Appraisal of Life

Mr. Layton penned a message to his followers two days before his untimely death at the age of sixty one and a few months after achieving an incredible success as the dynamic leader of a perennial also ran National Democratic Party. It captivated the nation, even those who opposed what he stood for in his life.

For an average citizen to attempt the composition of a message which will inspire a community would be a folly. If it were in him to lead and inspire he would have transcended mediocrity long ago. All such an individual can hope for is to lay bare his soul to those near and dear to him in the hope that he would be forgiven for the sins he has committed and his accidental good deeds would not be given undue credit. It stands to reason that the individual should review the misdeeds and the temperamental, intellectual and moral deficiencies which were at their root. If he were fortunate to have lived a long life, the list of such deeds would be long and it might be better to group them to keep this memorandum reasonably short. The circumstances that prompted them and the consequences for all concerned should be analysed, albeit briefly, so that the survivors may benefit from the ‘wisdom of age’ if there is indeed such a thing. Obviously, this should be done before the senility sets in. For this reason alone it is too late for me to do so. Apart from that, all those who had the misfortune of coming in contact with me know all my follies much too well and reminding them of these only makes their wounds fresh, something they would wish to avoid at all costs. They know very well that the veneer of gentility only created a good first impression but did not eliminate wickedness deep in the soul.

If the belief of my forefathers is correct and there is reincarnation of souls based on actions in this life, I dread to think what form my next life would take. To make up for this indulgent life I could return as an ant that labours for the community every moment of its life without any thoughts of reward. However, my few good not altogether selfless deeds do not merit an inner satisfaction such selflessness bestows and I seek consolation in believing that death is the final curtain of the only show one is allowed to stage.

Dexia Bank Crisis

There were two lessons to be learnt from the 2008 economic crisis. First, the financial institutions should not be allowed to become so big that their failure endangers national economy. Second, they should not be allowed to invest (?) their capital in highly risky hedge funds and trading ventures where a downturn in the stock market, a bad bet or a crooked trader can risk their capital base and endanger their stability. Neither of the lessons was put into effect and now we have a crisis that puts whole of Euro zone under a hammer. This inability to learn coupled with greed for short term gains and total disregard for long term consequences will destroy the capitalist economies unless we control the greedy and put stringent regulations in place. But the banks are too big to control even when they are failing and our leaders depend on their contributions for their reelection. Given this scenario our future is dark indeed.

Poor Americans

A study by learned professors from elite Universities concluded that as the literacy, gender equality and prosperity increase, the society becomes more peaceful. The study must have omitted the U.S. from its considerations where the level of homicides (18,000 deaths annually, 60 per million of population) is four times the rate in U.K. and Canada, twice that in Afghanistan and comparable to some developing countries going through a civil war. If the conclusions of the study are correct, Americans are generally either poor or illiterate or both. Wide support among the population, many of them at the bottom of the ladder, for the arguments presented by Tea Party leaders for receiving services only a government can provide without levying appropriate taxes on the rich or permitting the government to borrow funds for meeting its obligations certainly puts level of literacy in doubt. And if most Americans feel poor they have a justification. When media broadcasts almost every day the bonuses of tens, even hundreds of millions structured to minimize, even eliminate, the income tax and separation allowances of the same magnitudes for senior executives who are fired for poor performance, living on a hundred thousand does seem like barely scraping by.