So this
time I am going to be sending you your special day letter a day or two earlier
than normal instead of the usual delayed letter. It’s the weekend and I was
missing you so much. Last time I went to Al Forsan Shooting club was with you where
you shot off all those guns and then we had that huge sushi dinner.
Anyway, I
shared the Economic Facts and Fallacies book by Thomas Sowell with you. If you
need the epub/pdf, I can send that to you. I had read the first edition and
then again read the second edition long time back. And then I was discussing
economic fallacies with a bunch of friends on a mailing list. One of my friends
wanted to know what are the common fallacies that Indians see and work on.
I wrote these
1. it’s the government's job to create jobs rather than create
the eco-system to create jobs
2. Sarkar ki sampatti apni sampatti hai, maine mera hissa le
liya (basically that government assets or public commons are free for all and
nobody cares about them)
3. doing business is grubby business
4. buy gold
5. buy real estate
6. tax evasion
7. queuing
8. foreign capital is bad
9. improving product quality is useless
10. you cannot compromise on development over environment
11. a high fx reserve is a good thing
12. exchange rates don't matter
13. the entire case of agricultural subsidies being good
14. state owned banking system is required for a developing
country like India
Some of the above obviously needs to be expanded but then Amit
shared the book reference and I read it again. Fascinating. I have now read the
book 3 times and every time, I shake my head at the ridiculousness of so many
public and private policies that are embedded in day to day life. At the
beginning, I used to get upset and used to fulminate and moan and complain with
a passion. Then I figured, I should take advantage of it and started to dis/invest
in companies, markets and sectors which had issues. And now, whenever I see
these and other economic fallacies being pushed around (and I was asked many
questions during my recent lectures), I just laugh and walk away. No point,
meh. But you are in a different stage, Kannu, in your line of work, you could think
about how you can leverage your investments on these economic fallacies. It’s a
nice short book and you can easily go through it in less than a day. People who
work outside them or can recognise these fallacies are frankly very priviledged
(there’s another issue that gets my goat, this stupidity called as “check my
priviledge” but will talk about that another day).
More importantly, your own worldview changes. For example,
Indians are boycotting Chinese goods which I find ridiculous. Its all a way to
keep the hoi polloi occupied with miserably stupid things. It does not add a
single additional Indian job, save an Indian Soldiers life or increases anybody’s
earnings. I told the students who asked me, I said, sod that stupidity, you are
smart. Instead of deleting the Chinese apps, learn how they have made those
apps and make a better app. Add value to your country by establishing a company
and building jobs. Fallacies, son, fallacies. It focuses your mind on important
things, son. And when you start getting involved in charity or in proper
business, you will do things that actually matter, which actually make a
difference.
Let me know what you think after reading the book. It would be
good to hear your fresh thoughts on how the world treats them.
By the way, the photos of you and Choti in the garden were so
lovely, I must have seen them 200 times again and again. You two have turned
out so well, that I am so happy. All credit to Mamma of course! And other than
that regrettable tendency to purchase turnips. What is with that? Of all the
things you two can do, you decide to mess about with turnips? Terrible.
Anyway, hope you have a lovely special day, Kannu. Love you and
miss you terribly.
Baba
