Kautilya - Liberty

Government interference makes our food unhealthy

kautilya — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:59:31 -0400

It seems that excessive government subsidies have made some foods like corn so cheap that it is being used in all sorts of processed snacks resulting in high carbohydrate, high sugar (high fructose corn syrup).
From this article

Under the Farm Bill, the great bulk of USDA largesse flows to five crops: corn, soy, cotton, wheat, and rice...
Cheap corn, underwritten by the subsidy program, has changed the diet of every American...

And, who is harmed? The poor of of course... It is the poor who generally don't have time to cook and can't afford the expensive fresh food, and what do the do

According to Drewnowski and his student Pablo Monsivais, cheap and abundant additives such as HFCS allow manufacturers to sweeten food liberally without adding much to their production costs. For people on a tight budget, these additives can also make cheap food the most efficient way to get calories...
"Energy-dense foods ... are the cheapest option for the consumer," Drewnowski says. "As long as the healthier lean meats, fish, and fresh produce are more expensive, obesity will continue to be a problem for the working poor."

This is just another example of unintended consequence of a “supposedly good intention.”

The role of private sector in India

kautilya — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:33:54 -0400

I love this article about how in all areas in India that were traditionally controlled by the government, and now opened to the private sector we see massive improvement. Also, the single area which government should have been playing a good role at, i.e. law, the government has been a dismal failure. He almost says that even law should be privatized, but stops short.
This is the article and some selected quotes fomr the article below:

The private sector has done more than expected. India's software industry is world class. Indian manufacturing has finally become competitive: exports have grown by over 30% annually for three years. Indian companies are making foreign acquisitions galore and becoming MNCs - Tata Steel, Bharat Forge, Tata Motors and Ranbaxy are a few examples.

Power was long a state monopoly, and state electricity boards were bankrupt when reforms began in 1991. They sought refuge in independent power producers like Enron, but these degenerated into a fiasco. How then did India produce enough power for record economic growth? Well, old power stations improved their load factor. But the main reason is that corporations decided they could not rely on government supplies, and set up 20,000 MW of captive power.

The second green revolution is being energised by the private sector, not the public sector. Reliance has led the charge into rural areas in Punjab with a farm-to-fork operation - managing the chain from seeds and crops to processing and hypermarket sales. ITC is rapidly expanding its e-choupals, computerised kiosks for farm information and for buying produce. The Mahindras, Tatas and Shrirams are setting up rural supermarkets.

The government developed the idea of deficiency payments for roads, with the contract going to the bidder requiring the lowest toll subsidy. But now some bidders are willing to pay a fee rather than demand subsidies

Mr Draker's party

kautilya — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:36:49 -0400

Let me ask you a question, or actually a series of situations, and ask your opinion about them –

Mr. Draker buys a house with income that he has rightfully earned. He is pretty wealthy, so he buys a big house, with large open grounds around it. He is honest, family loving, and does not bother his neighbors. One day he decides to have a big party, where he invites a lot of his friends. This is a big smoking, drinking party, where he provides all the stuff including food, cigarettes, drinks etc. and makes it clear to his friends what kind of party it is going to be. Since the house has big open grounds, with large trees and walls around it, we can assume that the neighbors are not going to be bothered with the noise. In fact he has invited all of the neighbors to the party and they have al accepted. Since this is a big party he invites caterers to take care of the party, and the caterer also sends a few servers to help with the party. The party starts normally, but in the middle of it suddenly there cops drop by and stop the party and give the following conversation goes on between Mr. Draker and the cop –
...CONTINUED(use read more link below)...

Philisophy of liberty

kautilya — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 13:01:57 -0400

A must see cool animation on philosophy of liberty

Please watch it, it is only a few minutes long. Let me know what you think.