As I understand more and more economics(by Economics I mean Austrian Economics, the real kind, not mathematical model of calculating how much you prefer your kids studying theory of evolution vs intelligent design and calculating National Patriotic Index), I realize more and more how easy is it to show the problems with theory of Socialism.
One of the things I realized early on was that a purely voluntary socialist worker’s union would be completely feasible in a capitalist society. If a bunch of men want to create a worker’s co-operative where profits are distributed equally among everybody, essentially it is the same thing as a company fully and equally owned by its workers. Just do not allow any individual who does not work in the company to own the capital goods(means of production). Continue reading

This is a theory I have been pushing forward for some time now but I rarely get support on it from libertarians despite of the fact that it is really promising and has huge positive consequences in a consistent libertarian theory.
Let me just straightaway come to the point. In a society of pure liberty, if an individual hires an assassin to kill someone, is this individual guilty of murder?
Yes we all know that the assassin is definitely guilty of murder, but the way we have grown up in the statist mindset it just sounds unjust to not punish the guy who is hiring people to murder others. Allow me to make my case on why its not consistent with the principles of individualism and liberty to hold the contractee guilty of murder. Continue reading

It is probably an often thought question, but rarely answered correctly by most of the people. What makes a country like India poorer than a country like say America? I have tried to answer this question since I was a kid, then as an adult.
Lets see, most people might answer to that question as “India is poor because it lacks so and so “, the effect being something India does not have because its poor, and US has because its richer, and not a cause of Indian poverty. For example, some people might answer
“India is poor because it lacks infrastructure western countries have”, or
“India is poor because of lack of education among people”, or
“India is poor because its very corrupt, and it has politicians who manipulate people etc etc”.

Generally speaking I hate the phrases such as ‘true so and so’ or ‘perfect so and so’, but its important that people who support free market understand what and how a market player works. Imagine if you are a football fan, you support your football team, you probably know all the rules of the game, but since you haven’t played the game yourself you just don’t feel it exactly how a football player feels.
You know that if the ball leaves the emarkated boundary then the opposite team gets to throw in the ball from that point on the boundary, but what you don’t know is what does the player really have to go through or consider when he gets that chance in order to win. Continue reading

I wrote this ‘controversial’ article Was Gandhi a Libertarian? last month which had many positive and belligerently negative responses from the readers as well as the other RFL team members. The question which came up again and again(which was even asked to Gandhi in his lifetime), which unfortunately I couldn’t answer satisfactorily. In fact I haven’t seen anyone answer that question satisfactorily. The question is, how would Gandhian philosophy help the Jews in Nazi Germany. What could have Jews in the Nazi Germany have done consistent to Non-violence principle to deter Nazis. This argument seems to be like the lynchpin of Gandhian philosophy. Gandhi himself wasn’t aware much of the problem so his answer seems to be really aware of the situation of Nazi Germany. Continue reading

The society considers income inequality as a curse upon itself. In a general argument between a ‘Capitalist’ and a ‘Socialist’, or a ‘Liberal’ and a ‘Conservative’, generally the Socialist/Liberal individual accuses free market or Capitalism of creating economic inequality in the society. A general example given is of US society where top 1% of the people own 40% of the wealth in US(or a variation of the statistics). This makes the people who stand for free market and capitalism generally go on a defensive by either attacking the statistics, or by comparing the worst person in a ‘seemingly’ capitalist society like United States being better than most average or well rich individuals in a seemingly socialist or an equal society like North Korea and Cuba. Continue reading

Contrary to what a lot of people in west think about India and Gandhi, I know that not everybody in India likes Gandhi. In fact I grew up hating Gandhi because I was so much indoctrinated in statism that although the State tries its best to preach Gandhism, the obvious disjunct between being loyal to a state and being Gandhian pacifist makes no sense. Its really a funny thing that on 2nd of October each year, the government celebrates Gandhi’s birthday and Gandhian philosophy by prohibiting sale of liquor all across the nation.. Continue reading

There is a hot topic of discussion going on a local radio show ((Curry Crackers)) regarding why there is a stereotype about Indians being so cheap(in America). As usual this is a mess created by the government, and the belief among people that laws have magical power of doing soemthing.

The reason why Indians are considered cheap in countries like America, because Indians bargain a lot. Even in India you will realize that you have to(I said ‘have to’ becase we know its not a choice) bargain, and if you don’t bargain then you are being ripped off. The reason behind this is simple…. Continue reading

Imagine if you are a rising Hollywood star. You made your first million. You rose from dire poverty/dire mediocrity, and you get a taste of wealth. You spend a lot of money, do things what you always thought you wanted to do. Maybe at this point you love the Market, or maybe not. Overall you just thank god for giving returns on all the (relative) poverty you faced over the years. Then you make millions more, and then millions more. Soon you are one of the most appreciated actors of Hollywood. You live in the limelight, and you never see anything bad.

You ponder over your life, and realize….. Continue reading

In my earlier article about IAS Officers one of our reader made a comment involving many questions which deserve some detailed reply. If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know the ridiculousness of these questions considering the number of times we have covered them. Yet I would like to dedicate this post to answer those questions.

Neerav Said:

You seem to be very strongly jaundiced against the government and India’s system of government controlled economy(finding it unethical to work for the government!!). So be it!
Me being a callow in the field of capitalistic economy or the open economy, can u please answer some of questions in order to enlighten me about “the only panacea to India’s problems-open market”? Please I insist!