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The state and its policy discourse are loaded against the poor


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Published
Daily Mail
Digression
1
Nov 22, 2010
Others on the Margin

Apropos of Neelabh Mishra’s Posco Deewane (Nov 8), we appreciate the concerns of the learned for the poor but these are the same people for whom nobody has cried till now. There are people living close to Posco factories all over the world. They’re all alive and well, it seems only our Orissa adivasis will die. If we leave it to Jairam Ramesh, we’ll be living in rank poverty for ages. Compromise is the need of the hour.

Ramchandran, Mumbai

When it comes to grabbing land, netas do not discriminate between the middle class and the poor.

Abhishek Agrawal, Mumbai
Order by HAVE YOUR SAY
1/D-86
Oct 30, 2010
02:38 PM
Adapting the age old adage "Akal badi yaa bias!".. the in-built bias wins every time.. the rich are resource-ful and the rest are plain fools.
Harsh Rai Puri
Bhopal, India
2/D-13
Oct 31, 2010
01:23 AM
Calling Arundhati Roy! Calling Arundhati Roy!
Anwaar
Dallas, United States
3/D-107
Oct 31, 2010
05:32 PM
Well meaning but a little simplistic. How - and by whom - can 75% of the population, a good 900 million people, be subsidised ? Nations which lived beyond their means for a generation are in a deep hole.
ashok lal
mumbai, India
4/D-78
Nov 01, 2010
12:54 PM
When it comes to grabbing land, netas do not discriminate between the middle class and the poor.
Abhishek Agrawal
Mumbai, India
5/D-3
Nov 04, 2010
12:12 AM
For those who keep ranting about rich being ultra-powerful, here is the "Beer Economics" story.

http://www.reddit.co..._beer_a_tax_allegory

---------------------------------------
Ten men go out for beer. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. He said, "Since you are all such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80."
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men -- the paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share"? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay!
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He
pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2 ? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important.
They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics, University of Georgia
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The Irreverent Indian
Online, India
6/D-37
Nov 04, 2010
06:13 AM
we appreciate tha concerns of the learned for the poor in the posco affair,for them nobody had cried for ages.hundreds of companies alike posco function all over the world,why sudden love for poor posco affected janata.we feel all people concerned should sit together and find a way out,posco is connected with the prosperity of india,not you me or any individual,and it must be permitted at any cost,all the humanity close to posco factories all over the world are alive,how only orissa adivasis will dia.learned people stop this tamasha,jayram and his collegues come to senses,look to india and prosperity.we all have been dying in rank povarty for ages,we have to be an indutrial gaint,and may have to compromise here and there little bit
which nobody should hesitate,compensate where needed,relocate where needed but work should go on in national interest,which should be supreme,
ramchandran
mumbai, India
7/D-80
Nov 04, 2010
04:31 PM
the story of beer drinkers is ulta in reality.
the story should be about how much the workers who brew the beer/serve get in ratio with the owner.

4 decide to brew the beer 2 to collect and store it and 2 to serve it,1 collects the money and 1 heads the operation allotting salary for respective jobs and deciding on the price of beer.he asks the brewers to take the waste material left out after beer is brewed as salary and 1 dollar each to the storage indls.he pays 5 dollars to the money collector and keeps the rest 93 with him for his hard work.
when the 4 indls who brew the beer protest he promises to upgrade 1 to storekeeper but at the same time motivate the 2 store keepers to indulge in brewing with the promise that he will pay a dollar more.the 4 brewers are working very hard to get the coveted price of storekeeper while the storekeepers try the additional work of brewing resulting in fighting between the two groups. the head intervenes and comes with the great idea of status quo and all r happy except the money collector.

the head advises leadership by election in the group and promises the money collector 5 more dollars for electoral spending which he uses on the beer brewers at 1 dollar each and wins the election and becomes the leader. he is greatly indebted to the head for making him leader and giving 5 dollars for electoral spending while the beer brewers r very happy with elections and 1 dollar evry election.evryone lived happily after that
munusamy ganapathy
chennai, India
8/D-85
Nov 04, 2010
06:12 PM
Beer drinking is injurious to health.
Abhishek Agrawal
Mumbai, India
9/D-53
Nov 06, 2010
12:53 PM
..and the ones who do not pay for the beer are the politicians who go to drink with the rich to the parties! I don't think the rich will ever take the poor for a drink!
srinivasan vishal
Doha, Qatar
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