On the Move

Wish I had slept better since we got a very early start Monday to reach the airport before the bandh has a chance to stop transit.  A bandh, for my non-Indian readers, is a general strike, this one called by the opposition parties to protest the Government’s decision to reduce subsidies for fuel prices.  I should think that the Naxalite support for this bandh would be enough to cause any self-respecting party to oppose it but no one with the Opposition asked my advice.

I wonder, too, if those calling for the bandh appreciate that subsidies actually increase costs.  To be sure, a fuel subsidy reduces the price but increased demand can only increase the cost of a fixed supply of goods like oil-based products.  As well, the subsidy shifts the cost of fuel from its consumers to India’s taxpayers (either current ones or subsequent taxpayers if the subsidy increases the national deficit) but that’s less than a zero sum game because government revenue collection is, to put it kindly, an inefficient process.  Tu quoque, its supporters might reply: Just how many subsidies does the U.S. federal government provide?  Got me.  Guess I’ll let it rest.