I am a big believer of Austrian Economics. Its application in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia has netted efficient infrastructural development, under low taxation rates, and zero public debt. And I come to realize that positive non-interventionism is the most ideal policy for a nation like India. Ever since I first started reading books by Henry Hazlitt, I understood the cascading manyfold effect of every economic policy, and it has allowed me to determine the roots of every systemic development of various economic policies.
Hence, as I have come to understand economics in its most modern and refined form, here is what I would personally see through:
- Disinvest every single public enterprise to private entities, including all those in oil, communication, infrastructural development, and banking.
- Completely forbid the Central Bank from having any authority over private banks of the country, and dismiss all mandated regulations on reserve ratios of all deposits with the banks.
- Remove all authority of the Central Bank over policies of monetary, credit, and currency matters.
- Immediately redeem all short term liabilities of the government (bonds, treasury bills,.etc) and leave the currency to be backed only by real tangible assets and not credit instruments, such as gold and silver.
- Determine a fixed ratio between gold/silver and currency, and stop printing of new currency immediately.
- Use the money generated from disinvestment to start paying back public debts.
- Create a policy of surplus budgets also to the effect of paying back public debts. The government must conduct spending within its means.
- Dismantle Central level bureaucracy related to matters other than law and order and adminstration, especially ministries which exist to regulate industries and economic activities.
- End regulations of industries, especially price regulation of oil, which makes oil cheaper just so that the government can waste and squander more of it.
- Delegate authority over civil law, social welfare, and developmental initiatives to the states, because it is more feasible for a state to determine what is best plan for its own development, than for one single central authority to collect every single information for every disparate district in every part of the country and accordingly make its plan for them. The previous Transportation ministry did not even allow a single new road to be built without its own approval.
- Simplify the taxation structure to simple and broad taxes which can be collected as easily as possible. Keep taxes just to the level needed for basic government expenses and paying off debt, and also reduce the progressive disparity between tax rates for different income brackets. And if one can dream, reduce expenditure to be so low that everyone can have low flat taxes, just like in Hong Kong and Switzerland.
- Indirect taxes should either be imposed broadly on all goods, or not at all. There is no point in taxes that people can avoid simply by not purchasing one good over another. eg. Higher taxes on large cars and lower taxes on small cars make no sense, because it will merely encourage more buying of small cars, and the same traffic and pollution will still just be there nonetheless. The same level of indirect taxes must be imposed on all cars, so as to reduce the social cost of traffic and pollution.
- Remove all protectionist policies on trade. If people can obtain goods made abroad for cheaper prices, it's only going to make their own lives easier. Cheaper goods means more money to be allocated for other economic activities, allowing more jobs to be created. This will benefit the rural masses of the nation greatly, and will allow greater competition for the more competitive and outlasting domestic industries with foreign goods.
- Remove arbitrary limits on FDI. India's civil and domestic policy is completely its own matter, but it must stand ready to compete with global markets.
- Float the nation's currency, just like China does.
- Avoid all initiatives in intervening in policies of other nations. India has often made the expensive mistake of bullying Pakistan and China, and attempting to go into wars that it can not afford. It was bad enough that Nehru government invaded China in the 1960s with poorly equipped soldiers who became shooting targets for the Chinese. The Chinese even tried to negotiate with us, despite the fact that Indian soldiers were forcefully raiding and taking over Chinese villages. Such sociopathy on India's part is the reason why it is the most hated country of South Asia.
- Stop affirmative action with immediate effect completely for all groups in the country.
- Stop begging international authorities for monetary aid. India must learn to fix its own matters with its own resources, rather than standing in line for wealthier nations to throw money at it.
Hence, as I have come to understand economics in its most modern and refined form, here is what I would personally see through:
- Disinvest every single public enterprise to private entities, including all those in oil, communication, infrastructural development, and banking.
- Completely forbid the Central Bank from having any authority over private banks of the country, and dismiss all mandated regulations on reserve ratios of all deposits with the banks.
- Remove all authority of the Central Bank over policies of monetary, credit, and currency matters.
- Immediately redeem all short term liabilities of the government (bonds, treasury bills,.etc) and leave the currency to be backed only by real tangible assets and not credit instruments, such as gold and silver.
- Determine a fixed ratio between gold/silver and currency, and stop printing of new currency immediately.
- Use the money generated from disinvestment to start paying back public debts.
- Create a policy of surplus budgets also to the effect of paying back public debts. The government must conduct spending within its means.
- Dismantle Central level bureaucracy related to matters other than law and order and adminstration, especially ministries which exist to regulate industries and economic activities.
- End regulations of industries, especially price regulation of oil, which makes oil cheaper just so that the government can waste and squander more of it.
- Delegate authority over civil law, social welfare, and developmental initiatives to the states, because it is more feasible for a state to determine what is best plan for its own development, than for one single central authority to collect every single information for every disparate district in every part of the country and accordingly make its plan for them. The previous Transportation ministry did not even allow a single new road to be built without its own approval.
- Simplify the taxation structure to simple and broad taxes which can be collected as easily as possible. Keep taxes just to the level needed for basic government expenses and paying off debt, and also reduce the progressive disparity between tax rates for different income brackets. And if one can dream, reduce expenditure to be so low that everyone can have low flat taxes, just like in Hong Kong and Switzerland.
- Indirect taxes should either be imposed broadly on all goods, or not at all. There is no point in taxes that people can avoid simply by not purchasing one good over another. eg. Higher taxes on large cars and lower taxes on small cars make no sense, because it will merely encourage more buying of small cars, and the same traffic and pollution will still just be there nonetheless. The same level of indirect taxes must be imposed on all cars, so as to reduce the social cost of traffic and pollution.
- Remove all protectionist policies on trade. If people can obtain goods made abroad for cheaper prices, it's only going to make their own lives easier. Cheaper goods means more money to be allocated for other economic activities, allowing more jobs to be created. This will benefit the rural masses of the nation greatly, and will allow greater competition for the more competitive and outlasting domestic industries with foreign goods.
- Remove arbitrary limits on FDI. India's civil and domestic policy is completely its own matter, but it must stand ready to compete with global markets.
- Float the nation's currency, just like China does.
- Avoid all initiatives in intervening in policies of other nations. India has often made the expensive mistake of bullying Pakistan and China, and attempting to go into wars that it can not afford. It was bad enough that Nehru government invaded China in the 1960s with poorly equipped soldiers who became shooting targets for the Chinese. The Chinese even tried to negotiate with us, despite the fact that Indian soldiers were forcefully raiding and taking over Chinese villages. Such sociopathy on India's part is the reason why it is the most hated country of South Asia.
- Stop affirmative action with immediate effect completely for all groups in the country.
- Stop begging international authorities for monetary aid. India must learn to fix its own matters with its own resources, rather than standing in line for wealthier nations to throw money at it.
