Is Politics Always a 2.5 Party System?

I know US and UK have 2 parties, maybe a 3rd front every now and then, that never manages to come into power on its own but can influence the decision of who gets power and who gets to sit in opposition.

India has been a nation of coalitions. The nation's been divided on region/language, religion, caste etc. into vote banks, and different parties catering to these different vote banks. So, you have political parties mushrooming everywhere, but even those with a few MP seats get to rock the national stage. Now, of the short-term alliances/coalitions that were being formed, India might also be zeroing in on a 2.5 party system: NDA, UPA and the 3rd Front. Does this mean that inspite of all the parties, coalition possibilities, as politics matures you converge to such a 2.5 party system? Makes sense, in a way, you have those in power, those who oppose them and can't wait to pull the seat from them, and those who can't stand either and because 'enemy's enemy is a friend', they all align in the so-called 3rd Front.

Money is Amazing

I'd want to write about all the fine things that money can buy: wheels, wine and wild parties, but I'm not as aware of the before mentioned, as I'd like to be.

In a small village, the village moneylender (sahukar) would give out loans against collaterals that you'd have to rip you heart to give and interests rates like 40% and above. And if you ask for a Rs100 loan, all the fees/commissions etc wouldn't entitle you to more than Rs90 from it. Thus an exploitative system where the poor become slaves, the overall produce/prosperity goes down and in the long run, you have a slightly richer sahukar and half-dead slaves or runaway debtors.

Microfinance saved so many. Nobel Laurete Yunus showed loans of Rs.100 would go out and come back, at a high recovery rate with interest something above the Libor-equivalent of Bangladesh, and at before the stipulated time, much to the merriment of the lender since prepayments didn't hurt him much. That money went back into the system and returned, each time buying a household/farm a much needed tool/device... Money flowed faster, created more prosperity for both the lender and the borrower and joy for the village/community.

One of the properties of money is that its meant to flow like water. The more it flows, the more lives are touched. Money is happiest if it flows to where it can be used most efficiently, to provide the greatest benefit. Money parked, because it's being hoarded, is like water in a pond, just waiting for algae to form in it. If you have money, send it into systems that need it the most and can use it most optimally, read: little old me.

Yet Another Timepass Thesis

I was listening to our houseguests about Marriage Melas in Maithil, Bihar. Representatives from the prospective groom all gathered at a central location, while the bride's folks would swing by and select. Today, the same Melas happen, with price-tags attached to the groom, and so, the Mela's are looked down upon as bazaars. Thus another useful social structure/event is lost.

Now, let me further analyse the above. Capitalism rules. You, I, we're all sitting on our pile of capital. That capital gives us independence etc. Now instead of seeking support from and contributing back to the family/community/society structure like the one described above, we want to do things only for ourselves, and get things done for us with our capital. Hence, there is a market for everything. Whatever product/service, that would otherwise have been provided by a social support structure, is now being purchased. Thus, if performing death rites was something the entire community chipped in before, now people buy services from professionals. Each product/service thus has a price associated with it and we pay with currency. Previously, transactions had multiple parties involved and were complex in nature, now they're simple, 2-way transactions with the product/service going one way and money flowing the opposite.

Thus we see social support structures of the past break down. To this sad realization, there is an upside: you cannot have individual performers excel without giving the individual independence. How do you have a Bill Gates or a an Einstein emerge if the person has social commitments he is bound by and responsibilities he has to fulfill his entire life?

Game Theory, Strategy Management and Corporate Restructuring

Another post on the courses I took this semester. My respects to Prof. Arijit Sen, Prof. Biswatosh Saha & Prof. Ashok Banerjee (taught the above courses in the same order) who've tried very hard to pull my consciousness up a few notches and expose me to the intracacies of the market, the players and the products.

Game Theory: In a field with multiple players, others (re)actions affect my world. Through simple payoff diagrams, we understood how the games would be played out, and how Dr. Nash predicts the equilibrium state would be. For our group project, we studied the interactions between India-Pakistan over the past 60 years: 3 wars + Kargil, nuclear tests, insurgency/militancy... Pakistan might be an irrational player resorting to brinkmanship, India might be provoked into making credible its threats and ultimately employing pre-emptive aggression (elimination) every so often. To-do: Read the best-seller "Thinking Strategically".

Strategy Management: Last case: Corporate VCs (eg. Intel) vs. Financial VCs (Morgan Stanley in Menlo Park/SFO). The former is trying to create technologies that'll promote early adoption of its next gen chipsets - pushing the market, the latter is trying to acheive highest RoI on its 12-24 mo. investment. Contracts governing an investment ultimately decide how a vested project will utilize resources and what it can grow into. The key is who has: power (control, ownership) and wealth (cashflow, assets - real/virtual). Designing contracts that contingently divide and assign the above can create systems that run smoothly. Prof's anecdote: Afghanistan has been a subjugated land for many decades now. When a "friendly" USSR army crossed over a bridge into Afghanistan, the then Indian Ambassador saw it from a distance and asked a stander-by how he felt, "When power, money or land is lost, you are defeated. Today, we are defeated". Prof again: The Indian national anthem celebrates power, so choose power before money, respect it and use it wisely. To-do: try to enter VC/PE/LBO like framework (to invest in amateur/distressed, control and grow).

Corporate Restructuring: Mix this with the course on Legal Systems and a framework to own/control companies/industries: their balance sheets (creditor/investor interests), how they change hands (business pricing, M&A: acquisitions/sell-offs, amalgamations/de-mergers, spin-offs...), regulations (SEBI, anti-trust) etc. To-do: to understand industries, their maturity phases (S-curve, comparison with developed/efficient market), to drum up capital & invest in tomorrow (sounds cliched?).

This time, I've penned my desires on e-paper (what do you call a blog?). Let's see if "The Secret" works.

Chanting - Management, Culture & Creativity

MCC is a course I took in my B-school. We were supposed to work in a group of 8-9 and make a 20 min presentation on a topic of our choice. Very luckily, we chose to present on "chanting".

While the effort itself was immense fun, 2 in the group went to a nearby school to interview kids and later students and staff at our very own college, and the rest of us compiled information and videos from the web; the real joy was in finding the content we came across. If you've seen the movie "The Secret", I might be restating it, but chanting might just be the way to chase a dream.

How do I realize a dream? By constantly thinking of and believing in the reality of that dream. That's what chanting is. It's repeating a word, an idea, a abstract thought, till it becomes the truth. We referenced a Buddhist monk's talk about the "Power of Chanting". We referenced Prof. Emoto's work ("The Hidden Messages in Water"), to show how thoughts and words can affect water and hence us (90% of the human body is water). We picked scenes from before sports games and wars. Chanting isn't just to pump adrenaline, it's to establish a belief, a belief that's meant to become the truth. It's to establish our conviction and remove the randomness in the outcome, to make the results deterministically positive. We referenced prayers and hymns from religions across the globe too. Accordingly, they seem to be an easy & guaranteed way to reach the Almighty.

Securitization of Love

I was listening to the song "Future Lovers" by Madonna, when it occurred to me, what if we could can draw future contracts, forwards/options on love? Better still, can we securitise it?

Suppose A needs a steady stream of love, he/she can swap it (quite like a CDS?) with B who's happy experiencing the love in a more roller coaster like form. B gets to keep the excess spread, too!

Consider A dating B and not too sure B will be with him/her in a month. A can buy a 'long call' option to be loved 1 month from now. That should make A more daring/honest/straightforward in his/her dealings with B too, since A is covered for the future.

Since these are matters of the heart, matters of compatibility need to be taken care of. For the target, is the new provider of love a decent replacement for the previous/original? Is the provider of love accepting of the new target. Some standardization is needed, however, with the homogenization of population thanks to globalization, this requirement may soon be met, and we all will be happy givers/takers of love-at-will soon!