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Ron Paul, Fed

Perfect lines from Ron Paul -

“When the history of this time is written people will say – how in the world did they believe that a few people in a secret room can decide what interest rates should be, how much the money supply should be, who should fail, what worthless assets taxpayers have to buy. It is absolutely bizarre.”

Sovereign default

I feel sovereign default is good since it will discipline the country’s government. Investors will not be willing to lend money to the govt & that will force the govt to balance its budgets. Also it will be forced to NOT promise what it can’t give.

Cities and Weather

2005 in Delhi: “Mumbai weather is so good. Delhi weather is terrible… extreme temperatures and dusty air. In summer my bed becomes wet with sweat as if I have…. In winter, I can’t stop shivering even in the afternoon!”

2005 in San Diego: WOW! Weather is absolutely beautiful here. The air is so dust free with bluer skies. Next to the ocean, but no sweat, ’cause its so cool.

2006 in Mumbai: “Mumbai weather is terrible. Its so humid. The sweat doesn’t stop! My clothes are sticking to my body! I want to jump into a pool full of freezing water right NOW! Delhi is so good.  For 2 months after the monsoon, the weather is absolutely amazing. It feels like heaven!

2006 in Austin: Man its hot here. Somewhat like Delhi. But really cool and nice in Winter.

2008 in Pune: “Pune weather is ideal! Not as extreme as Delhi and not as shitty as Mumbai. Its hot for a month in summer and cold for a couple of weeks in winter. But the rest are just amazing… especially when you are in the university with the blanket of trees around.

2009 in Hyderabad: Man, its hot here. But not as bad as Delhi. At least the air is dry as in Pune!

The unemployed who don’t even count as unemployed

Until now I have only heard statements like these umpteen times from people like Peter Schiff, visionvictory channel on YouTube, etc –

‘What about the people who haven’t found a job for so long that they no longer qualify for unemployment benefits?  They are not counted in these unemployment numbers”.

Today I read an article here where such an unemployed person, who hasn’t found a job for 3 years, says this -

“They don’t count me as unemployed ’cause I ain’t drawing a check. It’s like I don’t even exist. But I do. Look around. There’s thousands … millions of us.”

Now thats a dead end!

Interesting signal on MG road in Pune

Is this in a restaurant at MTDC resort?

Poor condition of MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation) restaurant at Bhandardara near Nasik in Maharashtra.

The door in the photo is the entrance to the rest room.  The rest room per se is reasonably clean, but look at its entrance!  The staircase to the right leads to the pantry on the top.

Among the many MTDC resorts we saw, this one was in the poorest condition; because its not privatised yet!

Save Yourself!

Every time there is “lesser then expected”, “fewer than expected” phrases in news synopsis, it will be followed by “raising hopes that worst is over”. How optimistic most people are. They really really want this to be over.

Gross underestimation of the problems in India

This is not the first time that people seem to be ignorant of the grave problems that India faces, but its the first time that I am realizing a serious problem which hardly anyone seems to appreciate – Water.

Mumbai had 30% water cut about a month ago. Pune was even worse. The situation eased a bit after there were rains for some time. Here in Hyderabad I am completely dependent on bore water for everything except drinking & cooking.

I have seen fields alongside the NH9 near Sholapur that are completely dry. They have been tilled, but there is no water to sow the seeds.

I remember the legendary P. L. Deshpande’s line in one of his works – translated from marathi – ‘The average resident of Mumbai believes that cotton grows inside pillows and eventually comes out of it’. Such is the state of our people. They don’t know how the entire pyramid of dependence of goods & services is so fragile and so heavily dependent on the monsoon that a 50% decrease in monsoon would cause the situation in India to be more explosive than what is expected in the USA due to imminent inflation & high unemployment.

Hardly anyone seems to realize the gravity of the situation. They seem to think – ‘Everything will be fine, just as it has been before’.

And then there are those poor people who pray to God for rains without realizing that no amount of prayers can bring rain if the weather patterns have changed.