looking
for a three wheeler, they either walk or use public transport. Ordinary
families have stopped buying milk powder altogether! Milk has become a
luxury item for them. Inflation has
come down, screams the headlines of pro government papers. The Colombo
consumer price index (NEW) slowed for the first time this year and
indicated a downward trend on its points for the month of July, while
its moving average continued its upward trend. Inflation dipped to 26.6
in July from a record 28.2 in June. It is common knowledge that
inflation had been soaring during the last two years. The record high
inflation has made it difficult even for businesses.
There was
nothing left for the bosses to plan for reinvestment. While we hear
such complaints from the top, for the common man it has become a real
struggle to eke out a decent living. The attempt to raise wages and the
price of labour in the unorganised sector has increased the threat of
unemployment. Skilled workers, taxi drivers and other such service
providers find that increasingly lesser numbers of people seek their
services. People postpone such work or attend to it themselves. Instead
of looking
for a three wheeler, they either walk or use public transport. Ordinary
families have stopped buying milk powder altogether! Milk has become a
luxury item for them.
Milk powder has become a restricted item in their family budget unless they have babies to feed. Often the grown-ups have to sacrifice their protein diet - fish or meat, to buy milk for their children. Both fish and meat have become luxuries to the ordinary workers.
Dangerous trend
The most
dangerous trend among the poor is the attempt to cut down the
expenditure on health and education, in addition to cutting down on the
budget for food. What kind of a generation are we going to inherit?
Generations ago the popular meal for the poor was rice with lentils,
enriched with a small piece of dry fish.
Today this too
has become a luxury. Wimal Weerawansa exhorts that we should not think
of the belly but make sacrifices for the good of the country. But the
reality is that if this trend continues, ours will be a country full of
hungry jackals. Governor of the Central Bank, Ajith Cabraal and his
Central Bank pundits appear to believe that their clever arguments and
mathematical manipulations can cut down inflation and bring down the
price increases.
One of their
arguments is: “Although Sri Lanka’s core inflation appears to be
responding satisfactorily to the tight monetary policy, the prevailing
headlines on inflation, fuelled by pessimistic views of some parties
has resulted in raising inflation expectations. That in turn served to
increase inflation further.” “Thus, according to the clever governor
and his adjutants this is a result of mass hysteria. So we have to look
for solutions in the intellectual traditions of social psychology if
not in books of Freud and Lacan. Hunger, presumably is not a problem in
the belly but in the head.
We must preach and practice Cabraal doctrine and cool our minds instead of looking for cheap food and campaigning for higher wages. Ajith and I were in the western provincial council together. At that stage, I thought that I could agree with many ideas of development that he put forward, though we were far apart ideologically. I wonder now if this is the same man I knew.
How can people change so much in such a short time? Well, Marx was damn right when he said that material conditions change man’s thinking!
Corruption
Of course there
is inflation due to the increase in prices of fuel and food, and this
is felt in all countries. However, inflation due to this effect has
been less than 10% in most countries. In India despite an over 7%
growth rate, inflation is kept below 12%. Neither the arguments nor the
ridiculous manipulation of the process of calculation can cover up the
responsibility of the government for this near 30% inflation.
A large part of
this massive inflation is due to the expenditure on war and repression.
War is an annihilator of both production and factors of production.
Corruption and degeneration are two other additions. On the other hand,
all mega development projects unrelated to immediate increase in
production cause inflation.
All these simple truths are known to the working masses. They know well that in no way are they responsible for these follies of the ruling classes. The only answer that can be given to these pundits of the ruling classes is to come out on the slogan of increase in wages tied to the rate of rise in inflation.