Away With Their "Visible Hand"!

It was just the other day that Chandra at Hayek Order quoted something fundamentally erroneous that our finance minister said in a recent lecture delivered in Sri Lanka. There, Pranab baboo said:

…the pursuit of individual goals do not necessarily lead to public good. Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ cannot guarantee allocation of resources efficiently.

Well, the headline news today proves the minister wrong. Over 12,000 sugarcane farmers descended upon New Delhi yesterday from the surrounds to protest sugarcane prices fixed by our The Chacha State. These prices were not determined by Adam Smith’s “invisible hand.” On the contrary, these prices were fixed by the very visible hand of State coercion – in an effort to allow sugar mills to profit at the expense of farmers. Quite obviously there will be protests.

What this proves is that it is the Visible Hand of The State that does NOT allocate resources efficiently. Further, that it causes social discord. The natural harmony of the market order breaks down as politics comes to occupy centre stage. Note that apples, tomatoes, pineapples, mangoes, grapes and oranges are bought in vast quantities by factories that convert them into juice – and total harmony prevails because all prices are determined on The Market.

So, the man to quote is Ludwig von Mises. In Omnipotent Government Mises wrote:

"The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments."

Further, in his Bureaucracy, a classic on the subject, Mises said:

"Representative democracy cannot subsist if a great part of the voters are on the government pay roll. If the members of parliament no longer consider themselves mandatories of the taxpayers but deputies of those receiving salaries, wages, subsidies, doles, and other benefits from the treasury, democracy is done for."

The following words from Mises’ Socialism are also highly relevant today:

"The desire for an increase of wealth can be satisfied through exchange, which is the only method possible in a capitalist economy, or by violence and petition as in a militarist society, where the strong acquire by force, the weak by petitioning."

Hence we see the sugarcane farmers protesting and petitioning.

The other way is the path of harmony, peaceful voluntary exchange, free markets and all prices determined by market forces.

That is the path we must now choose. Enough of State Interventionism. Away with their “visible hand”!

On Roads, Baboons, And Naxals

Today, the lead editorial in the Express is on road safety, as is the lead article in the ToI. Indeed, the callous indifference to road safety exhibited by our The Chacha State should prompt us to seek solutions outside the State Police. One easy solution is to treat all road accident injuries as torts. It is tort laws that make people careful not to injure others. With torts, the victim is compensated. Today, the victim gets nothing – and rumours suggest that the State Police get a lot.

Yet, it is not just the State police who are grossly incompetent: as far as highways and expressways are concerned, our IAS baboons are no better. A report in Mint says that The Chacha State will allow real estate development along expressways. This means that those who build roads here in India know nothing about their subject. They are as incompetent as the State Police.

There are three types of roads: first, those that provide access to properties; second, those that connect these access roads to highways; and finally, right on top, come highways and expressways, which connect one place to another, but do NOT provide access to any roadside properties. By this definition, we have no highways at all in India, for all our highways are lined with properties. All our "notional highways" are basically "access roads." But it seems like our Bozos-on-Top do not want to learn anything. Note that if there are properties along expressways, safety will be hugely lowered.

As far as the real estate industry is concerned, the best our Chacha State can do for them is to vastly simplify the procedures for obtaining property titles. This article in Mint today is a shocker, detailing the screwy procedures our IAS-wallahs have put in place now. Away with these morons!

What can we expect from the IAS-IPS baboons? The editors of Mint seem to be expecting a lot. Today, they too have joined the call for crushing the Maoist-Naxalite-PCPA rebellion with armed force. Easier said that done. And war only improves the health of The State while destroying the lives and finances of the sheeple. The bozo cops who cannot deliver a single working pedestrian crossing anywhere in this vast territory will obtain BIG BUDGETS to fight this war. And once the budgets are granted, these bozos will want to perpetuate their "work" – as in the case of Siachen. The editors of Mint have quoted Mancur Olson on free riding. They should also consider William Niskanen and his theory of the budget-maximizing bureaucrat.

Speaking of “public choice theory,” which is still not taught in India, here is a wonderful tribute to James Buchanan, one of the key thinkers of this school, on his 90th birthday. Buchanan’s key insight is that “State failure” is more rampant than commonly understood, while “market failure,” which is taught, is extremely rare. As the article says:

Buchanan insists that we should always look upon "politics without romance," that we ought never to forget that all the fine campaign phrases and soaring promises issued by politicians too often disguise the selfish, sometimes sleazy, reality of political activity.

Buchanan concludes that the USSA needs a new Constitution.

So do we. A Second Republic.

So let us not give more powers and budgets to The Chacha State. Rather, let us systematically strip them of all their powers. Let them be forced to accede to all the demands of the rebels. There is this other report in Mint on Bastar, which begins thus:

In a moment of rare frankness, the senior Indian Administrative Service official described how, on one of his official trips to rural Maharashtra, he saw a poster printed by Naxalites in the northern Gadchiroli region, making 40 demands of the government. “Would you believe it? I agreed with 39 out of the 40,” he said. “I just disagreed with one: armed rebellion.”

They all say that there are a few good men still there. This must be one of them.

Give Peace A Chance

My best read of this morning was Eric Margolis on LRC, an article titled “Teuton and Gaul will never fight again,” on Franco-German peace and friendship. Yes, I’ll raise a toast to that, and hope that India and Pakistan can speedily resolve their differences too. We must solve the Kashmir problem soon, keeping the interests of the local people uppermost in our minds.

Actually, India’s biggest problem is all the internal wars: apart from Kashmir, there is Manipur, and then there is the Naxalite-Maoists insurgency in 90 districts. Our Chacha State has no clue as to how to resolve these internal problems, themselves caused by bad State policies of the past.

On this front, I am happy that Abheek Barman has written eloquently on the futility of using the armed might of the Chacha State against these poor people. His conclusion is frank and forthright:

To get Naxals into the political mainstream, the political mainstream has to make the first move. And to do that, the government has to take the first step to reconciliation.

How do Naxalites happen? I got some idea of that last evening as I walked to my nearest market to buy cigarettes and some fruit. I buy these from street vendors, but yesterday they were all gone – vanished. I could guess what must have happened for I then saw a burly cop wielding a big lathi ordering the ice-cream vendor to bugger off or face his wrath.

I think these are the kinds of State actions that promote all these rebellions. A good man trying to make a living selling ice-cream will easily drift into a rebel movement if cops throw him out of The Market. He will become a sworn cop-killer. Note that in Lalgarh, West Bengal, the rebels have grouped together under the banner of an organization that calls itself People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA).

Yes, our cops too need to think.

After all, why is the Teuton at peace with the Gaul? The only reason is that they now prefer to trade with each other. They have discovered the secrets of social co-operation and the international division of labour. The personnel of our Chacha State need to discover these too.

A Challenge for our Civil Services

There is a story in Mint today from the Naxalite-affected province of Chhatisgarh that I advise my reader to read in full. It is only after you read it that you should read the rest of this post.

What do you make of it?

Doesn’t it sound like The Bhateeja State has lost the plot? People like me study “civil government” – but here we have a quasi-military one; or a “police-backed State” if you prefer. The police building roads? Whatever next?

And people dying for the sake of building the road?

And this road is a “prestige issue” for the Top Cop?

And the chief minister saying he will “push for governance” – with the State police leading the march?

What is “civil government”?

Note that the Top Cop got his job after sitting for a “civil services” examination. These dudes are supposed to be “civil servants” – of a “civil government.”

Instead of that, what we have is internal civil war.

And the plunder of mineral wealth.

And a ban on mahua.

It was perhaps a decade ago that a young IAS officer from Chhatisgarh came calling upon me in my then office at the Economic Times. He was a fan of my writings on bureaucracy, and wanted me to autograph one of these columns. After that fuss, we had a small chat, whereupon he presented me with a CD on what the Chattisgarh government was planning to do to develop the state. The entire CD was all about highways and urban development. Obviously this never happened. What actually happened is what the story in Mint reveals: “Bridges, roads, hand pumps are all built on paper.” I recall that the new state was under a Congress government then, whose “dynamic” chief minister, Ajit Jogi, later dropped out of politics because of injuries suffered in a road accident. Someone told me that Jogi is a former IAS officer.

Looks like the IAS-IPS chaps have totally lost the plot too. Since they are a “constitutional bureaucracy,” this must be looked upon as a “constitutional crisis.”

One phrase rankled: “prestige issue.”

In other words, “dadagiri” (bullying).

The British would have sent in a young “political officer.” He would hold parleys, drink their mahua, dance with them to their jungle drums, sign a treaty and establish local independence under the overall suzerainty of the British raj. Someone like the young Captain James Tod.

Any Indian “civil servant” out there capable of carrying out this delicate mission?

Who Are Running Amuck?

It can’t get any worse than this: Remember the Shopian case, where 2 Kashmiri women were allegedly raped and murdered in May? Well, the news has it that their vaginal swabs have been tampered with. Those poor women have had their bodies exhumed – violated in life, violated in death – and there is NO JUSTICE.

One drastic solution to this business of cops tampering with evidence is to allow the victims to collect their own evidence and prosecute their own cases. This is how the law worked in Merrie Olde England. Read Bruce Benson, here.

This disgusting news of police ineptitude and corruption brought me back to a stoned conversation I had with a baba and his bhakt in an ashram in a jungle last morning.

The bhakt took a stand that without the State police, we cannot be safe from harm. Anyone will steal our daughters, he said.

I dunno about daughters, I told him, but in my life I have had a stereo system stolen, a motorcycle stolen, and, most recently, my laptop was stolen in Goa. I have never got anything back.

So the guy shifted gears and spoke of the need for a lagaam (bridle) for the people: a State police are essential for “controlling” the people, he said. Otherwise, they would run amuck.

I replied that it was precisely the State police who needed a lagaam, for it is they who are running amuck.

We are not lawless; the State police are, I said.

I think he saw the light then, for he abandoned the discussion and got to work on preparing a great big chillum. He then offered it to me to inaugurate. We became friends.

The Worship Of Monkeys

Bandar ke haath mein talwar – these words come to mind when reading the top stories in the news today: The Sword is in the hands of a Monkey.

Indeed, monkeys, our closest cousins, make for an interesting case towards a better understanding of human morality. Note that monkeys cannot trade – they only steal whatever they want. Snatch and grab is their only recourse. Now contrast them with humans – who buy bananas, and everything else – and you will arrive at conclusions very different from Thomas Hobbes (of Leviathan fame) who, it must be noted, never saw a monkey in his life.

If we contrast humans and monkeys, we note that there is a “natural order” in the affairs of humans because we are “rule-following animals.” And the rule is this:

Possession Indicates Property.

We buy and sell all through our lives without resorting to any “paperwork,” only because of this Golden Rule. When I give Parimal a hundred rupees for 5 packs of Silk Cut, and he hands the same over to me, Property has changed hands, Parimal is now the owner of the State note, and I am the owner of the cigarettes. And everyone in the bazaar agrees that we have treated each other with Justice, and that the exchange of properties was legitimate. The new pattern of ownership is accepted as legitimate by all.

Because they cannot trade, monkeys are lawless. So if monkeys took to the sword, mayhem would ensue. And it has:

Item #1: Raj Thuggeray issuing notice to the State Bank of India that they must hire Marathi manoos as clerks. This is blatant misuse of the talwar, whose purpose is to see that fair competition prevails, that all candidates for clerkship compete fairly with each other, so that SBI hires the best.

Once again, there is this difference in political philosophy: We idealize a world where FORCE is minimized, and used only according to The Law. People like Thuggeray believe precisely in the misuse of force, on coercion. Yet, they are “recognized” as politicians heading political parties. We are not. Funny old world.

Item #2: The story of the grabbing of tribal lands rich in iron ore by the Tatas and the Essar Group. Here the precise rule being violated is that which we observe in all our markets: Possession Indicates Property. Once again, those who are wielding the Sword of State are acting like lawless monkeys.

What do we do?

I recall many a stay in Koppa, a small village on the outskirts of Bangalore, where I used to hold seminars for students. Here, monkeys were a huge menace. They would raid the dining hall. They would raid our rooms. Indeed, my own room was raided once.

One day, I took a walk through Koppa just to check out the place. There was only one temple they had. It was dedicated to the Monkey God – Hanuman.

I found it rather strange that it was precisely where monkeys are a nuisance that the people worship the Monkey God.

On Our Original Chacha... And Poona Today

The newspapers today are all full of Nehru – today is the 120th birth anniversary of our Original Chacha. Mint has many articles on the man and quite a few great photos too. I suggest you buy a copy. The Times of India, oddly enough, has many State advertisements – including one paid for by the ministry of steel, on which they quote Nehru’s vision of a State that also makes Steel – or should it be “Steal”?

Anyway, this day is also celebrated as Children’s Day – for legend has it that the Original Chacha loved all his bhateejas and bhateejis – us. Yet, when a loving bhateeja like me finally acquired the wisdom to reassess the man, he was forced to conclude that Chacha Nehru was EVIL. Read that historic article here.

Actually, it was Bastiat who really loved the young. His preface to Economic Harmonies is titled “To The Youth” – and this essay is the first in my The Essential Frederic Bastiat: free download here. The essay begins thus:

Eagerness to learn, the need to believe in something, minds still immune to age-old prejudices, hearts untouched by hatred, zeal for worthy causes, ardent affections, unselfishness, loyalty, good faith, enthusiasm for all that is good, beautiful, sincere, great, wholesome, and spiritual—such are the priceless gifts of youth. That is why I dedicate this book to the youth.

So read Bastiat and don’t read Chacha’s books at all.

And talking about the youth, I must report the horrific tale of what happened as I surfed the ToI website this morning. There is a feature on the homepage called “Cities” where you can choose the city you want and obtain news of happenings there. After looking around here and there, I finally clicked on Pune. And the first item on the list, written in bold letters, was this:

Two killed in road mishap

I was immediately taken back to the few months I spent in Pune some years ago. Not a single day passed without a report of some people, usually motorcyclists, usually young, getting killed on the roads. This happened EVERY SINGLE DAY for a few months.

I recall meeting a retired general who once headed the Armed Forces’ Medical College, which is located in Pune. He told me that a large percentage of his students suffered road accidents when they drove into town, usually on two-wheelers. He joked that it was probably safer to go to war than go to Main Street.

I recall a bus ride from Pune to Mumbai during which my fellow-passenger was a young sardarji from Jalandhar who was in Pune to study something or the other. When quizzed by me about road accidents, he related an eerie tale. He said that whenever a student died his college used to observe a holiday. But now that deaths are so frequent, they merely observe a minute’s silence.

Get it?

And Pune is supposed to be a "student town"!

All I Wanna Say Is That They Don’t Really Care About Us.

So don’t fall for all this Chacha-Bhateeja-Children’s Day nonsense.

Our The State actually hates you.

Which is why they call you The Population Problem.