Lord Acton: “Great men are almost always bad men, . . . “

I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by full authority. There is no worse heresy than the fact that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

— Lord Acton (John Dalberg-Acton) (1834-1902) English historian

Renovations and remodeling

maintenance_Image This blog is undergoing some much-needed remodeling and renovating. Thanks to my friend JP, it has a new look and feel. Even as I write this, I am installing DISQUS as the commenting system. During all this, there is likely to be some disruption. For instance, all comments appear to have disappeared. I believe that they will be back once the DISQUS system completes its bits.

Please provide feedback on the changes. Suggestions and recommendations are always welcome. Thanks for visiting.

Where to be Born — Follow up

In a previous post, “Where to be Born,” I had written “There’s something toxic about the Indian subcontinent. (Hint: it has something to do with a desert religion.)” Addressing that point, Vickram commented —
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Where to be born

I had named the first blog I ever had way back in 2001 when I was at UC Berkeley, “Life is a Random Draw.” It was in recognition of the fact that the endowment we are born with (and where) is something that we have no control over; it is truly a random draw from the great big pack of cards in the sky. You are stuck with this naturally inherited set and it powerfully determines your destiny. But wait, there’s more. What you can do with your natural endowment is limited by the environment you find yourself in — that too is random.
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A few quotes from “Transforming India”

My friend JP recently sent me a list of quotes from my book “Transforming India: Big Ideas for a Developed Nation.” I thought I would put them on the blog for the benefit of those who have not read the book. Just BTW, you can download a (free) PDF copy of the book at the book site (linked above.)
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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves

Act 1: Let me tell you a story about an old man who lived in a small village somewhere that does not matter. It all began when the man’s sons came to him and told him that some people from the neighboring village had stolen a chicken from their farm. The old man told his sons to go after the thieves and recover the chicken.
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Competition and Markets — Part 2

Competition in the market and competition for the market are substitutes, as I mentioned in the previous post on the matter. When firms can freely enter (and exit) a market, it is called a free market. In a free market, firms compete with each other and the outcome of that competition is that prices are driven down to the cost of production. When we have a large number of identical firms producing a homogeneous good competing with each other we have a perfectly competitive market.
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Happy Winter Solstice 2012

The precise time of the Winter solstice this year was at 3:12 AM Pacific Standard Time (which was 4:42 PM Indian Standard Time) today, Dec 21st. I was up and awake busy tweeting. The first day of Winter finds the weather here cloudy but not wet. The past few days have been pretty and sunny. Anyway, just wanted to say Happy Winter Solstice. The Christian version of the Saturnalia is coming up in the next few days. I loves me a good carnival. Happy Christmas and happy holidays.

Narendrabhai Modi — What’s Next

Narendrabhai Modi won for the third consecutive time the Gujarat State assembly elections. Like in the earnings report of a corporation that analysts expect to be the outcome, the market already incorporates into its calculations the results and therefore it does not alter the stock prices, the outcome of the Gujarat elections don’t throw up any surprises. When there are no surprises, there’s little of interest. But what’s going to happen next is an interesting question because there will be surprises.
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Recent Tweets – 1

Click on the image below to go to my twitter time line. The chaprasi referred to in here is Manmohan Singh. I like the Tao. Don’t you feel the overflowing love that Muslims have for Jews and Christians?
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