Recalling Adam

8226; In his open letter,8216;You can8217;t loan discipline8217; IE, May 13, Jaithirth Rao ...

8226; In his open letter,8216;You can8217;t loan discipline8217; IE, May 13, Jaithirth Rao asks that Paul Wolfowitz make a video of how free trade and free markets contribute to growth and development. Wolfowitz needn8217;t bother to do this 8212; such a video already exists. Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy 2002 was a six-hour programme consisting of three parts. It extolled the virtues of the free markets and free trade. But we need to bear in mind, lest we get bowled over by free trade, that Adam Smith8217;s The Wealth of Nations 1776 was a polemic against monopolistic tendencies. He favoured open competition, not the absence of restraints on the free market.

8212; Ganesh S. Krishnan Minnesota

8226; The US tax payers do not bail out the World Bank, as the writer claims. It is contributions from member-countries, as well as the money paid back on past loans by borrowing countries, that generate income for the Bank.

8212; Dr Vedavalli On e-mail

The Maha exodus?

8226; This is with reference to your editorial, 8216;Mumbai, unmade8217; IE, April 28. You say that while the West Bengal government is busy refurbishing Kolkata8217;s infrastructure, Mumbai8217;s government is too obsessed with the morals of its citizens to worry about the bright lights of progress. While it is true that the WB govt is busy refurbishing infrastructure, they are able to do so because the lower strata of their society 8212; many of Mumbai8217;s bar girls come from this region 8212; have deserted their home state for Mumbai.

8212; Ranjit Biswas Mumbai

Part of the problem

8226; Apropos of the report, 8216;Radars that don8217;t work, parachutes that didn8217;t land8217; IE, May 13, top armed forces bosses, politicians and the police are all part of the problem, given their lack of accountability and corruption.

8212; Chandru Narayan On e-mail

Mantri8217;s fantasy flight

8226; The prime minister is right to shoot down Laloo Prasad Yadav8217;s plans to run bullet trains IE, May 14. The railway minister must first ensure safe train services, and then think of other projects. The railway ministry needs to do a lot of reorganisation and improvement. The minister seems to have little time to do this since he is running Bihar by remote control.

8212; F.S.K. Barar Jodhpur

8226; This is one more of Laloo Prasad Yadav8217;s ego trips. If he only spent a little more time in trying to decrease corruption within his family and department, maybe the trains we do have will run on time at least.

8212; Sanjeev Vasishtha On e-mail

8226; Running a bullet train for a distance of 500 km is sheer foolishness. If at all a bullet train should be run, it should be on long routes like that between Jammu and Kanyakumari, Chennai and Amritsar, or between Mumbai and Dibrugarh, and so forth. Otherwise the project will not be viable.

8212; K. Srinivas Mumbai

Costly inquiries

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8226; Investigations of this kind are a drain on the exchequer. Your editorial is very realistic 8216;End this witch-hunt8217;, IE, May 14.

8212; R. Sajan Aluva