Words are Weariness

Ever since the English king Henry VIII ( circa 1533) broke away from the Vatican and set up the Church of England, Vatican wanted to teach England a lesson and was egging on the rulers of Spain to wage wars against Britain. There were many wars throughout Europe as a result, in the medieval times. The Protestant movement of 16th Century took over the Church of England and consolidated its the moving away from the Vatican during the Edward the VI. This was important for the age of reason to emerge 100 years later. The years between 1770 and 1820 is called by economic historians as the Age of Reason. It was during this period that new ideas and inventions started shaping statecraft. Philosophers and logicians started wondering about the process of wealth creation and distribution. Originally their writings were more like discourses on ethics and moral science but without bringing GOD into the picture. The hold of the church had already begun to weaken amongst the Anglo-Saxons; the

As I sit down to write this blog, Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman is on the TV channels. She is supposed to unveil a package to counter the challenge the Coronovirus has mounted on an already tepid economy. I am not listening to it. This is the gravest challenge the world economy faced in recent times-- we in India  with some 1000 million very poor people- sometimes my mind goes numb, just like the nervous system shuts down when the pain increases beyond the threshold. Already the internet is awash with dire predictions for the world economy. There are estimates about what percentage this Coronovirus can shave off  the GDPs of various economies, for India it is half a percentage point. The western world along with Australia is expected to take the maximum hit. China, might strangely benefit from all this in a way, unless there is clarity and political unit in the free world to counter China’s evil influences. More about it later.  The four major areas of concern for any govt under these ci