People who've been through a medical emergency all say the same thing:
"I wish I had prepared for this one thing."
It takes 10 minutes. Most people never do it.
They all talk about “The Rule of 5”
Monthlies: Nifty in March 2026 seen the worst month since Covid - in fact the first double digit down month since March 2020. Double digit down months are rare: but we saw 4 in 2008 alone, and only two after that (March of 2020 and 2026)
“India was 40% of world’s GDP in the 17th century. Most skilled Doctors and professionals are Indians in the world, what India lacked was the platform.”
“We made the atom bomb ourselves, never stole it from anyone. Believe in India my fellow Indians.”
- Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. ‘21
It also makes people unproductive who would otherwise work to earn their keep. These freebies will have such perilous cascading effect that future generations will have to suffer.
An Unconditional Bad Ifea
Weekends I think about economic matters. Usually I keep these notes to myself sometimes I let you the readers suffer.
Unconditional cash transfers aka freebies aka revdis are now taking serious proportions.
The economic survey 2026 puts them at Rs. 1.7 trillion in FY26. In some states they are now approaching 10% or their budgetary expenses. When 62% is already on salaries pension and interest payments these are coming at the cost of developmental spends.
It is estimated to account for 40-50% of monthly consumption expenditure of half of rural population!
The Supreme Court has also raised objections to these eve of the election announcements. Free cycle, electricity, ration, TV, bus transport, money in a woman’s account.
States failed to deliver quality education, healthcare, infrastructure and corruption free ease of doing business and are now across party lines simply buying votes from tax payers money.
I have two quarrels with this.
One is the way in which it is funded. The politician isn’t paying this out of their money, effectively a certain segment of population will be taxed or monies will be borrowed and then future generation will bear the cost.
The second is it destructs the moral fibre, dignity and incentive to work. China a supposed communist country gave no freebies. A generation bore hardships to lift the nation. The American Dream wasn’t delivered by the government but people who worked hard to lift their lot.
Ludwig Mises an Austrian economist said, “Where there is no free market, there is no pricing mechanism; without a pricing mechanism, there is no economic calculation."
Who do you think pays for free or subsidised electricity? Industry does and that makes manufacturing uncompetitive.
Politicians across the world are promising to “fix” healthcare, interest rates, energy prices, universal basic income, housing.
The Soviets, Chinese, Venezuelan, Yugoslavians have tried to address these issues with central planning and spectacularly failed now under the old wine has arrived in a shiny new bottle of democratic socialism.
Politicians have to win elections but the laws of economics don’t care about their compulsions. We are hurtling down a path that been tested repeatedly but with the same end.
There is no such thing as a free anything. There is always a price and if it’s not direct it’s always worse. Price in kind is always worse than cash. These unconditional cash transfers are an unconditional bad idea. Unfortunately it’s a bad idea, whose time has come.
@ValerioCapraro LLMs aren't conscious/sentient, so they can't think or reason about what response they are giving. And while they are very good at what they do, they just rely on statistical probabilities while giving response.
@LifeAfterFI The offspring itself is a legacy of their parents. You being born gave your parents something that no other materialistic goal could ever provide.
What is this obsession with trips? What is the usefulness of roaming around?
Its all for social media sosha baji. Its for posting photos to groups. Its shallow. Its show off. Its asuric. Its pathetic.
Im talking about 90% of such 'trips'
There could be 10% cases where people truly enjoy themselves in the moment & value the 'experience'
Most people only value the photos & videos
For that, use Gemini 3 pro to generate the photos. Save yourself some money
@sahil_vi Since, if it wasn't, then life would cease to exist and the universe certainly wouldn't come to life just to end it. It needs sustenance.
But then, ones purpose can be growth too. Otherwise life would just repeat the cycle of extinction and creation.
@sahil_vi Only when we attach 'self' to it, we get into the depth of human psychology of how he perceives his life, life around him and the universe as a whole.
And every 'self' can have a different purpose. How could one argue that procreation cannot be the ultimate purpose?