Monday, August 25, 2008

Man vs. Machine

God doesn’t play dice.
Albert Einstein
Consider the following policies.

# 1. While oil prices went through the roof over a 3-year period, make the purchase of big cars more attractive.

#2. Cancel the school-feeding program which cost peanuts in a Rs 50 billion budget while granting a Rs 5 billion gift to a sunset industry that accounts for less than 3% of our economy.

#3. Rapidly depreciate our rupee in the second half of 2006 while at the same time bragging about the record FDI that was coming in. Subsequently explain at the launch of the Monetary Policy Committee that our rupee had been subject to a speculative attack although at the time of the event blurting out something entirely different: our national currency had not depreciated for a few years!