tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post202296251089869802..comments2023-08-25T17:30:36.937+05:30Comments on Business Musings: Get the poor to subsidise the poorRameshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-76844773820979573192014-04-16T22:52:34.582+05:302014-04-16T22:52:34.582+05:30@Prakash - Thanks for commenting. Yes, there is ma...@Prakash - Thanks for commenting. Yes, there is many a shady practice in the TASMAC business - how can it not be when it is such a major money spinner for all sorts of people. Politicians have their hand heavily inside in this business. And you are right - its the women folk in TN who bear the brunt of the effect.<br /><br />The pensions problem is much worse in the West. It is bad in the US and a country like France for example is plain broke on just this one area. My generation has much to answer for, for it is the first generation which has stolen from its children.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-49289416555334728062014-04-16T18:53:48.680+05:302014-04-16T18:53:48.680+05:30@Ramesh
Saw a report in the hindu yesterday that ...@Ramesh<br /><br />Saw a report in the hindu yesterday that the liquor manufacturers supplying tarmac were benamis rather than cronies. <br /><br />Stands to logic that making liquor more accessible to people will drive consumption. Wonder if there is any study that reveals any freakanomics side to this aspect of accessibility. <br /><br />On the subject of privatisation, it still seems to make more sense to give the distribution licences to other benamis. <br /><br />Not funding the pensions during the service lifetime is indeed a crime on our children. I have heard that the Americans are guilty of this with respect to Social Security. I wonder how the rest of the developed world fares on this. <br /><br />You are right, we should debate it even if it is inconsequential as far as the elections are concerned. I am sure this debate will be on amongst the women and daughters of the country who bear the brunt of this menace. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01617634016181391963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-90879991653694180322014-04-08T07:48:42.055+05:302014-04-08T07:48:42.055+05:30@Sriram - Oh yes - this lot institutionalized corr...@Sriram - Oh yes - this lot institutionalized corruption, presided over a huge degradation of values, resorted to outright thuggery etc etc. But they also governed well in certain areas - and in our rightful criticism of them, we can't ignore that.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-9632050262537930232014-04-07T23:12:20.009+05:302014-04-07T23:12:20.009+05:30You two are being extremely charitable when it com...You two are being extremely charitable when it comes to MK, MGR, JJ. Perhaps you have the bar way too low because you look around at characters like Lalloo, which makes you then conclude that these three " haven't been all that bad."<br /><br />Even though the "Dravida" political party rule is now almost 50 years old, the early years were the only ones that were not all that bad. MK institutionalized corruption even early on (we folks from Neyveli remember the Veeranam pipeline pipes by the highway on the way to Madras!) but the magnitude then was way less compared to his tenure later. The initial MGR years were not all that bad, true. But, by then MK had already lowered the bar. <br />But, it was from MGR's time on that Tamil Nadu started slipping in economic growth rates and, especially, in the value-adding manufacturing sector. Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-8484804345383585432014-04-07T08:11:05.482+05:302014-04-07T08:11:05.482+05:30@sriram - Oh yes - the state has a lot going for i...@sriram - Oh yes - the state has a lot going for it. Huge commitment to education, an overcoming of caste barriers, some good governments in the past (not bad even now). And, as you say, what more could have been achieved with better governance.<br /><br />@Kiwi - You are absolutely right. The three recent CMs haven't been all that bad. Yes, they have been mind bogglingly corrupt, but under their administrations a lot of good has been done too, as you have pointed out. Even the current megalomaniac lady, is doing all the right things on the power sector.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-13508605967362799382014-04-07T08:08:13.751+05:302014-04-07T08:08:13.751+05:30@myfloatingthoughts - Yes the freebie culture has ...@myfloatingthoughts - Yes the freebie culture has afflicted everybody - we now consider the government basically as something to be looted.<br /><br />@Prakash - Thanks for reading and commenting.Oh - I am not advocating prohibition at all. But I have some moral scruples in a government aggressively driving liquor consumption amongst the poor by opening an outlet virtually in every village. They are not privatising it as they are making a significant profit (markups of more than 20%) in addition to taxes.<br /><br />Pensions are perfectly legal. Its just that its a horrible instance of robbing the child to pay the elderly. They give over generous pensions and don't fund it during the lifetime of service of the employee - so the children pay for the old.<br /><br />No, we should talk about it, even though it may not have the slightest effect on the polls. If we all don't consider the issues and think, then we might as well vote Ileana or Asin to the government :):)<br /><br />Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-50842333987478212012014-04-07T03:25:10.650+05:302014-04-07T03:25:10.650+05:30Did I say 30years of MK/MGR/JJ, apologies, make i...Did I say 30years of MK/MGR/JJ, apologies, make it 50. The congress is a spent force in TN and nothing can ever revive it! And time flies!!The Million Milerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15613846231988591032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-91890396452403683342014-04-07T03:22:31.261+05:302014-04-07T03:22:31.261+05:30While the Pre DMK/ADMK govts in TN did set the bas...While the Pre DMK/ADMK govts in TN did set the basics right as Shriram says, rubbishing 30 years of MK/MGR/JJ rule is not really quite right. Agreed none of these were paragons of virtute and devoted thier lives selflessly to the upliftment of the poor. However there were (despite all the corruption and scandals) several things that were put in place that has helped in the long run. IF one were to look at the 3 CMs and single out one thing that they did which has benefited the state in the long run - MK for having built the transport network to what it is today. In the 70s and 80s when most states had an unresponsive monolithic State Transport Corporations, MK created decentralisied units; in rural areas transport = trade = income.<br />MGR for all his quirks was a genius in expanding Kamaraj's Mid day meal scheme. While there were lot of middlemen who ate and continue to eat, it genuinely lifted up school enrolment rates especially in the poorer sections of M.R.T.K districts (Madurai, Ramnad, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari). And her highness in her second (and possibly the third) stint did light up a fire under the backsides of the bureaucracy especially in the area of Self Help Groups and Microcredit. In Coimbatore (rural) which is home for me, I see this has significantly transformed lives of women (because all the men folk are in TASMAC shops and can't be relied to bring money into the house) Economic emancipation of the rural tamil woman is seen to be believed. I guess fundamental to all this is the fact tha the bureaucracy has been reasonably good through the years.The Million Milerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15613846231988591032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-32152332938500381732014-04-07T00:37:27.468+05:302014-04-07T00:37:27.468+05:30It is the rich progressive history that has helped...It is the rich progressive history that has helped out Tamil Nadu, which is why despite the robbery by the DMK/ADMK governments the state's people are still doing well. <br /><br />I don't mean any "Sangam"-literature kind of old history but the 20th century history. The Self-Respect movement that Periyar led immensely contributed at the ground level. It wasn't any empty rhetoric like Indira Gandhi's "garibi hatao" ... And from the other side, the progressive thinking of those in power--CR, Kamaraj, and Bhaktavatsalam.<br /><br />The net result is that the state got to be pretty good position in the human development indicators ... A simple, but a profound, example: the total fertility rate in Tamil Nadu is even less than the fertility rate here in the US. It makes a huge difference when even the poor have fewer children to take care of ... <br /><br />Thus, as hard as the likes of MGR, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa try to set back the state, well, there was enough momentum to get the people going in the right direction.<br /><br />If these atrocious politicians who have screwed the state for more than three decades had been even a tad more responsible and just a little less corrupt, then the state would have had some awesome transformation. But, such is life ... Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-87914804108685095292014-04-07T00:13:59.277+05:302014-04-07T00:13:59.277+05:30The options instead of running TASMAC would be pro...The options instead of running TASMAC would be prohibition or privatising the sector. It is well known that prohibition does not work. But it confounds me as to what the state loses by privatisation. The taxes will still accrue and the graft as well. <br /><br />Is the pension legitimate or not? If it is not, how did it come about in the first place?<br /><br />These issues are not debated because nothing worthwhile is going to come out of the debate unless the poor are educated and lifted out of poverty. Once that happens, in spite of all odds, no debate would be necessary. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01617634016181391963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-86192211284025373522014-04-06T18:47:01.434+05:302014-04-06T18:47:01.434+05:30Thanks for taking this up Ramesh Sir! As you have ...Thanks for taking this up Ramesh Sir! As you have explained, the numbers show that the freebies are not a big proportion of the outflow yet, but what worries me most is the impact this culture has on the moral fabric of the populace. Coupled with the drunken state of affairs, the whole population seems to think that the state would be its lifelong caretaker and there is no need to earn a honest living :-(Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com