Mitchell’s laws: Reduced money growth never stimulates economic growth. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Economic austerity causes civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
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On first impression: This is a good idea:
India announces $35 tablet computer to help lift villagers out of poverty
Washington Post, Associated Press, Wednesday, October 5/2011:
NEW DELHI — India introduced a cheap tablet computer Wednesday, saying it would deliver modern technology to the countryside to help lift villagers out of poverty.
[…]
Developer Datawind is selling the tablets to the government for about $45 each, and subsidies will reduce that to $35 for students and teachers. In comparison, the cheapest Apple iPad tablet costs $499, while the recently announced Kindle Fire will sell for $199.Datawind says it can make about 100,000 units a month at the moment, not nearly enough to meet India’s hope of getting its 220 million children online.
Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal called the announcement a message to all children of the world.
“This is not just for us. This is for all of you who are disempowered,” he said. “This is for all those who live on the fringes of society.”
[…]
Although the $10 goal wasn’t achieved, the Aakash has a color screen and provides word processing, Web browsing and video conferencing. The Android 2.2-based device has two USB ports and 256 megabytes of RAM. Despite hopes for a solar-powered version — important for India’s energy-starved hinterlands — no such option is currently available.
[…]
India, after raising literacy to about 78 percent from 12 percent when British rule ended, is now focusing on higher education with a 2020 goal of 30 percent enrollment. Today, only 7 percent of Indians graduate from high school.“To every child in India I carry this message. Aim for the sky and beyond. There is nothing holding you back,” Sibal said before distributing about 650 of the tablets to the students.
Hard to say how well this will work, but the direction is good. Increased emphasis on education is necessary for any nation to grow and to compete in the future. Otherwise, historians will talk about the Rise and Fall of America and the American Dream. The above link references a post that says, in part, “That is, the government should pay not only for elementary, middle and high school, but also for college and advanced degrees. Further, I suggest that the government pay a wage for college attendance, to encourage the impoverished who might otherwise have to decide between work and education.”
I wonder whether India has Tea/Republicans who, being ignorant of Monetary Sovereignty, have demanded that spending for this initiative be offset by spending reductions in some other area, thereby making economic growth impossible.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com
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No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia. The key equation in economics: Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY
#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 