Despite the fact that you somehow "didn't see" any wind farms in India there is an installed capacity just shy of 35 GW (end of 2018). The target for 2030 is 60 GW. Here's the citation
The same argument was probably made about horseless carriages back in the day. There was "literally nowhere" you couldn't already go on foot / horseback / whatever. Yet here we are.
Maybe it's a north/south thing but I can't count the number of times I've stood in a supermarket checkout line at Leclerc or Carrefour while someone pulls out a chequebook. The checkout clerk sometimes even has a printer which fills in the amount automatically. There are cheques for everything here - restaurants, vacations, school, you name it. Sure, they like cards as well (though to be fair these are more like charge cards than US credit cards) and they are chip/PIN or contactless.
Making and receiving calls may be your primary usage mode but why do you assume it is their primary function? Email + Whatsapp have pretty much rendered traditional phone communication obsolete.
uses the energy contained in that 5 miles of height they still have
You're thinking about the RAT (Ram Air Turbine) that works like a windmill to generate emergency power to operate certain basic electrical and hydraulic systems in order to make a controlled descent possible. The APU (Auxilliary Power Unit) is a small jet turbine (usually inside the tailcone) that is used to power the aircraft on the ground before the main engines are started. The APU burns fuel just like the main engines (just less of it) and provides electrical power rather than thrust.
The original quote goes like this: "My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel." by Rashid bin Said Al Maktum, who was the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Emir of Dubai
If you're talking about 'cost-plus' pricing where the seller adds a fixed margin on top of the costs that go into producing something, this is only one of a number of pricing strategies. Even in cost plus, there's no (and has never been) any arbitrary figure of 10% set based on morality or respectability. The price of a product or service is always what the market will bear. Profit margin in the diamond industry is as high as 30%. The airline industry on the other hand considers 5% cause for celebration.
Oh look, a lying muslim feeding us non-believing kafirs more taqiya lies!
If you are such wonderful people, then why did Erdogan, himself, use SENDING MORE MUSLIMS TO EUROPE... as a THREAT when Denmark didn't let them hold political rallies? Denmark belongs to THE DUTCH, not a bunch of violent lying foreigners.
I think the Danes might disagree with you on that!
And yet millions of people step into self-driving trains every day without giving it a second thought. This has been happening for years now. Just because you wouldn't do something doesn't mean everyone else won't.
You're missing the point here. There were no guns for the government to "take away" in the first place. Lets take a look at the number of firearm related fatalities in India vs. the US*:
India: 0.28
US: 10.54
*Firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year (2014). Source: wikipedia.org
Which is why some countries ban or restrict the use of satellite phones. If these guys are already in trouble for clicking pictures think what they'd be down for if caught with contraband equipment as well.
Fair point, but I think you massively underestimate the scale of corruption in almost every sphere of life in India. Any additional time allowed to ease people's inconvenience would also have meant higher chances of leaks and reduced the effectiveness of the exercise as a whole. It's really a choice between the lesser of two evils here. By the way, I live in India and the on-ground situation is not been quite so cataclysmic as the media would have you believe. Sure, there are minor inconveniences but that's pretty much the norm here. Just means you need to plan a little better.
What's horrible about it? Consider that 250,000 rupees represents some 6 years worth of median annual household income in India. In the U.S. that would be equivalent to someone showing up with 300,000 dollars in cash. The IRS is definitely interested in significantly lower amounts than this.
The fear of government "Taking away your guns" is uniquely American. The rest of the world has solved the problem far upstream by not making firearms and ammunition freely available to the general public. Ethnic profiling is done anyway, through various other means. They're not depending on cashless payment systems for this. And finally, very few people are worried about being deported FROM India.
Ok, but there are far more ATMs vs. actual bank branches. Perhaps the number of tellers in bank branches has gone down, but I'll bet the number of people maintaining / servicing ATMs (drivers, security guards in the armored truck industry) has gone up. These aren't even higher-skilled jobs.
Absolutely. I totally identify with this. Our daughter does the exact same thing. We already cut our cable (DTH actually) because we long since stopped watching anything on broadcast/satellite TV. I would happily stop going to the theater if there was better content available online.
This isn't intended to be a panacea for every social ill. It isn't even a solution to curb all forms of corruption. It's just one measure by which the government aims to reduce the size of the shadow economy, widen the tax base and flush counterfeit currency out of circulation. Corruption is, to a large extent facilitated by the existence of a large parallel economy. One of the reasons bribery is so widespread is that it's relatively easy to convert all that accumulated cash into other forms such as real-estate, gold etc. Does it eventually become part of the legitimate economy? sure. Thats kinda the point of money laundering!.
Do the municipal and state/district governments not record sales of land and vehicles/vessels? Such large assets require registration in other countries: Does India refuse to do this?
Yes and no. They do record sales and purchases, in turn levying registration charges and stamp duties on the buyer. But since these levies are a percentage of the property value, there's usually an agreement between the buyer and seller to reduce the transaction value to a minimum. The discrepancy between the value of the property on paper and the amount of money actually changing hands is usually no less than 40% and could be up to 95% in extreme cases. The reason this is possible is because a) people are accustomed to dealing in large amounts of physical cash and b) the clerk in the registry office is happy to accept a bribe and look the other way. Less physical cash in the system means more barriers to this sort of behaviour.
Yes, idle money is a bad thing but a banking system is not strictly necessary, it's just easier to regulate a savings and loans service. Money lying around must be attracting thieves: How can people justify holding onto cash, or losing interest from investing?
Prior to economic reforms in the 1990s India had extortionate levels of taxation. In the 60s and 70s tax rates were as high as 97%. This naturally made a lot of people seek to avoid having anything to do with banks and these habits persist. In other cases it's just resistance to change - people were uncomfortable when ATM machines were introduced around 20 years ago. Now they're ubiquitous. People will eventually get used to transacting through cards, digital wallets and online. As for S&L, I'm not sure there is a direct equivalent of this in India, although there are payments banks, co-operative banks (more like credit unions I guess) and housing finance lending companies. All these come within the purview of the regulated economy however and tend to be shunned by those who favour cash payments.
Every assertion you have made is lacking the critical thinking 'Why?'
Why is a 97% cash based economy "just ridiculous?"
What is ridiculous and why is it bad?
It's bad because it facilitates corruption on multiple levels. Go to a store to buy something and inevitably the question pops up of whether you want a bill. The vendor offers you a discount if you pay cash and don't ask for a bill because that way he evades sales tax on that transaction. Most people would gladly pay cash and take the discount. With a card swipe the vendor has no choice but to account for the transaction and pay the tax on it. Multiply this across every store in the market, add gas stations, hospitals, basically anywhere money changes hands in cash and imagine the scale of tax evasion. Many people feel a sense of unfairness at the prospect of their income tax being deducted at source (@marginal 30%) when traders and business owners are getting by paying only a fraction of what they're supposed to.
Why should people not be allowed to purchase specific items with cash? Who decides that and why?
The majority of those paying cash aren't doing so just for the pleasure of it. They're doing it for a very specific purpose - to evade taxes. If the indirect tax net is broadened by discouraging these "off the books" transactions the government would be able (in theory at least) to rationalise direct taxes for the middle class who currently bear a good share of the income tax burden. Consider that over 50% of total tax revenues come from direct taxes (i.e. income tax) which are paid by less than 5% of the population. Note: this isn't the top 5% either.
Why is India an "annoying neighbor?" Why does that matter? Why is that relevant to what they do within their borders with their own currency system?
Okay, I'll count this one as a reading comprehension fail. My point was that India has an annoying neighbour that actively counterfeits Indian currency.
Why does it matter if people "can't be bothered to use the banking system?"
It matters because the promotion of a shadow economy has several drawbacks including rising tax rates, constraints on public sector spending and making econometric figures unreliable
Why is the banking system better? What does it provide that cash does not to the people that prefer cash?
How about security from theft and opportunities to earn interest?
Why do you believe interests rates dropping would be a good thing for people that can't take advantage of it?
Slashdot Mirror
Despite the fact that you somehow "didn't see" any wind farms in India there is an installed capacity just shy of 35 GW (end of 2018). The target for 2030 is 60 GW. Here's the citation
The same argument was probably made about horseless carriages back in the day. There was "literally nowhere" you couldn't already go on foot / horseback / whatever. Yet here we are.
Maybe it's a north/south thing but I can't count the number of times I've stood in a supermarket checkout line at Leclerc or Carrefour while someone pulls out a chequebook. The checkout clerk sometimes even has a printer which fills in the amount automatically. There are cheques for everything here - restaurants, vacations, school, you name it. Sure, they like cards as well (though to be fair these are more like charge cards than US credit cards) and they are chip/PIN or contactless.
You should try visiting France sometime!
Making and receiving calls may be your primary usage mode but why do you assume it is their primary function? Email + Whatsapp have pretty much rendered traditional phone communication obsolete.
You don't have to be rich to go to Stanford.
... or brilliant to get a CS degree! (EE major here)
uses the energy contained in that 5 miles of height they still have
You're thinking about the RAT (Ram Air Turbine) that works like a windmill to generate emergency power to operate certain basic electrical and hydraulic systems in order to make a controlled descent possible. The APU (Auxilliary Power Unit) is a small jet turbine (usually inside the tailcone) that is used to power the aircraft on the ground before the main engines are started. The APU burns fuel just like the main engines (just less of it) and provides electrical power rather than thrust.
... and don't call me Shirley!
The original quote goes like this: "My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel." by Rashid bin Said Al Maktum, who was the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Emir of Dubai
If you're talking about 'cost-plus' pricing where the seller adds a fixed margin on top of the costs that go into producing something, this is only one of a number of pricing strategies. Even in cost plus, there's no (and has never been) any arbitrary figure of 10% set based on morality or respectability. The price of a product or service is always what the market will bear. Profit margin in the diamond industry is as high as 30%. The airline industry on the other hand considers 5% cause for celebration.
Oh look, a lying muslim feeding us non-believing kafirs more taqiya lies!
If you are such wonderful people, then why did Erdogan, himself, use SENDING MORE MUSLIMS TO EUROPE... as a THREAT when Denmark didn't let them hold political rallies? Denmark belongs to THE DUTCH, not a bunch of violent lying foreigners.
I think the Danes might disagree with you on that!
And yet millions of people step into self-driving trains every day without giving it a second thought. This has been happening for years now. Just because you wouldn't do something doesn't mean everyone else won't.
Ha ha I'd like that on a T-shirt!
The B-level people are busy pretending to be A-level people I guess.
QF32 by Richard de Crespigny - The book is about an air accident involving an A380 flight from Singapore to Sydney. Fascinating stuff.
You're missing the point here. There were no guns for the government to "take away" in the first place. Lets take a look at the number of firearm related fatalities in India vs. the US*:
India: 0.28
US: 10.54
*Firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year (2014). Source: wikipedia.org
Which is why some countries ban or restrict the use of satellite phones. If these guys are already in trouble for clicking pictures think what they'd be down for if caught with contraband equipment as well.
Fair point, but I think you massively underestimate the scale of corruption in almost every sphere of life in India. Any additional time allowed to ease people's inconvenience would also have meant higher chances of leaks and reduced the effectiveness of the exercise as a whole. It's really a choice between the lesser of two evils here. By the way, I live in India and the on-ground situation is not been quite so cataclysmic as the media would have you believe. Sure, there are minor inconveniences but that's pretty much the norm here. Just means you need to plan a little better.
What's horrible about it? Consider that 250,000 rupees represents some 6 years worth of median annual household income in India. In the U.S. that would be equivalent to someone showing up with 300,000 dollars in cash. The IRS is definitely interested in significantly lower amounts than this.
The fear of government "Taking away your guns" is uniquely American. The rest of the world has solved the problem far upstream by not making firearms and ammunition freely available to the general public. Ethnic profiling is done anyway, through various other means. They're not depending on cashless payment systems for this. And finally, very few people are worried about being deported FROM India.
Ok, but there are far more ATMs vs. actual bank branches. Perhaps the number of tellers in bank branches has gone down, but I'll bet the number of people maintaining / servicing ATMs (drivers, security guards in the armored truck industry) has gone up. These aren't even higher-skilled jobs.
Absolutely. I totally identify with this. Our daughter does the exact same thing. We already cut our cable (DTH actually) because we long since stopped watching anything on broadcast/satellite TV. I would happily stop going to the theater if there was better content available online.
This isn't intended to be a panacea for every social ill. It isn't even a solution to curb all forms of corruption. It's just one measure by which the government aims to reduce the size of the shadow economy, widen the tax base and flush counterfeit currency out of circulation. Corruption is, to a large extent facilitated by the existence of a large parallel economy. One of the reasons bribery is so widespread is that it's relatively easy to convert all that accumulated cash into other forms such as real-estate, gold etc. Does it eventually become part of the legitimate economy? sure. Thats kinda the point of money laundering!.
Do the municipal and state/district governments not record sales of land and vehicles/vessels? Such large assets require registration in other countries: Does India refuse to do this?
Yes and no. They do record sales and purchases, in turn levying registration charges and stamp duties on the buyer. But since these levies are a percentage of the property value, there's usually an agreement between the buyer and seller to reduce the transaction value to a minimum. The discrepancy between the value of the property on paper and the amount of money actually changing hands is usually no less than 40% and could be up to 95% in extreme cases. The reason this is possible is because a) people are accustomed to dealing in large amounts of physical cash and b) the clerk in the registry office is happy to accept a bribe and look the other way. Less physical cash in the system means more barriers to this sort of behaviour.
Yes, idle money is a bad thing but a banking system is not strictly necessary, it's just easier to regulate a savings and loans service. Money lying around must be attracting thieves: How can people justify holding onto cash, or losing interest from investing?
Prior to economic reforms in the 1990s India had extortionate levels of taxation. In the 60s and 70s tax rates were as high as 97%. This naturally made a lot of people seek to avoid having anything to do with banks and these habits persist. In other cases it's just resistance to change - people were uncomfortable when ATM machines were introduced around 20 years ago. Now they're ubiquitous. People will eventually get used to transacting through cards, digital wallets and online. As for S&L, I'm not sure there is a direct equivalent of this in India, although there are payments banks, co-operative banks (more like credit unions I guess) and housing finance lending companies. All these come within the purview of the regulated economy however and tend to be shunned by those who favour cash payments.
Every assertion you have made is lacking the critical thinking 'Why?'
Why is a 97% cash based economy "just ridiculous?"
What is ridiculous and why is it bad?
It's bad because it facilitates corruption on multiple levels. Go to a store to buy something and inevitably the question pops up of whether you want a bill. The vendor offers you a discount if you pay cash and don't ask for a bill because that way he evades sales tax on that transaction. Most people would gladly pay cash and take the discount. With a card swipe the vendor has no choice but to account for the transaction and pay the tax on it. Multiply this across every store in the market, add gas stations, hospitals, basically anywhere money changes hands in cash and imagine the scale of tax evasion. Many people feel a sense of unfairness at the prospect of their income tax being deducted at source (@marginal 30%) when traders and business owners are getting by paying only a fraction of what they're supposed to.
Why should people not be allowed to purchase specific items with cash? Who decides that and why?
The majority of those paying cash aren't doing so just for the pleasure of it. They're doing it for a very specific purpose - to evade taxes. If the indirect tax net is broadened by discouraging these "off the books" transactions the government would be able (in theory at least) to rationalise direct taxes for the middle class who currently bear a good share of the income tax burden. Consider that over 50% of total tax revenues come from direct taxes (i.e. income tax) which are paid by less than 5% of the population. Note: this isn't the top 5% either.
Why is India an "annoying neighbor?" Why does that matter? Why is that relevant to what they do within their borders with their own currency system?
Okay, I'll count this one as a reading comprehension fail. My point was that India has an annoying neighbour that actively counterfeits Indian currency.
Why does it matter if people "can't be bothered to use the banking system?"
It matters because the promotion of a shadow economy has several drawbacks including rising tax rates, constraints on public sector spending and making econometric figures unreliable
Why is the banking system better? What does it provide that cash does not to the people that prefer cash?
How about security from theft and opportunities to earn interest?
Why do you believe interests rates dropping would be a good thing for people that can't take advantage of it?
It doesnt matter what I believe. The fact is lower interest rates are a significant factor in promoting and sustaining overall economic growth and economic growth leads to reduction in poverty levels
Why do you think that interest rates dropping would naturally lead to better infrastructure?
Not interest rates but increased tax revenues means more public funds available for infrastructure projects.
Why should someone that has cash let other people make money off of their work?
Oh I don't know - maybe because they benefit from public services like roads, sanitation and public healthcare?
Your post is