RajanM

MBA, Finance Professional, Student of Life

[Thomas Sowell Daily @DailySowell]

It’s also telling that advocates of affirmative action in college admissions and hiring are nowhere to be found when it comes to professional sports.

By the same logic, shouldn’t Asians and Whites receive preferential treatment in basketball and football?

This selective approach goes to show that support for affirmative action is not rooted in principle but driven more by a desire to advance a particular political agenda.

[Thomas Sowell Daily @DailySowell]

“The New York Times’s longstanding motto, ‘All the News That’s Fit to Print,’ should be changed to reflect today’s reality: ‘Manufacturing News to Fit an Ideology.’”

— Thomas Sowell

[Handre @Handre]

Socialism is a machine for consuming capital while pretending to create it.

Every socialist program starts the same way: a politician identifies something people want, promises to deliver it without a visible price tag, and taxes or prints the money to fund it. Venezuela had this down to an art form by 2015. Price controls on food, nationalized oil revenues redistributed as subsidies, Maduro declaring the supermarket shelves would stay full. By 2017, Venezuelans lost an average of 11 kilograms of body weight from hunger. The machine ate the capital, then ate the people.

Prices carry information. When a government fixes the price of bread below market, bakers stop baking. When it taxes productive capital to fund consumption, the capital stock shrinks. Ludwig von Mises called this the calculation problem: without genuine price signals, central planners are flying blind, allocating resources based on political pressure rather than actual scarcity. Chronic shortage sits underneath their rhetoric of abundance.

Rent is higher because zoning boards and rent stabilization laws choked off housing supply in cities like San Francisco for decades. Your healthcare costs more because Medicare and Medicaid inflate demand while regulatory capture insulates hospitals from competition. Specific politicians passed specific laws that produced specific shortages, then campaigned for re-election by blaming the market.

Voting for a slightly less interventionist candidate while holding your savings in dollars is rearranging furniture on a sinking ship. Hard assets held outside the banking system, particularly bitcoin, gold, property, and stocks, remove your stored labor from the reach of the printing press. This is a basic act of self-preservation in a system designed to extract your productivity under the guise of compassion.

Stop waiting for permission to opt out.

[RajanM @RM__07]

This is applies directly to the IIT Bombay case. A student unable to compete was forced to cheat in order to survive due to flawed reservation policies of the government.
#ReservationReformआंदोलन

[Thomas Sowell Daily @DailySowell]

Critics of affirmative action have long pointed out that it discriminates against Asian and White students.

Sowell explains how the problem goes further: affirmative action also directly hurts the very minority groups it is intended to help.

While teaching at Cornell, Sowell saw that half the Black students were on academic probation. Yet these were talented students: the average Black student at Cornell scored at the 75th percentile on the SAT and likely would have excelled at most colleges.

The reason these Black students were struggling was that they were competing against the nation’s brightest students. The average liberal arts student at Cornell scored in the top 1% on the SAT.

Sowell argues that affirmative action, by mismatching these talented Black students with schools, artificially turned them into failures.

[Thomas Sowell Daily @DailySowell]

Critics of affirmative action have long pointed out that it discriminates against Asian and White students.

Sowell explains how the problem goes further: affirmative action also directly hurts the very minority groups it is intended to help.

While teaching at Cornell, Sowell saw that half the Black students were on academic probation. Yet these were talented students: the average Black student at Cornell scored at the 75th percentile on the SAT and likely would have excelled at most colleges.

The reason these Black students were struggling was that they were competing against the nation’s brightest students. The average liberal arts student at Cornell scored in the top 1% on the SAT.

Sowell argues that affirmative action, by mismatching these talented Black students with schools, artificially turned them into failures.

[Thomas Sowell Daily @DailySowell]

“I had just as much opportunity to play basketball as Michael Jordan had. But equal opportunity was not nearly enough to create equal outcomes.”

— Thomas Sowell

[Handre @Handre]

Ayn Rand finished We the Living in 1936, the novel is the cleanest fictional autopsy of what collectivism does to actual human beings. She lived it. Born Alisa Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg in 1905, she watched Red Guards seize her father's pharmacy on Nevsky Prospect, leaving the family to scrape through the famine years. The book is her least ideological and most personal: no John Galt speeches, just Kira Argounova trying to study engineering while the Soviet state strangles every path she takes.

The economics sits underneath every scene. When the Bolsheviks abolished private trade, they did not abolish scarcity. Rather, they abolished the price signals that let anyone allocate scarce goods. Kira stands in bread lines because central planners cannot calculate what a market computes automatically through profit and loss. The result is rationed potatoes, confiscated apartments, and jobs handed out by Party loyalty rather than competence. Rand dramatized the calculation problem that Ludwig von Mises had already proven unsolvable, and she did it with a food shortage instead of an equation.

The regime demands not just Kira's labor, but her soul. She must inform, conform, and recite the collective catechism to survive, and the state treats her refusal as sabotage. When the government owns all property, it owns you, because you cannot eat without its permission. Economic control and political control are the same control.

American publishers rejected the manuscript for years (too anti-Soviet for the fashionable 1930s intelligentsia, who still admired Stalin), and it sold modestly until Rand's later fame pulled it back into print. Its diagnosis holds everywhere a planner promises abundance through compulsion: Venezuela's empty shelves after 2014, Cuba's ration books, Zimbabwe, which was turned from a paradise into a giant shithole. Every regime that mistook confiscation for production.

[Sridhar Vembu @svembu]

India has the among the lowest data prices in the world. It is so good that I don't even bother to connect to local Wifi when I travel in India and just tether my phone to work on my computer. Indians routinely have dual SIM phones with large data plans because they are so affordable. Ambani's launch of Jio is directly responsible for the low data prices Indians enjoy.

India has among the lowest drug prices in the world (and going lower still). People who visit India buy medicines to take home quite regularly now.

India has among the lowest cost payment systems in the world in UPI.

On the other hand, Tesla is protected from Chinese competition in the US market, keeping EV prices higher in America than elsewhere.

Prime Minister Modi has worked hard to create a competitive economy where the benefits flow to the average Indian. His government does not tolerate monopolies. He has also actively promoted and encouraged a massive surge in startups and that is the best signal of a highly competitive economy.

Directly due to Modi government policy, Indian startups are making major advances in low cost rockets and that poses a threat to SpaceX the same say the Chinese EVs threaten Tesla.

These are the facts Elon.

[Aravind @aravind]

Elon Musk's recent thread calling Ambani as PM looks written by a "South Asian", and definitely not like his usual posting style.

Excessive politeness, explanatory style with "so", starting a para with "Also". They are all a give away. Just read them for yourself.

So it seems like a coordinated operation run by the same DS which attacks India's companies and capitalists, but now it's using Elon to make it political.

I am at a loss to understand why Elon is getting influenced this way and letting himself be used to generate animosity with 1.4 billion people.

Especially at a time when his companies are gaining acceptance and good traction in India. If he thinks half the Indians may support him due to politics, he's mistaken.

For the small number of Indians getting carried away politically, and taking side with these foreigners interfering in India's sovereignty:

Do understand Starlink is not being unjustifiably stopped. They are in the same regulatory approval status as India's Jio and Airtel.

They have already got required licenses, setup required infra on the ground, and the distributorship to start operations once the final approval is given. Which is also expected soon along with Jio and Airtel.

But Elon seems to be very frustrated that Starlink wasn't approved two years ago when he clearly could have monopolized Satellite internet in India. Now, with Jio and Airtel competing in parallel for satellite net, it is super tough for Starlink.

So, as an Indian, it is important to understand while getting access to newer tech shouldn't be banned by GoI like pre-1990s India, it is also important to have a choice, competition, and clarity on security implications.

The politicians who have suddenly done a 180 degree in taking sides with Elon are the same who were, two years ago, questioning India even considering allowing Starlink claiming "Modi sold out to Elon."

We need to understand these sudden attacks on PM and India's companies are being done in tandem with other, on the ground, operations in India to destabilize and delegitimize the govt - which too has been completely organized via American social media.

The same Elon talking about how India will benefit with Starlink, when it is actually being considered for approval, doesn't say a word about how China - which bans most American companies in strategic sectors and never even considered Starlink - will benefit from it.

From this alone you can understand the agenda. India has enough services, network, the NDRF, and the Army, who can setup communication anywhere, to save our men women and children during a disaster.

Beware of such white savior syndrome. Need to remind ourselves, East India Company came in saying "Indians will benefit from western trade."

[Commentary - Sowell Economics @sowelleconomics]

Socialism is a wonderful idea. It is only as a reality that it has been disastrous. Among people of every race, color, and creed, all around the world, socialism has led to hunger in countries that used to have surplus food to export. … Nevertheless, for many of those who deal primarily in ideas, socialism remains an attractive idea — in fact, seductive. Its every failure is explained away as due to the inadequacies of particular leaders.

[Rishi Bagree @rishibagree]

🕯️ Noakhali Hindu Genocide - October 10, 1946

In Noakhali, the hereditary pir of Daira Sharif, Gholam Sarwar, turned his militia -Miyar Fauj- on Hindu Bengalis gathered for Lakshmi Puja. The killing opened with the beheading of Rajendra Lal Roy Chowdhury, the local Hindu zamindar; his severed head was carried to Gholam Sarwar on a platter. Roy Chowdhury’s daughters, and scores of other Hindu women and girls, were seized by the militia and never returned.

That full-moon night nearly four hundred Hindus were cut down. In the days that followed, the Noakhali violence took at least five thousand Hindu men, women, and children. Thousands of women were raped, mutilated, or abducted while the administration stayed silent.

The slaughter came weeks after the Direct Action Day killings in Calcutta, called by Mohammed Ali Jinnah and carried out under Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, head of the Bengal Muslim League ministry. As Noakhali burned, Suhrawardy did not intervene. The British looked past it, already fixed on the path to Pakistan. Nehru and the Congress leadership, intent on the transfer of power, offered no real response; Nehru’s later handling of Hindu refugees from East Bengal only confirmed the indifference.

Noakhali remains the record of what was done to feed the ambitions of Jinnah, Suhrawardy, Gholam Sarwar, and Miyar Fauj. Hindu Bengalis—above all the descendants of those driven from East Bengal—owe that history a clear memory: the dead, the violated, and the displaced who were not broken. Remembrance is the only tribute that still reaches them.

[Voices of Liberty @FreedomVoL]

“Being democratic is not enough, for a majority cannot turn what is wrong into right. In order to be considered truly free, countries must also have a deep love of liberty and an abiding respect for the rule of law.”

— Margaret Thatcher

[RajanM @RM__07]

@DailySowell This does not apply to @RahulGandhi

[Thomas Sowell Daily @DailySowell]

“We need leaders with experience in the real world, not experience in the phony world of politics.”

— Thomas Sowell

[Thomas Sowell Daily @DailySowell]

“Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.”

— Thomas Sowell

[THE SKIN DOCTOR @theskindoctor13]

We don’t hype Dinkar enough. Read these four stanzas to witness absolute genius! Every word remains undeniably true across time, generations and species.

क्षमा, दया, तप, त्याग, मनोबल, सबका लिया सहारा,
पर नर-व्याघ्र सुयोधन तुमसे, कहो, कहाँ, कब हारा?

(You tried forgiveness, patience, and sacrifice, but did Duryodhana ever back down because of your restraint?)

क्षमाशील हो रिपु-समक्ष, तुम हुये विनत जितना ही,
दुष्ट कौरवों ने तुमको, कायर समझा उतना ही।

(The more humble you were before your enemies, the more they dismissed you as a coward.)

अत्याचार सहन करने का, कुफल यही होता है,
पौरुष का आतंक मनुज, कोमल होकर खोता है।

(When a person becomes excessively soft and passive, they lose the healthy fear or respect that their strength and valor ought to command in others.)

क्षमा शोभती उस भ��जंग को, जि��के पास गरल हो,
उसका क्या जो दंतहीन, विषरहित, विनीत, सरल हो।

(Forgiveness is a noble attribute only for a venomous snake that commands fear. What value or dignity is there in the "forgiveness" of a snake that has no teeth, carries no venom, and is inherently harmless and meek?)

[OpIndia.com @OpIndia_com]

Who was responsible for bringing reservations to India -Brahmins, the British, Ambedkar or Nehru? How did BR Ambedkar manage to get reservations implemented?

Why did certain castes become poor and backward? Do the Vedas and Hindu shastras prescribe a lower status for certain castes?

Explore the entire history and timeline of India’s quota system with @rahulroushan.

[Handre @Handre]

Monaco collects no income tax. Liechtenstein's corporate rate sits at 12.5%. These reflect deliberate policy choices by governments small enough to feel the immediate consequences of driving capital away.

Small states cannot afford to be predatory. A large country like France can tax its productive class into emigration and still run on bureaucratic momentum for decades before the rot fully surfaces. Monaco has 2.1 square kilometers. Drive out your wealth creators on a Tuesday, and you notice it by Thursday. This constraint forces discipline that large states never face.

The second mechanism is competition. When Liechtenstein offers low taxes, genuine rule of law, and strong property protections, capital flows toward it from Germany, France, and Italy, countries where politicians treat your earnings as a communal resource they generously allow you to partially keep. Mobile capital and mobile talent vote with wire transfers and residence permits. The European principalities win those votes constantly.

Secure property rights do the rest. When entrepreneurs trust that contracts hold and confiscation stays illegal, they plan long-term, invest, build. Liechtenstein's per capita GDP exceeded $180,000 in 2024. Monaco's residents hold median wealth that dwarfs most European capitals. Neither state built that through natural resources. They built it by leaving productive people alone.

The formula is genuinely simple: low taxes, sound institutions, enforceable contracts, no appetite for redistribution theater. Every large government on earth knows this formula and refuses it, because taxing you funds the people who vote to keep the taxers employed.

[Auguste Bardamu @AugusteBardamu]

Le plus célèbre défenseur des travailleurs n'a jamais versé le moindre salaire à sa propre employée de maison.

Karl Marx a passé sa vie à dénoncer l'exploitation de l'homme par l'homme.

Mais sous son propre toit, le prophète de la lutte des classes agissait exactement comme certains patrons bourgeois qu'il condamnait.

Pendant plus de quarante ans, Helene Demuth a été la servante de la famille Marx.

Elle a lavé leur linge, cuisiné leurs repas et élevé leurs enfants. Le tout sans jamais percevoir le moindre salaire régulier.

La domestique était simplement logée et nourrie. Taillable et corvéable à merci.

En 1851, l'auteur du Manifeste du parti communiste franchit une autre limite : il met sa servante enceinte.

Un garçon naît de cette relation asymétrique : Frederick.

Pour Marx, l'existence de ce fils illégitime est une catastrophe. Elle menace son image publique et son mariage avec une aristocrate prussienne.

Le grand défenseur du prolétariat refuse alors froidement de reconnaître son propre enfant ouvrier.

Pire, il orchestre un mensonge misérable pour sauver sa respectabilité.

Il convainc son fidèle ami, le riche industriel Friedrich Engels, d'endosser publiquement la paternité à sa place.

Le petit Frederick est arraché à sa mère et discrètement envoyé dans une famille d'accueil des quartiers pauvres de Londres.

Marx ne l'a jamais reconnu. Il ne lui a jamais versé le moindre sou.

Pendant des années, lorsque le garçon venait rendre visite à sa mère, Marx lui interdisait de passer par la porte principale de la maison. Il devait entrer par la porte de service, côté cuisine.

Le secret sera farouchement gardé par les pères du communisme.

Ce n'est que sur son lit de mort qu'Engels avouera enfin la véritable identité du père de l'enfant.

Karl Marx a écrit "Le Capital" pendant que sa servante nettoyait ses parquets gratuitement, après avoir caché et abandonné le fils qu'il lui avait fait.

[RajanM @RM__07]

@elonmusk I think @elonmusk just destroyed his credibility and any chance he had to bring Starlink into India by aligning with @RahulGandhi against the govt.