-
Strategies for a discontinuous future.












Friday, September 17, 2004
 


If I was the world's dictator for a day...

I'd just pick up 90% of laws and regulations in poor countries and throw them in garbage. A lot of world poverty just stupidity tax in disguise. Growing up in a country where it took over 50 years after gaining freedom from colonial masters for the Supreme Court to prevail over a kicking and screaming buearucracy, and declare it legal for a citizen to unfurl the national flag, I always dreamt of being able to just take a large power hacksaw and going at all the absolutely idiotic laws and regulations I saw all around me. On the insanity scale, the pinning down of the collective creativity and energy of the world's poor by their governments is unmatched in modern times. It takes an incredible amount of work, energy and ingenuity on the part of such stifling bureaucracies to keep their citizens mired in poverty.

The one true radical strategy missing from the global war on poverty is precisely this. The War on Poverty should really be War on Bureaucratic Oppression and Trade Protectionism. The World Bank report mentioned in the Economist article is a step in the right direction. Note to anti-poverty NGOs around the world : the World Bank is not your enemy. Please fight the stupidity of the governments ruling the world's poorest countries.

-- Mahashunyam // 4:35 PM //


Comments:
Post a Comment
search



new


input

due diligence
ventureblog
a vc
techblurbs
tj's weblog
venture chronicles
terranova
the big picture
gigaom
venchar
bill burnham
babak nivi
n-c thoughts
paidcontent
techdirt
slashdot
london gsb
mefi
boingboing
blort
hardwax
betalounge

ing
morgan
chicago fed
dallas fed
ny fed
imf
world bank
nouriel roubini

portfolio
contact

mail.
uhaque (dot) mba2003 (at) london (dot) edu

skype.
umair.haque

atom feed

technorati profile

blog archives