Saturday, April 13, 2019
Escaping from the Empire
In 1947 BBC, representing England, wasn't happy about India's independence from the British Empire.
Now BBC, representing EU, is worrying that India may be escaping from the EU empire and declaring independence again.
Mr Modi's government has also spent the last four years defending India's multibillion-dollar food-security programme, which many developed countries see as unfair. Under the programme, the government heavily subsidises local farmers so they can provide low cost food for the poor. But, the US and others argue it breaks World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules around subsidy limits. Dmitry Grozoubinski, a former Australian negotiator at the WTO, thinks they may have a point. "India is justifying its agricultural subsidies by claiming their poorest citizens can't afford food, but they're maintaining massive tariff walls that effectively prevent the imports that could bring prices down."The classic bad argument for offshoring, based solely on prices. Amazon and Walmart bring prices down, so they're good for US consumers. DEADLY WRONG. People are PRODUCERS before they're consumers. If you aren't PRODUCING first, you have no VALUE to spend on consumption. You have to borrow from China's bank in order to buy from China's factory. It sounds like Modi is finding a pretty good balance by subsidizing farmers, just as FDR subsidized farmers to maintain their skills and land. India's earlier protectionism wasn't well balanced. It favored state-owned monopolies instead of internal competition. Even so, it worked to keep India growing.
Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter, skill-estate
¶ 6:04 AM
