Rediff has a headline today that says, “Don’t show off wealth, pay back to society: PM.”
I know one great way in which rich people can “pay back to society”: By spending their money. There is no better way to spread wealth. Buy a service or a good, and everyone involved in manufacturing and distributing it benefits.
Thus, I find it odd when Manmohan Singh says that Indians “cannot afford the wasteful lifestyles of the Western world.” There’s nothing wasteful about any lifestyle from the perspective of spreading wealth, unless it involves sitting at home and refusing to buy or sell anything, which is a waste of the abilities a person is born with.
Manmohan says many other astonishing things in that piece. For example: