Times of India | Piketty’s wrong again. We should be happy India is creating billionaires

To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Thomas Piketty, economist and writer of big fat books, believes that economic inequality is a problem and higher taxes on the rich are the solution. To this end, he has enlisted social scientists from around the world to cast inequality as a global problem. It’s a little like European communists who, a century ago, zeroed in on class struggle as the big problem and went around the world looking for it. Read the full article here.

US investors concerned over India’s economic slowdown, social unrest and Modi’s disinterest

Even if we ignore the fact that the Indian economy is in a severe slowdown, we should not forget even for a moment that India’s per capita GDP is around $2000, it needs to create around 2 crore jobs every year, and needs every little point of economic growth that it can get.So, in terms of the level of income, India is in the same league as Congo, East Timor, Nicaragua, and Nigeria. Two of India’s subcontinental neighbours, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, are far ahead of us. At around $10,000, the average income in China is 400 per cent higher than India’s. Given our tax/GDP ratios, the Indian government’s combined expenditure on everything — including health, education, defence, rural development, and social welfare — is a paltry $300 per year.Read more