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea. And I hope you like the IDEA.

If you don't, if you are a Gandhian, or a fan of anna hazare, who whips people who drink alcohol in his little village, you need not come to our city. We don't really want people like you there.

NO PARTY-POOPERS, PLEASE!

Life is short.

Let's make it a Great Party!

PS: This post is continued here.

FUCK the vote!

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:45:09 PST

The vote is meaningless in a Socialist State.

Like in Nude Elly - where you cannot open a beer bar but you can vote. Like in Jharkhand where you cannot sell mahua or handia but you can vote. Like in Uttaranchal or Himachal where you cannot sell charas but you can vote. Like in Manipur or Kerala where you cannot sell your excellent ganja but you can vote.

Economic Freedom matters much more than Political Freedom.

And, anyway, in India, we are really not politically free, because "classical liberals" are not allowed to form political parties and compete in elections: all voting is restricted to competition between socialists.

FUCK THE VOTE!

CAMPAIGN FOR FREEDOM!

FREEDOM FROM THE STATE!

FREEDOM FROM POLICE ACTION!

Yes, if we were free, to earn our keep in our markets, we would be able to manage fine.

But, manacled as we are, we are doomed - if all we have is the fucked up vote. It gets us nothing - but "more of the same."

Ultimately, what really matters is FREEDOM.

If the political system we have adopted makes us "unfree" then it is a system that needs to be abandoned. Because this is not the pathway to riches.

To make money - by selling whatever we want to sell - is our birthright. If we cannot do this under the present political system - under ANY political party "recognised" by their Election Commission - then we are doomed. We must admit that our only way out is to look for FREEDOM without any elections. We must opt for a "private law society."

So, while these predatory socialist politicians ask for your vote, ask yourself whether what you need is freedom or government controls. Our country is already one of the most "economically unfree" countries in the entire world. In Nude Elly, it is shiela dikshit who sells the booze, not us.

The cops sell the bhoonsa maal.

Cops sell the santra.

And the customs stop the importation of cheap - and excellent - wine from Europe.

What do you want?

Government - or FREEDOM?

Think - you fuckers!

And I will be back on this theme over the next few days.

We Will Burn Plastic Waste - In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:24:55 PST

The open areas around Islam Colony - and this must be typical of all slums, throughout India - are awash with plastic waste. Dirty, dirty, dirty.

As far as "recycling" goes, what is happening here is some EVIL nonsense: poor people pushing cycle-rickshaws collect plastic waste - and these recycled black plastic bags are used to carry food items, from chicken to fish, to fruit and vegetables. These black coloured recycled plastic bags are not meant for food. They are POISONOUS.

What I have decided is that, in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea, we will burn all plastic waste. We will install incinerators for the purpose. Plastic bags may be "non-biodegradable" but they burn easily, being made up of petroleum. For food items we will allow only virgin polymers - that are "food grade." No poisons.

I have also arrived at the conclusion that the DDA is an EVIL organisation. It is they who have laid out Vasant Kunj. It is they who "allot" land. They design all the roads - without footpaths, and with T-junctions everywhere. The T-junction opposite the D2 Market now has some very big traffic lights - and, as I told someone, soon they will build a flyover, too. They are in the flyover business, after all. The whole of South Delhi has been laid out in T-junctions and all the flyovers built over the last 25 years have not managed to solve the traffic snarls. Nor has the Metro Rail.

But it is while living here in Islam Colony that I really realised how very EVIL the DDA is. The open areas full of plastic waste are also an open drain - and it is the dirty water of the flatowners that drains out into this plain, fouling everything up, and spreading disease, too, I bet. The DDA owns the field, the DDA owns the keekar forests, and the DDA has decided that these open spaces should be flooded with dirty, drain water. What a creepy organisation!

There is no point really in investing more Capital in this area. It is best abandoned. So that all the Capital can be gainfully invested in a New City, a Great City, a Clean City, a city in which plastic waste will be incinerated, a city in which if your refuse fouls up another's property it will be a Tort, and you will have to fork out adequate financial compensation towards a clean-up.

Incentives Matter!

Money & Banking - In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:09:44 PST

Inflationism - the employment of inflationary finance to pay the bills of The State with fiat paper money - is anti-capital. It erodes the capital - the savings - of the poor. And it rewards rich borrowers - like The State itself, and its various cronies who corner all the loans.

All this leads to "capital consumption" - the highway to "de-civilisation."

Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea will be very, very different - being a city of Pure Capitalism, and being a great centre of civilisation, hence preferring the only way there, which is "capital accumulation."

In the field of money and banking, we will "let History be our Guide": and what History says is that gold and silver coins of prescribed fineness and weight are the only real money; these monies have a "legal definition." Counterfeiting is a Serious Fraud.

Today, it is The State that engages in counterfeiting - as I argued in this brief column.

So, I hope you now get my drift.

If money is legally defined coins of gold and silver, then what should private free banking be all about?

Since we will be a "private law society" it will all depend on contracts. With a banker, the individual who deposits his money for a "fixed term" will sign a different kind of contract than one who signs one for a "demand deposit." The former will be a "loan contract" to the banker, while the latter will be a "safekeeping contract." To honour his contracts, the banker will be forced to keep a 100 percent reserve against demand deposits - and that, too, without any legislation; without any "positive law."

What will happen if a banker defaults on his contracts?

Tradition has it that any debtor who cannot repay his debts is put into a "Debtors' Prison." Such prisons existed in Olde London - and in Amsterdam, too. Rembrandt was sent into such a prison when he ran up too many debts. His house and his belongings were sold to repay his debts - and the painter was forced to live a more modest life. His extravagances were curbed.

So, in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea, the Debtors' Prison will be a very important institution. Bankers and others who cannot repay their debts will be sent there, to live on a diet of bread and water, till their assets are auctioned and their debts repaid.

Let us now move on to paper notes issued by bakers - which serve as "money substitutes." All such notes must be redeemable on demand - or else.

That sorts the entire mess out - a mess created my Keynes' "general theory" and its consequent "monetary policy."

We "let History be our Guide."

Of course, bankers rarely ever face a problem of "insolvency." Their usual problem is "illiquidity": their assets are not instantly accessible in terms of cash. Thus, the Debtors' Prison is all that is required to keep the money and banking system on even keel.

CONTRACTS! And money as Hard Property, legally defined.

On Mancur Olson, rakesh mohan phd (princeton) - and the WEATHER in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:21:21 PST

Mancur Olson came to mind yesterday - when I was invited to lecture students in Ghana via Skype on "Why political markets don't work." His The Logic of Collective Action (1965) shows how small, vocal, and rich "interest groups" dominate "democratic politics" - and why "the masses" never ever figure in the scheme of things. And his The Rise and Decline of Nations (1983) is also a must-read - for it shows how "stable democratic development" leads to terminal national decline - because such small interest groups keep on proliferating. Democracy destroys itself - because of "interventionism": a thesis Ludwig von Mises propounded long, long ago.

When Manucr Olson died in 1998, I was privileged to write his editorial obituary in The Economic Times.

I also had occasion to meet this great man in 1992 when he visited Delhi. I attended his lecture titled "The Collective Choice Perspective to Indian Planning" - in which he showed how the usual answers trotted out for Indian Poverty (like population, etc.) are all wrong, and that it is our "collective choice" - which means "government policies" - that are the only reason for our problems. In other words, Olson said that population was a resource; it is our The State that is The Problem.

And anyone who was anyone in the field of Economics attended that lecture: from Swaminathan Aiyar to Barun Mitra to SL Rao.

Now, rakesh mohan phd (princeton), who was then Chief Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Industry, was invited to comment on Mancur Olson's paper.

He got onto the stage and pronounced:

I disagree with Professor Olson because

he has overlooked one very important factor - The Weather.

Never have hot countries progressed.

What about North Africa? The Arab World?

I got up and shouted something about the fact that the British went to Simla in the summers.

rakesh mohan phd (princeton) responded with a curt:

Do not interrupt me.

I am a bureaucRAT.

And all the people sitting around looked at me with Great Disapproval.

Made me think:

A Nation of Sheep,

Begets a Government of Wolves.

There was a 30-minute question-and-answer session scheduled - but Mancur Olson stopped it all, calling proceedings to a complete halt, while also thanking rakesh mohan phd (princeton) for "the deep points he had raised."

Toynbee's Study of History is all about "civilisational challenge-and-response." It is only because of tough circumstances that some nations have responded magnificently and achieved greatness in the past - like the English, never blessed with fine weather.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

And Peter Bauer's studies of developing countries reveals how many peoples are poor simply because they get all their needs satisfied by Nature - and don't need to work much, like the Goans.

Such people are "needless" - said Bauer, adding that if we want "economic development" in such areas, then the best thing to do is to let in traders with imported "incentive goods." Seeing a transistor, a TV set or a mobile phone, the lazy Goan would climb his coconut trees more energetically, probably missing a siesta or two, in order to acquire these incentive goods.

What stands in the way of these Incentive Goods?

Our The State.

And who does rakesh mohan phd (princeton) say is our Enemy?

The SUN!

Get my drift?

What a compleat asshole!

Anyway, rakesh mohan phd (princeton) went on to become Director-General of The National Council for Applied Economic Research. From there he went on to be Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He is now back in princeton.

Anyway, what I am driving at is that the weather in Daulatabad-upon-the Sea is WONDERFUL - especially for poor people. I have lived the last seven years in Canacona, just 35 km north of Karwar. In the summer, you don't need air-conditioning. And even if the electricity fails, you have an uninterrupted siesta because of the cool sea breeze. In the winter, like right now, you can roam around all day shirtless, and sleep at night under a blanket - with the fan on! Plus four months of glorious monsoon rains!

As I said yesterday - Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea is COMPETING. We are competing with our weather, too. And with our Freedom. With London, with Amsterdam, with Singapore, Bali, Bangkok, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, Kerala - the LOT!

So, mister, look at the mountain,

And, missus, look at the sea,

That's where I am headed,

Who's coming with me?

Anyway, rakesh mohan's career up the greasy pole inspired me in one important way: It told me what I did NOT want to be. I did NOT want to climb this greasy pole. I looked up the pole at the morons on top and decided I did not want to end up us one of them: a State-owned "economist".

Like our Great Leader chacha manmohan s gandhi and his deputy montek.

Watch Out For The COMPETITION - From Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:37:22 PST

Cities compete - but not in India. Here, each and every city and town is fucked and unlivable. In the USSA, on the other hand, where 350 million people have over 200 cities to choose from, there exists a "hypothesis" that what keeps local governments on their toes is not the vote - but, rather, the competition between cities and towns for business and citizens. This hypothesis is named after Charles Tiebout - and, many, many years ago, I wrote an editorial for The Economic Times titled "Unleash Tiebout Forces." The editors wholeheartedly agreed - and this was one of the few editorials penned by me that appeared as a Lead Editorial. Our cities and towns must compete.

Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea intends to unleash Tiebout forces worldwide - but most certainly within the vast Indian sub-continent. The numberless people in all our Garibabads will surely be attracted to shift - "vote with their feet" - when offered the prospects of civilised life in a good, clean city, with good weather and attractive surrounds. With Liberty. With Property. And with Justice.

We certainly intend to compete with Goa for tourists - because Goa has largely become a MESS. Lots of foreign tourists DIE on the unsafe, narrow roads of Goa every year. And there are too many party-poopers there. The three cities of Goa are also quite overcrowded and ugly today.

Around Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea there is a huge amount of natural beauty - and the weather is very pleasant all year round. There are forests, beaches, a river and mountains, too. Someone once told me that Karwar was the prettiest place she had ever seen in India. And I assure you that Gokarna's Om Beach, a short drive away, is surely one of the prettiest beaches in the world. Of course, all this lies neglected and untouristed today - while the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation owns a huge building on Main Street, Karwar. And there are plenty party-poopers all over Karnataka - ask me!

Also close by are the Jog Falls - India's highest waterfalls.

So, we won't be a city like Mumbai - with all its "Marathi Manoos" nonsense. We will be like Goa - where foreigners are welcome. And we won't ever become what Nude Elly, Calcutta, Madras, Bangalore and Poona have become today. The most important aspect of tourism, apart from FUN, is TRANSPORTATION. And we will always stay focussed on this.

Shubh Laabh, Shubh Yatra, And Happy Holidays.

Gas & Smoke In Garibabad - And The Future In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:50:23 PST

The morning in Islam Colony began with a neighbour requesting the auto-rickshaw driver who lives across us to fetch her a cylinder of cooking gas. He took off on a scooter with the empty cylinder and returned an hour or so later - quite exhausted by the effort.

Yes, it can be tough getting cooking gas in India.

Same fuck-up at Hola Singh's tea-shop - and he uses two or three every month. They pay "commercial rates" for these - which is more than double what wealthy flat-owners pay. Thus, poor people pay more for cooked food on the street.

And our The State claims there is a "gas subsidy."

Actually, transportation is surely the biggest cost. A chap who delivers cylinders on a cycle quite like the photo above told me he gets 20 rupees per cylinder delivered.

However, Handia the smackie does NOT use gas: he uses firewood and dried cow dung cakes. And his children are always to be found lighting the fire or stirring the pots - inhaling this horrible smoke all the time. I warned them against it.

Meanwhile, on the counter of the cigarette vendor at D-2 Market the following warning can be found, in Hindi:

Selling tobacco products to persons under the age of 25

is a punishable offence

What a huge fuckin' HOAX!

If you go trekking in the Himalayas around Delhi you will surely find kids trying to sell you hash - and they all start smoking the stuff at 11 or 12, like their fathers and grandfathers before them.

And this Holy Smoke is ILLEGAL!

Anyway, I told everyone the story of "Gaslit London" - how gas came BEFORE electricity, and how this COAL GAS was entirely piped. It lit the streets - and made them safer. People could go out at night.

And gas piped into the homes of the poor made them warm at night. Of course, they had to put coins into the meter.

And, today, electricity competes with gas.

Finally, I arrived at this cyber cafe to write my post - and the electricity failed!

So, in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea, all kinds gas will be entirely piped - by competing private companies. Electricity, also produced and supplied by private companies, will compete with gas. No chulhas.

And there will be NO MINIMUM AGE for smoking.

Proposed ACTION - For Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:55:12 PST

The Action Plan for shifting to Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea is as follows:

1. All my friends here will be asked to call their friends and associates who want to hear more about the idea to public meetings that I will address. I expect to start with about 8000 poor people - and when I reach the critical figure of 4,00,000 poor people then the second step will be taken.

2. Once a crowd of 4,00,000 has been collected, I will hold a big public meeting, which I will address, and to which the FREE PRESS will be invited.

3. I will reiterate at this meeting that I am the one and only candidate for Lord Mayor of Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea - and I want universal endorsement.

4. Once these events are widely reported, I do not expect our The State to keep quiet. I rather expect that they will enter into discussions with me - and these discussions will all be held in the OPEN, in full public view. I expect FULL CO-OPERATION from the central State as well as the government of the State of Karnataka.

5. During these discussions, we will draw up a schedule for a peaceful and orderly migration.

6. Then, in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea, the REAL WORK will begin, especially for me, to plan out the roads, streets, suburbs, parks, and all that. I will hire experts in the subject areas from the West.

7. NO IAS/IPS/Indian PWD in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea.

All those who wish to attend these initial meetings should stay tuned to this blog, on which I will announce date, time and place.

The IDEA Of Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:07:59 PST

Ideas are extremely important in History - whether good or bad. And the Battle of Ideas between socialism and capitalism is one that every human being must take an interest in - because it concerns The Market, without which civilised Man cannot survive.

I am proud of the fact that I have been fighting this battle relentlessly for over 20 years now.

And today, when the centralised, socialist The State has hit rock bottom, it is I who has come up with the Great Idea of building a new centre of civilisation at Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea.

This Garibabad-in-the-Aravalis called Nude Elly is a centre of "de-civilisation." For one important reason:

The Roads Suck!

A great city that seeks to be a centre of a great civilisation has to be like Rome - of which it was said, even 2000 years ago:

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea will be a "trading city" - what with its deep-water port.

IMPORTS!

But then, a lot depends on roads, rail and air transport, too. We want tourists.

Roads matter for a city so that it can spread out - what they call "urban sprawl." Our cities have become overcrowded only because of inadequate transport connections into the surrounds, to link up satellite towns.

This urban overcrowding is NOT the "population problem." There is enough land - largely unowned - even around this Vasant Kunj area. The real problem is roads - and their layout. If these are not tackled properly and the entire roads layout is bad - as here - then the city must die.

When those who pretend to pursue "rural development" take on urban affairs, they invariably make a mess.

They destroy civilisation - by destroying entire cities.

They destroy civilisation further - by causing capital consumption through welfare financed by inflation.

Civilisation is cities - trading cities. It is Capital Accumulation. And it all depends on Transportation. The sea, the river, the road - whatever.

Nothing is usually produced within a city. Everything comes from without - and the greatest profits are made from those goods which come from the most distant places. Many goods are "perishable" - and transport efficiency and logistics must come into play. In India today, because of poor transportation, perishable goods worth billions - fruit, vegetables, fish, milk - are destroyed annually.

Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea will be a centre of a trading civilisation - and the building and maintenance of all "trade routes" will be taken very seriously.

Top Priority.

Similarly, the City Centre - and roads leading to it from all quarters. So that ALL can easily come to The Market.

So, in one word, the IDEA is CIVILISATION.

A great trading city on the coast, great weather, great natural beauty, great beaches, forests, a river... GOOD TIMES... capital accumulation... trade routes, near and far...

And I am confident we will serve as an excellent example of Constitutional Liberty to the entire world.

Start packing, dudes.

No hope here.

It must be Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea - or bust.

What Is "Governance"?

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:40:26 PST

“Statolatry” – the worship of the State – did not exist in 1776, when Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense and fired the American Revolution. The opening paragraph reads:

Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Where society is a “patron” it is a Market Society. Here, each serves the rest with specialised products and services: the butcher, the baker, the brewer, the barber, the tailor, and so on. In such a “civilised society,” the vast majority are peaceable traders; and the government is a small minority set up with taxation to “punish” outlaws, who are an even smaller minority. That is all. This was “common sense” in 1776, in Revolutionary America.

Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published in 1776 too – and this was no pamphlet. In this book, Adam Smith listed “three duties of the sovereign” in his “system of natural liberty.” These are, apart from national defence
and the provision of roads and things that businessmen will not supply because everyone can use them for free – “the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice.”

Note that Smith did not say the sovereign must “make law.” Legislation was not confounded with law. There was no mass democracy in England in 1776. There was very little legislation till the dawn of the 20th century.

These “classical liberals” saw harmony among peoples and nations if governments left the market free. They were free traders, pacifists opposed to war, and against colonisation. Their greatest products were Richard Cobden in England and Frederic Bastiat in France – both of whom battled together for free trade and peace.

The 20th century of state-worship has been a century of war. Worship of the State meant seeing the world from a “nationalistic” point of view. The classical liberals were, on the contrary, internationalists. They would be called “globalisers” today.

Nationalists see the interests of their nation-states as being thwarted by other nation-states. They see disharmony – and promote war. Being state-worshippers, they give their State an exalted role in economic management – the “national economy fallacy.” Guided by socialist and Keynesian doctrines, their State interferes in markets, occupies “commanding heights,” restricts foreign trade, and runs a central bank that produces fiat paper money. In 1776, money was gold and gold was money: the International Gold Standard.

Today, as I write, there are public riots in 82 nation-states. Economies and currencies are collapsing. Where do we from here? Should we continue with statolatry and nationalism – or should we return to classical liberalism?

It is important to note that there is no “war of each against all” in civilised society, and such a society is also not in a “state of nature.” Civilisation is artificial; it is learned behaviour. We all learn “how to acquire desired objects.”
We learn that the best method is market exchange. We buy things. We learn this from our parents – just as they learnt it from theirs. And civilisation continues.

The Golden Rule that all civilised people follow – without knowing why – is the Inviolability of Property. If you violate this rule you are a thief or a trespasser – an outlaw. If civil governments are based on the Inviolability of Property,
liberty will follow. With liberty and property there will be order – and prosperity.

The modern State is too predatory. Take my country, India. We have very poor roads, and over 1000 people die on these every day – so our lives are not secure. The Socialist State nationalises property– so our properties are not secure either. Repressive legislation and expropriative taxation violate property and liberty. We have thousands of State-owned “enterprises” – all of which make our “common loss.” Our people have a “right to food” while inflation hovers over 15 percent. The children now have a “right to education” – and the textbooks teach State Worship! Yet, we are plagued by electricity failures every single day!

All would be well if the State did not take over public instruction. I end with what Bastiat said on this subject in 1848:

If you want to have theories, systems, methods, principles, textbooks and teachers forced on you by the government, that is up to you; but do not expect me to sign, in your name, such a shameful abdication of your rights.

To him, “government” was only tax collectors, magistrates, judges, policemen, jailors and hangmen – and such personnel are unsuitable for educating people or running economic affairs.

These ideas are required once again today, if civilisation is to be regained.

(This article of mine was originally published in the Journal of the Zambia Institute for Public Policy Analysis in their issue of Jan-Mar 2012.)

Justice & Policing - In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:04:44 PST

Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea shall be a City of Pure Capitalism - free trade, free markets - and such a Market Society is always a "private law society": Property, Contracts, and Torts. These are the "rules of the game." Then, there is Property, Liberty and Justice as well.

Now, Torts are very important in this overall scheme. They provide a real financial incentive for people to be careful about other people. If relief exists in torts, people will drive carefully. Builders will build buildings that don't collapse. Bars will not sell adulterated hooch. Spurious medicines will not be sold - because the retailer will be liable.

Torts also take care of whatever we call "crime" today - crimes that the State Police and their "criminal justice system" do not protect us from. But policing is something new in the world - quite like legislation itself. The Bobby of London made his appearance only in the 1830s. The Indian Police Act is dated 1861 - which means that the Honourable East India Company ruled without such a force.

In Merrie Olde England all crimes were "crimes against the individual" - and these were treated as torts: you had to financially compensate your victim. If this approach is taken by the civic community in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea, most matters of injustice will be taken care of.

It is important to remember that everyone will be encouraged to trade and to run businesses. The economy will be fully open - and it will be a 24-hour economy. Under such an economic system, a "natural order" will prevail and no one will "disturb the peace" - and, when some people do so, the community of traders will themselves oppose them. They will be loyal to the Civic Sword. The Civic Sword will command "moral authority."

Now, policing is always a "local subject" - and "civic independence" has always meant that the Lord Mayor has his own police. This is true of the Olde City of London - inside of which the Bobby is not allowed and the Lord Mayor has his own force. But this force is also new - and was established only after the Bobby of Metropolitan London was set up by Peel.

Till then, tradition has it that the Olde City elects a Mayor and two Sheriffs - and only one who has served one term as sheriff can become Lord Mayor. The task of ensuring public order thus fell on the Lord Mayor and these two Sheriffs. I anticipate that a volunteer group of citizens will be set up for emergencies. I do not anticipate riots - ever. The emphasis will be on PEACE - internal as well as external, without which markets must close down.

Thus, the most important aspect of policing will be Traffic Safety. This will be done primarily by Science & Engineering - and also by Public Education. It will not be a "labour intensive" affair as today.

Someone wrote in to ask how he could earn his keep in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea. Well, here we will not have a "command economy." The capitalist hears only his own commands - and speculates on whatever he deems fit. All I will do is establish the ideal conditions for the pursuit of wealth, health and happiness. But to find these is the task of each Individual.

Finally, let is be noted in bold letters that I have adopted a purely "constitutional approach" to Liberty - and all Political Science is nothing but "history." The constitutional approach to civic independence can be found in the History of the European Civilisation - in Olde London, in the freireichstadtae and Hansastatdae of Germany, the history of Italy and Switzerland, and its ideological roots lie in the city-states of Ancient Greece.

So, I don't give too much of a FUCK for the socialist Constitution of India and the Central State it has established.

Architecture - In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:10:16 PST

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, sitting in the desert, pronounced:

Allah has made the world beautiful,

And it is the duty of every Mussalman to make it even more beautiful.

And the Muslims responded- with magnificent architecture. There is Samarkand - seen in the picture on the left, above.

And there is Bukhara- the picture just below.

Babur built many lovely gardens in Kabul - and he lies buried in one of these. Mughals spent most of their lives in tents - in gardens. Theirs is the Shalimar Garden in Old Delhi. Of course, this garden is now a wasteland under these socialist morons.

Now, there is NOTHING UGLIER than DDA housing - seen in the picture alongside. Architects call this style "brutalism" - and it is designed to brutalise and de-humanise people, by making their surroundings ugly beyond belief.

DE-CIVILISATION!

In more ways than one.

It is UNTHINKABLE than such FUCKERS possess the power to pass building plans.

So, in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea we will NOT have building plans subject to any approval - except for the proprietor's own. And to that Proprietor we will only repeat what the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:

Allah has made the world beautiful,

And it is the duty of every Mussalman to make it even more beautiful.

Indeed, Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in India - and one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here, the beach meets the mountain and the river meets the sea- and there are verdant jungles all around. Green - not the desert.

Make it MORE BEAUTIFUL - with what you build. Enjoy beauty. That is what civilisation is all about.

I close with a photo of Esslingen, one of Germany's oldest towns. And one of its most beautiful, too - so much so that the Allies deliberately refrained from bombing it. There were no building permissions then.

In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea we will attempt to encourage PRIVATE MAGNIFICENCE. Let there be many, many beautiful private buildings. We will discourage high-rise apartments - like this mess called Gurgaon. Even Mises - a European - was not impressed by the Manhattan skyline. Old European architecture is much more beautiful - like Esslingen.

So, let us think about building a beautiful City - with graceful surrounds.

Beautiful buildings, beautiful gardens and parks, beautiful, well laid-out streets.

The central road will be called Ludwig von Mises Boulevard.

And the Central Market will be called:

The Lord Peter Bauer Market.

Dream on, dudes.

Who The FUCK Am "I"?

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:30:22 PST

I am extremely happy to be alive and kicking - and blogging - at a TIME like this, a time of CRISES: intellectual, moral, political, constitutional, judicial and also administrative. In "peak form," that too.

Let us "make history."

History is not "theory" - as the Marxists teach.

On the contrary.

Rather, History is a record of the unique and unrepeatable - events and persons gone forever in the passage of Time.

History is largely about these INDIVIDUALS - who took certain decisions, good or bad; who made their mark, in whatever field: Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Babur. And there is also a History of Jazz.

But, above all, there is the History of Ideas. All the great religions are nothing but ideas: moral, legal, and metaphysical. Of course, there are "non-theistic religions" too - like Jainism and Buddhism.

Mankind has been moved only by ideas - and the originators and propagators of these ideas have always been the focus of historical attention.

I am extremely happy to be a "man of ideas" at a Time like this - a time of widespread crises. A time when the political-administrative-judicial system of the socialists is reporting multiple-organ failure.

BUT WHO THE FUCK AM I?

You may well ask.

Well, let me say that there is a History waiting to be written - a record of what I will do in the FUTURE.

All you can know about me today is what I have done in the Past - by books and other writings, my various lovers, my own History.

Apart from my writings, the rest are IRRELEVANT today. Today, you must focus all attention on my writings - just as it mattered little to the average Londoner then what John Wilkes' - a "libertine" - love life was all about. These are mere digressions about non-issues.

What matters to all of you today is what I do in the FUTURE. Will I be a betrayer of public trust? Will I uphold all the "values" of Political and Economic Freedom? These are the questions that matter. Am I worthy of public trust and confidence?

Once again, all that matters are the IDEAS - the ideas that I uphold. It is my stand on Liberty and Property that will affect the futures of all who trust me.

Who the FUCK am I?

Let me say that I am inspired by many persons in History - beginning with Ludwig von Mises, who, while proposing marriage to Margit, said:

I will write a great deal about money,

But never make much of it myself.

And she accepted - God bless her Soul.

In the same spirit, I am inspired by Diogenes, the Cynic, who told Alexander the Great:

DON'T STAND BETWEEN ME AND THE SUN!

He could only say this because he was an "ascetic." And I am an ascetic, too - in my own way. I have never chased the money.

The lives of many great men inspire me - especially in difficult times - and this is why we study History. Beginning with the "MEN who Ruled India" that Philip Mason chronicled. Of them, the peasantry said:

Ghoray ke peeche aur ufsar ke aagay kabhi na jaana.

I am inspired by Socrates, a "street-corner philosopher"; and I am inspired by the myths and legends of Bhola, of Krishna, of Ulysses.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him - a figure from History - is a source of inspiration to me, too.

Music inspires me: like Bob Marley -

SOUL REBEL

So, you can try to figure out who the FUCK I am.

And then figure out whether you want me on the stage as against these evil socialists.

You decide.

And then, it will all be about a History that is not yet written, that is waiting to happen - about India's Second Freedom Struggle.

And I will then play my part:

All the world's a stage,

And all the men are merely players...

And then, History will judge me: whether I was a good man or a knave. Whether I stood up to Principles. Whether I betrayed public trust and confidence.

Now, History is all about the unique and non-repeatable: about Individuals. I am one such Individual. I am not Mises. Nor am I Socrates - though both inspire me. I am someone who has never happened in History before - and will never happen again.

INDIVIDUUM EST INEFFABILE

This is precisely what the socialists ignore: the individual. Their God is the Collective - or The State. Not mine. The Market Society with its "division of labour" and "fragmentation of knowledge" - because of specialisation - is all about Individualism. That is Capitalism - or Poonjiwadi. Each the architect of his own destiny.

Now, what I achieve in the future will depend on my knowledge, on the strength of my character, on my moral courage - and such things.

Today, thanks to this epic struggle that has been foisted upon me, I feel stronger than ever before. I close with Mises' motto from Virgil:

Never give in to Evil.

But proceed ever more boldly against it.

Yes, for me, it is:

LIBERTY OR DEATH!

Private Guns - In Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:18:32 PST

On the left is the symbol of Coorg - the coffee-growing, hilly, and verdant district of Karnataka not too far from Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea. Coorgi men are all brave and handsome warriors - they have produced many great generals - but what is unique about this district is that they all possess the RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, a right conferred upon them by the Brits. Thus, their symbol has a rifle going through it. I was gifted a plaque with this symbol after a lecture tour here many years ago.

I have travelled through and lectured in various parts of Coorg - and I noted that it was a completely PEACEFUL place. There is no terrorism here. And very little crime. Even the State Police are polite and helpful because the people are all armed - unlike Nude Elly, where they are invariably rude, and where they stood by in 1984 and let the CONgress massacre Sikhs.

But the Sikh religion prescribes that Sikhs must always carry their traditional dagger - the kirpan. I once addressed a crowd of kirpan-carrying Sikhs - and there was perfect order. If the Sikhs of Delhi had been armed in 1984, the tables would surely have been turned on the CONgress.

I heard a saying once: When two armed men meet, they treat each other with respect.

I love guns. I learnt to shoot when very young - and I am a crack-shot. I believe that an armed citizenry is a very good thing - for this deters both criminals as well as foreign invaders. Coorg is crime-free for this reason. And Switzerland was allowed to stay neutral in both World Wars only because every Swiss male is trained to shoot and keeps guns.

I am an old member of Indians For Guns - who campaign for our right to keep and bear arms. You can find their website here.

Thus, in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea, we will ENCOURAGE the citizenry to buy guns - and receive training in their use and maintenance. I hope to see many hunts being organised in the forests here - rich in game. I hope to join some of these hunts - maybe on horseback.

An armed citizenry loyal to their civic government under a Lord Mayor will be an asset making for order - something that cannot be imposed from above.

Ultimately, I hope to create some sort of BAVARIAN community here - what with beer as the City Drink and beergardens everywhere. Bavaria till today is known to Germans as the Free State of Bavaria - and here, once every year, all their riflemen dressed in their traditional best fire off shots in the air at the City Centre.

So, boom-boom in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea.

I hope to see only big, strong men and their big, strong women applying for citizenship.

WIMPS NOT ALLOWED!

This Property Is CONDEMNED

noreply@blogger.com (Sauvik) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:11:59 PST

The auto-rickshaw is a piece of JUNK. No doors, no windows, open to the elements - summer, winter or rain - uncomfortable, bumpy, slow, and unsafe.

It slows down traffic. We now have many modern cars in India - but if an auto-rickshaw struggles up a flyover, everyone else must change gears and slow down. So, even if the auto-rickshaw is labelled "clean" - what with CNG as its fuel - it leads to massive pollution because it slows all the other vehicles down.

However, for the past month or two, I have been observing this piece of junk from the driver's point of view - and I now see that it is TORTURE for him, too, for this vehicle breaks down ever so often and requires too much maintenance. This costs time as well as money.

The other day, I was chatting with a group of auto-drivers at a stand - and two of their vehicles needed repairs. Yesterday, I saw another two struggling to get these beasties working. Today, I encountered yet another one.

Now, modern cars rarely break down. All you have to do is take them for service once every six months. That's all. And that's it. The car keeps running smoothly, day after day, mile after mile. Your poonji (capital) is well invested. And you earn money - and get to keep it as well. This is not the case with the auto-rickshaw.

My auto-driver friend of many decades, Khuch-Khuch, also a resident of Islam Colony, rents his beastie from someone else. He gets to keep the surplus. But, from what I have been observing, a HUGE amount of his time as well as money go on repairs.

The auto-rickshaw is a very unreliable vehicle.

As I was telling these guys, in the old days there were DONKEYS and there were HORSES. But this auto-rickshaw is WORSE than a donkey.

And as for the RTO who licenses all these dud vehicles, he rides a tax-paid Ambassador car - a DONKEY.

The RTO does not know the difference between a horse and a donkey.

In Nude Elly, most people ride horses: Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai...

It is the KING and his servants who ride Ambassadors.

It is worse than the case of East Germany and its Trabant - which had four wheels.

This is far worse than the Soviet Union with its Lada.

Ours is the worst example of socialist engineering ever - this dud vehicle called the auto-rickshaw.

It should be CONDEMNED as unfit for the road.

I do NOT want to see this worse-than-a-donkey vehicle in Daulatabad-upon-the-Sea.

There, we will have tramways, modern buses, taxis... but not these auto-rickshaws.

If the customer is king, then the passenger must come first - along with safety as well as comfort.

And the driver-entrepreneur must also be free to in vest his poonji wisely - not forced to spend it on this JUNK.

When I arrived in Delhi early October, this piece of JUNK cost its owner 6,50,000 rupees - because of the PERMIT. He could easily buy 2 modern, small cars with that money.

This is the WORST EXAMPLE of exploitation of the poor by socialists and interventions ever to be found.

Lord! Let the modern age dawn upon our poor, backward country.

Cars. Taxis. Not these beasties.