Need Based and Want Based Consumption

Staunch believers in market forces like Dr Monmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and P Chidambaram have suddenly changed track and are actively colluding with non-believers in market forces to control the bogey of inflation and why not. No one minds cutting ideological corners in an election year and no one blames them for doing so. of course they would argue, as all market wallahs to this has nothing to do with market mechanisms, if it was a free market then inflation would not have happened, this is a market failure blah blah blah. No wonder we have some of the best ecomomists of the world in India engaged in the worst ecomonic policies since the days of Paul Baran [he was I think the PM's economic adviser for a short period in 1950s]

I think it is best to leave inflation a free hand rather than tinker with it. In the past tinkering with the eocnomic foces have had disastrous result and this time around we have no reason to assume otherwise.

Till a generation back we had a middle class polulation that decided to buy something only when it was a necessity. Nothing that was not desperately needed was ever bought however rich you were. And the need ot lack of it was justified in various ways..... if you are leaving in a small town why do you need to buy a car, travelling is much faster by rickshaw.... Why do u need ACs for three months in a year? just bear it out... Fridge is not a good thing the quality of food is not preserved! Cauliflowers in summer are not tasty stick to bhindi.....

They knew the value of everything

That was then, things have been different since alomost a generation.... u like it u buy it, what use u are going to put it to or if it has any use at all or not will be decided later..... best example is that of Gurgaon where the gentry have on an average 3 ACs per flat in town where there is hardly any electricity for three hours in a day. Or on Mumbai where everyone seem to have a big car, never mind if there is just one road for all of them.

We know the price of everything and value of nothing.

I find it laughable that the same set of people who taught us the principles of free market liberalisation etc 17 years back are now asking us to exercise restraint..... when we have forgotten what restraint means.

For us we have been there done that and been here doing this it's a great fun to watch all these.

If I were serious about checking inflation I would recall Kaushik basu back from Cornell and give him a freehand: )

The picture is that of Kaushik Basu taken from the internet