August 31, 2019 Saturday
Bedtime Story
Wars Have Been Fought over Perceived Economic Unfairness
This entire area that is infested with
Maoists Naxals and which is often referred to as the ‘Red Corridor’ suffers
from rampant illiteracy, poverty and overpopulation.
The population dividend comes only if the
population is ready to be subjected for exploitation otherwise this very same
population can become a source of anxiety, distress and even danger for the
establishment.
Economist Thomas Piketty who achieved his
fame through the 2013 bestseller ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ wrote
that the economists of the Gilded Age such as Willford King were getting
concerned with the rising inequality within the United States.
The economists believed that this new
nation was gradually but certainly transforming itself evermore like its former
European colonial masters and therefore moving “further and further away from
its original pioneering ideal.”
After all the American War of Independence
was fought on the issue of nothing major other than the imposition of direct taxes
from the colonial masters which the white Americans thought to be unfair.
Of the 27 colonial grievances of the
American colonists in the 1700s one was “no taxation without representation”
which meant that the distant British Parliament was passing laws affecting the
colonists without the colonists being either present or their voices been taken
into account before passages of such laws.
Besides this one grievance among the 27 there
were several other grievances that directly or indirectly related to economic
or money matters.
The Stamp Act of 1765 passed by the
Parliament of Great Britain was an extremely simple but masterly executed
machination of the bankrupt British government that was deep in debt after the
victorious Seven Years’ War (1756-1763).
Not only the British National Debt had
doubled by the end of the war but the cost of simply maintaining her regular
soldiers in the American colonies ensured that that the post-war expenses would
remain high.
The Empire was in need of cash and taxing
its own people (who could not be treated or taxed like those inhabiting the
colonies) was out of question.
Protests within England had become virulent
against new taxations and the effigies of the then Prime Minister John Stuart,
3rd Earl of Bute were being hanged on the street.
So the Stamp Act of 1765 specifically had
to target the British colonies in America.
The rules of this Act were simple and
straightforward.
Any printed material in the colonies
starting from legal documents to magazines, newspapers and even playing cards
would need to be produced on stamp paper produced in London that would carry on
it an embossed revenue stamp (hence the name Stamp Act).
The cost of any of such printed material
would have to be paid at London in British currency by the colonists and any
local American State currency would be considered invalid for this purpose.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
