People Power and Profits-Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent --- Joseph E Stiglitz

 

Lucas Films made famous the phrase ‘the dark side of the force’ and ensured that in the films, the dark side ultimately lost. In real life, however, the dark side is not so easily vanquished.

In the book being talked about here, Nobel Laureate and Professor of Economics at Columbia University, Joseph E Stiglitz, takes a long, hard and clear-sighted look at the dark side of the ‘American Dream’-the land of opportunity, the two car garages, the barbeques in the backyard, the Ivy League colleges……

The book is simply written, with a wealth of reasoning, data and references, and needs to be worked through with a fair degree of effort. The effort is, however, amply rewarded.

One striking feature of this work is the categorical inclusion of politics in the analysis and the assertion that economics and politics are inextricably linked and need to be studied together. Most economists tend to shy away from leavening their studies with such uncomfortable realities and stick to pure, but sterile, models of ‘the economy’.

Prof. Stiglitz does not, however, take the safe and uncontroversial path. He brings to light the economic malaise that the USA has experienced since around the early 1980s and shows how the politics of the Right -- the Republican Party -- has been responsible, to a great extent, for this malaise.

One major issue that the author highlights in great detail is the enormous danger of relying on ‘unfettered markets’ alone, to bring about growth with equity and social justice. In fact, if one were challenged to try and summarize the book in one sentence, one would say that it is ‘A study of the real dangers and serious limitations of unregulated markets as illustrated by the experience of the contemporary US economy and society.’

Like all summaries, this is inadequate, but does serve to highlight the principal focus of the study. The gains from reading the book lie, of-course, in the details.

From the early 1980s, inequality in income, wealth, opportunity, education and health has increased significantly and continuously. The top 1% get the bulk of the benefits of growth and ‘trickle-down’ does not work. The three richest Americans are worth more than the bottom half of the US all put together! The US has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners and these are disproportionately African-American. The list of illustrations goes on and on.

 Growing inequality is, however, not inevitable. It is the consequence of bad policy resulting from an ideology-and-vested- interest based unreasoning and incorrect belief in the infallibility of markets and the undesirability of state intervention in matters economic.

When unbridled greed and inadequate regulation led to the financial sector creating the humongous economic crisis of 2008, the ‘too big to fail’ banks got a near trillion-dollar government bailout, but those who suffered as a consequence of their duplicity and greed were left to their own devices. Market concentration increased in 75% of industries in recent years and the big boys have used various techniques to regulate competition, retain disproportionate power over customers and suppliers, and avoid taxation.

Markets need to be regulated by the state in public interest.

In addition, the state has to ensure that ‘public goods’ are adequately provided, the environment protected and basic research heavily funded. Active policies and legislation have to be formulated and implemented to ensure equality of opportunity, improvement in intergenerational economic mobility and job creation. Those who lose out due to the impact of globalization have to be supported and jobs created that can compensate for jobs lost.

A judicious mix of state and market functioning is essential if the American Dream is to be realized for the bulk of Americans and not just a miniscule minority of the very rich.

Prof Stiglitz doesn’t just rail against an unjust and iniquitous system; he identifies problem areas, digs out the primary causes and offers possible solutions.

The book is focused on the economics and politics of the USA, but offers a great deal of insight into the problems facing India today.

Happy reading.

Master of the Spy Thriller -- David Cornwell aka John Le Carre RIP

 

The King Emperor is dead, may his books live forever in readers hearts! He was a Brit spy once upon a time, then turned to writing and the world of entertainment was never the same again.

Le Carre’s best known principal protagonist, hero of a series of gripping novels, is George Smiley, who enters the Le Carre world after retirement. (This statement is mildly inaccurate, but I leave it to the reader to find out why that is so).

George is short, plump, nearsighted and a scholar of medieval German poetry. He is also married to the beautiful and glamourous Anne, who is serially unfaithful. A poor little dab of a loser, you would think; but you would be wrong, because he is also a brilliant spy and a ruthless spymaster.

In the beginning was A Murder of Quality. A posh boys-only boarding school in a quiet village is shaken by a murder. One of the students is found dead, evidently murdered. George, a friend of the Head Master, is asked to look into the matter and we have our first meeting with the unlikely hero who will dominate the world of spy thrillers for years to come.

After this debut, George figures in a number of absolutely outstanding books, involved in an unrelenting battle of wits, blood and tears with his Soviet nemesis, the spymaster known by his workname, Karla. The Karla saga ends with Smiley’s People and George then disappears, presumably to his Bayswater flat to read his favourite German poets.

Le Carre’s best books, in this committed fan’s humble opinion, were about the Cold War and the list of Best Ever ended with Smiley’s People. But in between the Smiley stories, Le Carre wrote two unforgettable novels with other ‘heroes’. The most famous of these is The Spy Who Came in From the Cold featuring Alec Leamas, a hard man of deep commitments and a remarkable tragic hero. (George plays a bit role in the story, too). I have often felt that in the garb of a superb spy novel -- dark and treacherous -- Le Carre was actually crafting a delicate and touching love story. It is, of course, both, and that is a difficult act to pull off, but not for someone with Le Carre’s creative skills.

And finally, we have A Small Town in Germany, eclipsed by the fame of the other novels. This, too, remains one of Le Carre’s outstanding creations, a must read.

After Smiley’s People, Le Carre wrote several other thrillers -- I am disregarding the aberration called The Naïve and Sentimental Lover, whatever that was supposed to be -- but none that have gripped my entire being the way the early ones did.

For those who have yet to discover Le Carre’s writings I would wholeheartedly recommend that you get the whole lot -- from A Murder of Quality, Call for the Dead, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honorable Schoolboy, Smiley’s People, The Spy who came in from the Cold and A Small Town in Germany.

Having read this lot, you put them away and when you have a quiet weekend or a long journey ahead and no new book at hand, pick out any one of these and read it again!

Enjoy!

Baburnama -- Memoirs of Zahiru’d-din Muhammad Translated by Annette S Beveridge

 

History, as I remember it being taught in school, was always a soporific affair, a dull presentation of events in time. In the immortal words of the playwright Alan Bennett, ‘..just one f…g thing after another’.

The reality, of course, was very different and not particularly pleasant in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the period of the Memoirs under consideration. Life was uncertain, brutal and frequently short, with the violence and horror of war ever-present. This was especially true for members and leaders of war-bands involved in constant bids for territorial acquisitions, raids and plunder.

 Zahiru’d-din Muhammad Babur, one such leader, became ruler of Farghana -- a ‘small country abounding in grain and fruits’ with ‘seven separate townships’ -- at the tender age of twelve. In more familiar terms, one could perhaps call him a big zamindar or minor Raja whose principal occupation during his rather short life of approximately forty- eight years was the waging of war for plunder and finding a kingdom to rule. He lost Farghana, conquered Samarkand and lost it, took Kabul and finally, towards the end of his life and on his fifth raid beyond the Indus, won the throne of Hind by defeating Ibrahim Lodhi at Panipat in 1526. Babur died in 1530

The first Mughal combined a strong sword arm with persistent drive and ambition.

“As there was in me ambition for rule and desire of conquest, I did not sit at gaze when once or twice an affair had made no progress.”

But Babur was more than just a tough warlord on the lookout for loot. And it is those other dimensions of the man that add an intriguing and piquant touch to his terse matter-of-fact prose.

He begins his memoirs with a couple of pages about the Farghana landscape: the flowing waters, the fruit – nashpati of Andijan, almonds of Kand-e-badam, apricots and pomegranates of Marghinan, and the pretty little baghchas (gardens) of Asfara.

 

One thing that strikes a reader on starting the book is the way in which language -- or rather words -- migrate with people. Any Hindi speaker will recognize nashpati, badam, bagcha(bagicha), subz (subzi), darakht, quasba, tariqa, hamesha (always) and many more Turki words that have a regular place in Hindi. Languages grow and are enriched by foreign borrowings and Hindustani is no exception. An occasionally vocalized insistence on ‘purity’ of Hindi -- whatever that may mean -- is retrogression. Still waters stagnate.

In addition to being a war-band leader, Babur wrote poetry, drank alcohol for much of his life, was strongly influenced by his grandmother and built gardens with flowing water-courses. The few revealing passages about his emotional life are short but deserve to be quoted .

Talking about his first marriage when he was about 17 years of age, he says, “Though I was not ill disposed towards her, yet this being my first marriage, out of modesty and bashfulness I used to see her once in 10, 15 or 20 days. Later on when even my first inclination did not last my bashfulness increased. Then my mother Khanim used to send me once a month or every 40 days, with driving and driving, dunnings and worryings.”

A more modern translation would perhaps be more effective but the point is adequately conveyed. A rather inhibited and repressed young man, the first of the Great Mughals!

He also records an infatuation with a pretty boy from the bazaar!

“I discovered in myself a strange inclination, nay! As the verse says ‘I maddened and afflicted myself for a boy in the camp bazaar…Until then I had had no inclination for anyone, indeed of love and desire either by hearsay or experience. I had not heard I had not talked….”

There is no record of how the matter ended.

Life moved on -- another day, another intrigue, another battle.

Once established in Hind, Babur writes in detail about this new land he finds himself in. It’s a brief and quite revealing study of North India -- zoological, biological and sociological. He regards the mango as the best fruit of Hindustan and regrets the absence of ‘flowing waters’ despite the existence of many big rivers and thus builds several gardens with ‘flowing waters’ in, it appears, Agra, Dholpur and Gwalior and possibly elsewhere too.

As Badshah too, Babur spent a great deal of time battling opposition, mostly Afghan residues of the Sultanate, and then died prematurely, aged about 48 years.

Reading the Baburnama can occasionally be a trifle wearisome --details of early raids, intrigues and political maneuvering get a little tiresome since one is not familiar with the people, places and events. The effort to continue , with some judicious skipping, is, however, well worth the while. The man behind the Badshah’s robes is fascinating, as is the nature of life in those desperate times.

Happy reading.