LIC investors are being robbed by government

The government is about to sell IDBI Bank to LIC. Many analysts have compared this to ONGC buying out HPCL, and handing over money to the government. In that sense, money moves from one pocket of the government to another. This is not true in case of LIC buying out HPCL.
In case of ONGC buying HPCL, ONGC used the cash it had on its books and also borrowed money. ONGC is a company owned by the government. So is HPCL. Hence, money moved from one pocket of the government to another.
Same is not true about LIC buying out IDBI Bank. All the money that LIC has, is the money that investors/savers have handed it over, over the years. This is not government money. It is the money that the average LIC policy holder has handed over to LIC, because it trusts LIC to do a good job. The faith of LIC policy holder in LIC is being abused.

Further, IDBI Bank is the worst performing bank among all public sector banks. It has a bad loans ratio of 27%. Basically, the govt is unloading its stake in a bank which should not in the business of banking, to LIC policy holders.
LIC will pay a huge amount to the govt to buy a certain stake in IDBI Bank. This is not where it will end. IDBI Bank will need capital to continue functioning in the years to come. LIC, as a major owner of the bank, will have to continue providing this capital.

Hence, the govt is killing two birds with one stone. First, its gets some money out of a bankrupt IDBI Bank. Second, if it had continued to own IDBI Bank, it would have had to continue providing capital to the bank, in the future. That obligation now comes down.
There is no free lunch in economics. The individuals, who buy LIC policies, will basically bear the cost of this bad investment. LIC is been looted by government. The losses of government are being transferred to LIC policy holders. These policy holders will get fewer or no bonuses because LIC's profits will reduce.

Plastic ban in Mumbai

From tomorrow (Saturday 24-June-2018) plastic ban will come into effect in Mumbai.
The fine is Rs 5,000 for people/shops/businesses found carrying/using items like

• Plastic bags
• Disposable spoons, forks, glasses, containers, etc
• Plastic pouches for carrying liquids like coconut water
• Plastic wrap used for wrapping.
• Plastic and thermocol decorations.

The following items are exempt from this ban

• Plastic used to cover medicines e.g. tablets and medicinal liquids.
• garbage bags containing waste
• Food grade plastic used to made bags containing milk, oil, dal, rice, etc.

BMC inspectors will be roaming on the streets of Mumbai to make a quick buck. Fraudsters, under the guise as cleanliness, will harrass citizens to loot them. Take care.

Some thoughts

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt. - H. L. Mencken

Every actual state is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The State never intentionally confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. - Henry David Thoreau

Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law. - Sophocles. Do our leaders obey laws? If no, then why should we?

If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he… would be justified in silencing mankind. – John Stuart Mill. If something is majority, then it does not make it right. This is why democracies don't work. If 3 wolves and 1 sheep decide to vote on dinner, then the sheep will always lose. Majority of people in country are poor or middle-class; only a few are rich. So democracies bring into power the politician, who will steal from the rich and give to poor.

What this country needs is more unemployed politicians. - Edward Langley

What can the government do to help?
Stop helping. Because government has no money; it can only steal from one person to give to another. Only one human being can help other human being.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan

Strong as it looks at the outset, State-agency perpetually disappoints every one. Puny as are its first stages, private efforts daily achieve results that astound the world. - Herbert Spencer

A society that puts equality - in the sense of equality of outcome - ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality or freedom. - Milton Friedman

There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else. - Robert Heinlein

The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. - Frederick Douglass

“Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils.” – John Stark

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. - H. L. Mencken. If you are proud of your government, then follow this logic:

1. I would not have you handcuffed for anything that you did not agree to.
2. Will you give me the same right that I give to you?
3. I never agreed to income tax; why do you suppor a government that threatens to hurt me if I don't pay something that I never agreed to.

The only power tyrants have, is the power relinquished to them by their victims. - Étienne de la Boétie

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. - William Hazlitt. Do you want liberty of thought/word/action for others as long as it doesn't hurt you?

Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. Some confuse that feeling with idealism. - Thomas Sowell. Demonitization was an idea from people far away from ground realities.

When unlimited and unrestricted by individual rights, a government is men’s deadliest enemy. - Ayn Rand

It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law. - Malcolm X

The wealth of the country, its capital, its credit, must be saved from the predatory poor as well as the predatory rich, but above all from the predatory politician. – James J. Hill