[RD] Daily Graphs and Charts

[Azale]

Another problem with India is that the Brits conquered a whole (sub) continent with several peoples who speak different languages, have different religions, traditions and physical aspects, and then decided to bundle all of them together in one great union. India might actually benefit from a break-up.

Weird how India's biggest geographical/demographic problem is that it wasn't large enough at independence. Partition was a b.

I think the crap parts of India (the vast swathes of UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, etc) would largely be crap or worse on their own. Breaking up the country would just reinforce how much more awesome Kerala is than everywhere else

It's weird though how one of the first solutions most foreigners have to other countries issues of poverty or social conflict is to just break up the country. I really never know what the next step after that is supposed to be.

Also gonna throw out there that the Brits really exacerbated and pretty much created the "ancient Indian caste system from time immemorial" thing, at least according to everything I've read.

DAILY GRAPH AND/OR CHART

I don't know what it means and I don't know if it was already posted but I don't want to derail the thread!

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Also gonna throw out there that the Brits really exacerbated and pretty much created the "ancient Indian caste system from time immemorial" thing, at least according to everything I've read.

It does make sense to me. Would have made the control of India potentially a lot easier. Divide and rule.

 

[Tee Kay]

I'm not disregarding them at all.

Yes you are. You're effectively handwaving the colonial legacy saying it doesn't matter anymore.

But it's been 50 years.

And it's been 150 years since the slaves were freed. It's been such a long time that the after-effects of systematic subjugation and dehumanisation shouldn't matter any more, so obviously black community leaders chose to keep African-Americans poor.

 

[Cutlass]

Yes you are. You're effectively handwaving the colonial legacy saying it doesn't matter anymore.

No, I am not. And I think you're being over sensitive.

Since independence, India has done close to nothing to address the problems it faces which are obstructions to development. Nothing about the past colonialism is responsible for the fact that the Indian government hasn't done jack since then. They've had the time. They've had the opportunity. They have chosen not to use it.

At some point colonialism stops being a reason and just becomes an excuse.

And it's been 150 years since the slaves were freed. It's been such a long time that the after-effects of systematic subjugation and dehumanisation shouldn't matter any more, so obviously black community leaders chose to keep African-Americans poor.

This is a very unethical counter example. It's worse than a strawman. And you are better than this. I can show you what harm is being done today to black Americans by white Americans. Can you show me what is being done today to India by the UK?

 

[Terxpahseyton]

This

They've had the time. They've had the opportunity. They have chosen not to use it.

does not mean that colonialism is not responsible.
As much as we humans love to buy into the myth of autonomous agents and as useful this myth can be despite it being a myth - it ain't the truth. Everything India is today is to a large part the product of colonialism. There is no arguing about it. Because things simply would have been enough drastically different without colonialism that 70 years are not even close to making this factor not hugely relevant anymore. The whole trajectory of this country was pushed all over the place, after all.

That said, we also do not know if India wouldn't have been worse of without colonialism. I just don't see how we can hope to say either way. So I agree with you that there is no use in complaining about colonialism by now. And that the Indian people are best served by embracing the myth of autonomy regarding their nation.

 

[Borachio]

When things don't go as well as people would like they usually look around for an explanation.

Colonialism is as good as any, I think. And better than most. Certainly better than looking for a minority population to blame.

Brazil is still (I've heard, though it's probably only some Brazilians, not the whole of Brazil) blaming the Portuguese for the state of their country. Even after gaining independence in 1822.

I personally blame the Norman French for wreaking havoc on my own country. And it's in a deplorable state.

(Actually, this country doesn't belong to me at all. Sorry if I've given that impression. More accurately, I belong to it.)

 

[gay_Aleks]

I dunno, Borachio. I think the whole "let's invade that island over there" from William the Conqueror was a bad idea in the long term.

But then again, as Pratchett argues, what is good in the long term?

 

[Tee Kay]

Since independence, India has done close to nothing to address the problems it faces which are obstructions to development.

Close to nothing presumably includes: reorganisation of states to reflect ethnic/linguistic backgrounds, sixfold expansion of literacy, expansion of labour rights, abolition of the caste system and numerous affirmative action programs, attempts at central planning followed by economic liberalisation since the 1980s, their energy policy, all of the government programs aimed at reducing poverty and corruption

We can debate the actual effectiveness of a particular reform or program but to say that successive governments each mindful of its legacy in the world's largest electoral democracy have done nothing to address India's many many problems is, basically, false.

This is a very unethical counter example. It's worse than a strawman.

Really? We can extend the United States to the world economic system, white Americans replaced by the developed countries, African Americans by post-colonials, and the situation is analogous. Post-colonials particularly in Africa left bondage into a world where the dominant countries have every advantage, with practically zero industrial base to speak of, few educated leaders, and saddled with the legacy of a hundred years or more of misrule, often followed by neocolonialism the story of which I trust you are familiar with.

 

[Monsterzuma]

I dunno, Borachio. I think the whole "let's invade that island over there" from William the Conqueror was a bad idea in the long term.

But then again, as Pratchett argues, what is good in the long term?

Zhou Enlai asked about whether the French Revolution was a good thing:

"It's too soon to tell."

 

[CavLancer]

Weird how India's biggest geographical/demographic problem is that it wasn't large enough at independence. Partition was a b.

I think the crap parts of India (the vast swathes of UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, etc) would largely be crap or worse on their own. Breaking up the country would just reinforce how much more awesome Kerala is than everywhere else

It's weird though how one of the first solutions most foreigners have to other countries issues of poverty or social conflict is to just break up the country. I really never know what the next step after that is supposed to be.

Also gonna throw out there that the Brits really exacerbated and pretty much created the "ancient Indian caste system from time immemorial" thing, at least according to everything I've read.

DAILY GRAPH AND/OR CHART

I don't know what it means and I don't know if it was already posted but I don't want to derail the thread!

I know the US went a lot further in debt to revive the economy, has corporate America done the same? Seems mighty selfless of them all things considered. Can't be true, is it?

 

[Monsterzuma]

http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/guest/Michael-Lombardi-140605-VIX-Update.php
VIX at record low, no expectations of stock market volatility in the S&P 500

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...vealed-The-worlds-cheapest-stock-markets.html
World's cheapest and most expensive stock markets based on an average of three valuation metrics

http://www.businessinsider.com/spanish-10-year-yields-fall-below-us-10-year-yields-2014-6
Spanish 10 year bond yield falls below the US 10 year treasury yield

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/japan/inflation-cpi
Inflation returns to Japan!

 

[Mise]

Nice set of graphs!

 

[luiz]

Brazil is still (I've heard, though it's probably only some Brazilians, not the whole of Brazil) blaming the Portuguese for the state of their country. Even after gaining independence in 1822.

Only communist Brazilians, who are, as all communists, idiots.

The rest of us will only say that in jest. If anything I'm very grateful for Portuguese colonization, because I wouldn't exist otherwise (and neither would something like 99.8% of Brazilians).

 

[gay_Aleks]

Does this graph mean that these places are good for investment? That's curious, considering one of those places is Greece.

 

[Borachio]

Those "expensive" and "cheap" arrows are misleading aren't they?

Isn't it "cheap" in Greece is because it's also very risky?

 

[gay_Aleks]

I guess different factors have different effects on different countries, and we can't really just say that "it's cheap because it's risky"?

Also; I feel like I said nothing.

 

[Borachio]

No. I don't get it either.

Pakistan must surely be a risky investment prospect.

(I'm making a blind guess in the dark here. I wouldn't have a clue whether it is or isn't, tbh.)

 

[gay_Aleks]

If I'm reading the numbers correctly, investing into Pakistan would still be a safer bet than investing in USA.

Then again, that's from a purely economical point, and only according to this chart. There's plenty other xs and ys that could screw you/rise you to the beloved of the people.

 

[Monsterzuma]

It depends on whether you're talking about risk endogenous or exogenous to the scope of the metrics concerned. People are willing to bid up the US market to the point where it is endogenously risky because the exogenous risk is estimated to be low. Think of the global market as something that automatically balances these two substances.

 

[Monsterzuma]