Notes on GDP, money and wealth

Considering how ubiquitous talk about GDP and growth rates is, it is noteworthy that as a concept it is of fairly recent vintage. The idea of having a measure of the “income” of a country was invented by the American economist Simon Kuznets for use in a US Congressional report in 1934. The “product” part of gross domestic product refers to the production of goods and services. It is an aggregate measure — and hence a macroeconomic measure. It is a measure of the total amount of goods and services that an economy produces. Full disclosure: I am not a macroeconomist and find the subject painfully boring. But here I am only discussing the limited idea of GDP.
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Medha Patkar is Helping Terrorists. Are you?

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Happy Holi

Wishing you all an enjoyable Holi. Like all Hindu festivals, this one has multiple meanings. I cannot vouch for the accuracy but this site has some information on what Holi is about. Here’s a video of a Holi celebrations in 2012 in Utah. The creators of this video, The Good Line, say, “This was filmed in Spanish Fork, Utah (of all places). The Hari Krishna temple holds this festival every March. It has grown into the largest Holi celebration in the western hemisphere. Everybody is more than welcome to come!” (Vimeo.) The videography is spectacular.

Beware the Ides of March

The Dalai Lama is a rare celebrity I admire. “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama”:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

And now the traditional “Beware the Ides of March” post — thanks to $0.02 for the reminder:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

Open Thread: Purty pitchers edition

Sorry I have not been writing on this blog at all. But I intend to very soon. In the meanwhile, here are a couple of pretty pictures. Leave a comment if there’s anything you’d like to say. Cheers.

bird

sunset

Maha Shivratri Greetings from Mumbai

Today is Maha Shivratri — Great night of Shiva. Shiva (the auspicious one) is known by many names — Mahadeva or Mahesh (the great god), Bholenath (the simple god since he is an ascetic), Parameshwara (the supreme god), and Nataraja (the king of dance). I am partial to Shiva as the Nataraj. He dances the Tandava, the dance of destruction and creation.

The image of the Nataraja above is from CERN headquarters. Click on the image for more details.

The Congress will be History Soon

A O Hume The Indian National Congress (INC) is on the way out. An English civil servant, Allan Octavian Hume (1829 – 1912), founded the party in December 1885. As it happens, Hume is also known as “the father of Indian ornithology”. Not just that, he was a theosophist. Go read his brief wiki bio. He was an impressive man. Anyway, now nearly 130 years old, the Congress is in terminal decline. A foreigner — an accomplished Englishman — gave birth to it and another foreigner — an almost uneducated Italian woman — is presiding over it as it takes it final gasps. The Congress’s most celebrated leader is undoubtedly Shri M K Gandhi, aka “Mahatma Gandhi”, a Gujarati; and it is another Gujarati who is instrumental in putting the dying Congress out of its misery. The parentheses that enclose the Congress are ironic. And now for a bit from an IndiaFacts Nov 2013 article by Gautam Sen, below the fold.
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Nancy Powell to meet Narendra Modi

The Hindustan Times reports “US may end 9-year boycott of Modi, envoy asks for meeting“.

If Shri Modi’s office does receive a request for a meeting from Nancy Powell, it should respond with, “Ms Powell is welcome to seek an appointment. The request will be appropriately considered and processed through the standard channels in the order received.” I don’t see why Narendrabhai should bother to meet Ms Powell, considering that he has other things on his plate — or more precisely in his chai kettle.

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Update — 3 PM Feb 11th: I believe that Modi has agreed to meet Ms Powell.

What’s the connection between Aadhar and the Ford Foundation?

Every day in every which way, Kejriwal figures out a new drama to be in the media spotlight. It seems to me that he is not acting alone — and by that I don’t mean that he does not have a bunch of very able sidekicks. He certainly has visible support. What concerns me is the invisible support. Are invisible hands guiding him? Here’s what I got in a forwarded email. I cannot vouch for its content. You be the judge. I am just posting it for the record. The original was in Hindi and I asked a friend (Thanks, Amit) to translate it into English.
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