I have recently listened to a lecture by Richard M. Rossow, Center for Strategic & International Studies, who is closely associated with the State Department. The lecture was on India, its conditions and relations with the world and, determining all that, its economy. India is a socialist, closed economy, with heavy industry directly owned by the government or government-owned concerns and medium size industries allowed to exist through a licensing system, where the government issues one license per industry per state in order to protect the business from competition. One does not need to listen to a lecture to know that India is a miserable place to live, one of the poorest on earth and barely better than what we would consider a failed state. What was interesting in the lecture, is that the US State Dept and all international monetary organizations recognize that India’s economic failures are a direct result of its closed, protectionist economy and social redistribution policies. These points were emphasized dozens of times – if only India were to stop its social programs, if only India were to stop government intervention, if only India were to end protectionism. And a few small attempts by India to relax the regulations and to curb redistribution have always resulted in a large economic growth, which was invariably grabbed by the politicians and spent on social programs, plunging the country back into the abyss. So, I haven’t presented here anything that the readers of the Gulch don’t already know. The interesting part is that it is clear that our government understands what works and what does not, but consciously chooses the policies that destroy our country. In view of the facts, would it be too farfetched to wonder whether the destruction is intentional?