Is somebody listening

to such sensible stuff anymore:

As the American population ages, the unpleasant question will have to be answered: what to do with the Baby Boomers as they age and can no longer care for themselves? The typical Baby Boomer can not afford a private nurse or comfortable retirement homes. Without immigration the market does not provide many affordable and dignified long-term care options. Restricting immigration will probably result in more illegal immigrants providing care. This leaves the migrant and the elderly person they care for vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. More legal immigration also increases the tax base which takes some of the edge off of the burden of entitlement spending on current earners. Increased immigration of workers of all skills levels will help allow retirees to age and die with dignity.

A fantastic piece

on how UPA has screwed up here by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha!

Do go read it.
some excerpts here

On the one hand, the ruling alliance has not aggressively pushed economic reforms but seems to have decided to ride the growth wave unleashed by a higher savings rate, demographic power and the benefits of the reforms done by the Narasimha Rao, United Front and Atal Bihari Vajpayee governments since 1991. The underlying assumption is that economic growth is on auto pilot, so there is no pressing need to go in for contentious policies such as cutting subsidies or changing labour laws. No reforms have been rolled back and economic policy is nowhere as interventionist as it was during the Indira Gandhi years, but it is quite clear that the UPA political leadership does not have a deep commitment to economic reforms despite having some outstanding economic liberals in government.

Yet, there has also been a firm belief within the Congress party that the benefits of growth have not been distributed equally, a fear that was articulated recently by Rahul Gandhi when he used the irresponsible rhetoric about the existence of two Indias. The second prong of the UPA strategy has been to provide voters with entitlements to employment, food and education in the name of inclusive growth—and win votes in the bargain.

New Year

Before you know it, one more year has passed. 2010 has ended and in a hour or so 2011 begins!

2010 has been a very happening year. So many things happened this it is hard to believe that all of them actually did.

Me and my family
I completed my PhD
My sister got married!
I got a job. My first real job (I am not joking!)
I got a chance to see if I can stand up for my choice the second time
I moved out of Austin
I left the United States to move to Canada
I am beginning a new phase of my life in Montreal
My standing up for myself did work this time
During this year period I learned a lot about a friend.

Friends
one guy found a gult bandi
one couple moved into their new hosue
one guy found a marathi bandi
one couple are having a kid
one guy is standing up to his parents
one guy is still pondering whether he should put fight or not

Cricket and Tennis
Sehwag had a decent time
Indian cricket team is at the top in Tests. Thats all I ask for!
Federer had an ok year. Nadal had a great year.
Oh yes, Tendulkar hit a 200 in onedays and 50 hundreds in tests (people who are surprised at me saying good things about Tendulkar, i have really changed :))

TV shows
I have completed watching Frasier the third time and am upto third season the fourth time
Watched Seinfeld twice
Watching Becker again

Books
India after Gandhi was good, really good.
Other notable books Atlas Shrugged (finally), Crime and Punishment, My Experiments with Truth (Even I can't believe i read this one), Unaccustomed Earth, Winesburg, Ohio. Overall a little less than my normal!


I wish all my readers (a small number I know) a happy and prosperous new year!

Funny

to say the least A rhyme that makes sense (Link via News you can't use)

Taking sycophancy to higher levels

Look at this

“People looked upon Sonia Gandhi's renunciation of power as reminiscent of the Mahatma,'' the book suggests in a chapter “Congress in Coalition'' that trace the Congress' return to power in 2004.

I am no fan of Mahatma, but I am sure even he is turning in his grave at this comparison.

Full piece
here

Oh yes, in the same book that Congress authorized to be written by historians they could devote only a paragraph to some of the greatest disasters in Post Independence era. If you know Congress government you would have guessed these tragedies correctly (Sikh riots and Bhopal plant). Of course, the fact that the congress government had a major role in these events has nothing to do with it!

Will India Listen to

this advice. I really hope so. But, with our political system, who am I kidding!

What more can you say except

what realitycheck has put so eloquently here