Narendra Modi is a master of manipulation. That is the reason why he is sitting on the top of the political hierarchy in India. As F A Hayek, in Road to Serfdom, said, in the market place the best of the best rise to the top by serving their fellow consumers, but in politics the worst of the worst rise to the top because politics requires manipulation of other people to fulfill one’s own selfish ends and only the top manipulators, like Narendra Modi, can achieve that goal. As F G. Bailey said, the art of leadership lies in the art of humbuggery and manipulation. And Modi knows very well how to manipulate people to fulfill his own selfish goals.
To fulfill his goal of staying in power, the master of political manipulation Narendra Modi and his government has launched a new incentive scheme (sic) of “Income Tax Informants Reward Scheme 2018” to curb Benaami transactions and properties. Under this scheme Modi has pitted ordinary Indians against their fellow Indians. As per this scheme anyone who will inform the IT department about Benaami transaction or property of others will get a reward of up to 5 crore rupees!
This is the most ugliest and sinister public scheme that I have ever seen in my lifetime being launched by any Indian government. Why ugly and sinister? Because the scheme makes an ordinary Indian an enemy of other ordinary Indian by fueling his/her envy. This is manipulation of very grave proportion and implications.
This scheme, if implemented for long, will destroy the very social and cultural fabric of the Indian society, which is becoming very vulnerable already since Modi came to power. The glue that keeps any society together is the factor of trust. Without mutual trust and cooperation, no society can survive and thrive for long. Narendra Modi, by dividing Indians against each other, is destroying this factor of trust. This scheme is encouraging Indians to, basically, spy on each other on behalf of Modi. The aftermath of such spying will be that brothers will not trust brothers, sisters will not trust sisters, sons and daughters will not trust their parents, relatives will not trust their relatives, friends will not trust their friends. All will become enemies of each other. The atmosphere of suspicion will rule India, and in such atmosphere doing even mundane daily chore will become impossible. Businesses will collapse because they cannot survive without the factor of trust. If employees will start reporting their employers to the IT department then the whole market system will collapse. This has happened in past in other societies like the former USSR under Joseph Stalin, and we know the fate of USSR.
As Helmut Schoeck analyzed in his important work Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior, envy is an instinct that, if not suppressed, destroys the society. Only those societies and cultures can progress who deliberately create institutions – e.g., institution of private property rights – which can suppress peoples’ envy against each other. Instead of suppressing Indians’ envy against each other, Modi is deliberately fueling it to fulfill his political goals. Envy will run rampant in India. And this rampant run of envy will kill India one day.
Modi asks for more and more. Govt borrowing has hit an all time high.
Rothbard famously said:
Private product remaining in private hands (PPR) = GPP MINUS GOVT DEPRADATIONS ( that is taxes)
Gross private product (GPP) = GDP MINUS GOVT DEPRADATIONS
Even capital is taxed along with income tax. Every income is an investment unless it it spent on consumer goods. Hayeks triangle says consumer goods should be taxed if at all. Taxing capital shrinks and possibly even collapses the triangle.