The second largest electronics retailer Circuit City files for bankruptcy. General Motors is on the verge of a collapse with its stock getting to the lowest point in 60 years, DHL shuts down domestic operations cutting close to 10,000 jobs. Starbucks's earnings fall 97% despite valiant efforts from Howard Schultz. IT companies are feeling the pinch in India cutting jobs, freezing recruitment.
These are just a small sample of the news that we have been hearing over the past few weeks. Can't imagine a worse time for a new President (or for a new MBA for that matter).
The dangerous off-shoot of this is the fact that Communism seems to be raising its ugly head. Here is an interesting article from WSJ talking about how this is playing out in India: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122628672919612761.html
For 43 years since Independence till the point where the Indian economy almost collapsed, we have tried communism. And FAILED miserably, we have created a few really wealthy politicians in the process for sure, but the common man has seen no progress, and that was until IT came in which was for some reason untouchable by communists and politicians and it has been successful for that one reason. Now, capitalism will have its share of failures no doubt-and we have to live through it. That definitely does not mean we get into the regressive politics of communists as a reprieve, that will only take us back to a time that we definitely don't want to go back to.
Let's give capitalism and free markets a fair chance in India-let us learn the lessons from them as global citizens, and then may be we stand a chance of becoming the power that we deserve to be.
"As long as there is a Left in India, India has no future left."-Cho Ramaswamy.
These are just a small sample of the news that we have been hearing over the past few weeks. Can't imagine a worse time for a new President (or for a new MBA for that matter).
The dangerous off-shoot of this is the fact that Communism seems to be raising its ugly head. Here is an interesting article from WSJ talking about how this is playing out in India: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122628672919612761.html
For 43 years since Independence till the point where the Indian economy almost collapsed, we have tried communism. And FAILED miserably, we have created a few really wealthy politicians in the process for sure, but the common man has seen no progress, and that was until IT came in which was for some reason untouchable by communists and politicians and it has been successful for that one reason. Now, capitalism will have its share of failures no doubt-and we have to live through it. That definitely does not mean we get into the regressive politics of communists as a reprieve, that will only take us back to a time that we definitely don't want to go back to.
Let's give capitalism and free markets a fair chance in India-let us learn the lessons from them as global citizens, and then may be we stand a chance of becoming the power that we deserve to be.
"As long as there is a Left in India, India has no future left."-Cho Ramaswamy.
I don't support the CPI or CPIM in India but i feel the Communists are like the bean counters to any capitalistic system. probably the communists are right when the speaker claims "This is a crisis of the imperialistic economy," he said. "Now people understand that what we propagated all this time is true."
ReplyDeleteProbably this time... not not always...
TailNote: CPI/CPIM are not really communists; they simply try to imitate communism. The real communism - you can see in China where they have redefined the concepts of communism to suit the development in this new era.
There is a lot more to this crisis than just ideology.
ReplyDeleteAs Arun points out, China the so-called Communist nation has embraced free markets over the past couple of decades, while capitalist America is now nationalizing its banks and probably its automakers too.
Arun is also right in his assessment of the role of the Communist parties in India. Take for instance their stance on the nuclear deal. While most parties were for the deal, the Communists were against it. Yet it was they who provided an intellectually sound argument. Those for it were just beating around the bush and speaking in generic terms.
The economic agenda of the Communists might be retro, but yes, they provide a good counterbalance to unchecked capitalism.