Gautam is finally back to blogging after his long break. In his post he writes about Ramachandra Guha’s new article.

“The market does have its imperfections. One is that left to itself, it tends to pollute and degrade the environment. A second is that employers generally do not pay attention to the health and safety of the worker. A third is that without consumer vigilance and action, industrialists do not always deliver on quality. A fourth is that the market disregards those without purchasing power. A fifth is that one cannot rely on the market to deliver on goods and services whose value cannot be reduced to monetary terms, such as primary education and basic healthcare.”

I think the reason why Guha makes ambivalent statements sometimes for and at other times against markets is because he doesn’t quite understand markets. This is just fear of what markets could do given his ignorance on the various market solutions to various problems.

Gautam’s post beautifully explains the market solutions to all five issues raised by Guha.

Most of you must be familiar with my love for jazz and near devotion to Miles Davis. I still believe Kind of Blue is perhaps one of the greatest contributions to music and the most lyrical jazz album.

I remember watching Ray and wondering why no movie had ever been made about the legend. Recently when I was getting roasted in Phoenix I managed to see documentary on him and heard stories about his dark side through various interviews of his wives and children. One of the most complex human beings and he almost bordered on maniacal. Be it his addictions, his music, his innovation, his lovers and wives or his experiences with racism; there was something about the man, the legend, that no one could fully grasp. While his dark side died with him, his music continues to bring nothing but joy.

The NY Times recently wrote about two movies in the offing about Davis. Definitely waiting for it but I still don’t know how they will manage to portray that kind of passion on screen.

Wonder why no movie has been made about Coltrane. And who could possibly essay him on screen? For those who haven’t yet read here’s my tribute to Coltrane.

Today and tomorrow Tehelka is organising the Summit of the Powerless in New Delhi.

Irony is that the keynote speaker is Presdent Kalam. To see who are apparently representing the powerless, here is the list of speakers.

Must read. Posner and Becker on Friedman and his work on their blog.

While grieving the loss with friends, I wonder why I am so surprised and sad.

After all Dr Friedman was 94, a ripe old age for anyone. He always said he was lucky to have Rose Friedman for a partner and they were married for 68 years, that’s longer than most people’s lifetime.

I think I am surprised because I assume certain legends to be immortal, perhaps like their work, and Friedman was one such pillar of liberty in this century.

I still cannot grasp the reasons for being sad. Just a few minutes ago Drew, a friend a fellow blogger on DI, and I exchanged emails saying “I’m surprisingly sad”. I have read his work, his columns especially on education, seen his many lectures and of course read Capitalism and Freedom. I also know a number of people who have met him or known him over the decades as they fought to further freedom. Hearing their descriptions of the great man, his personality and his unflinching commitment to furthering freedom has perhaps made me feel connected to him in some capacity despite never having actually met him.

I avoid using labels but I am a libertarian, mostly of Chicago school (though my schizophrenic Austrian self interferes from time to time), and most of my beliefs about freedom, markets and prosperity have certainly been influenced, directly or otherwise, by his work and beliefs.

After Hayek, I think no one has done as much for economic liberty in this century.

This post is titled “The light has gone out of our lives”. Nehru said this when Gandhi has been assassinated.

I would say Friedman did for markets what Gandhi did for political freedom this last century.

Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize for Economic Science, passed away today at the age of 94.

Too surprised and sad to write anything more. More on the Cato site.

FT has written an obituary. However, no words, however well written, do much to describe the legend.

It is interesting that 3196 children were reportedly in 2004 and the number increased to 3500 in 2005. In the newspapers I have noticed pictures from time to time and in newspapers of missing persons and also news of kidnappings across states in India.

Rarely have I seen such a focussed attempt on part of the media to find a child. And I think Anant’s chances of being kept alive are greater just because he is the son of the Adobe CEO. Currently there are six teams of UP police conducting raids across the state.

We all know this doesn’t happen often. Only high profile cases like Jessica Lal have hope of getting serious media attention and now Anant.

I honestly don’t blame them. Journalists are after all human beings who carry the baggage of their backgrounds; and problems of South Delhi and Noida where they reside must worry them more than certain others.

Nor do I have a problem with only Anant getting the media coverage; they are running the story because their viewers (middle class and affluent Delhites) are outraged by it.

However, I wonder if they are probably unknowingly endangering the lives of middle class children and children of parents in important positions as the kidnappers can get a larger ranson along with their 15 minutes of fame.

JULIET:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

Or would it?

I have always wondered why we are changing the names of our cities. We are apparently freeing ourselves from the shackles of British cultural enslavement. The Economist writes about changing Banglore to Bengalooru.

So much for getting over the colonial hangover when the first step after announcing the change was to figure out how to spell it property in English.

And why stop at only British enslavement? What’s keeping us from changing Delhi to Indraprasta?

Well when asked if the government does anything better than the private sector Russell Roberts (from Cafe Hayek) replied, ” Sure. Killing people.”
The whole post is here.

I have heard a lot about Heisenberg, the German Nobel Laureate in Physics and one of the pioneers in quantum physics, though I have never really understood Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Today it became a little more clear.

His epitaph reads,

“He lies somewhere here” [originally in German "Er liegt irgendwo hier"].