Beyond rage: action

Finally, I am in a condition to put my thoughts together in a coherent manner. The murder and destruction at the Taj, the Trident and the Nariman House - the pictures, the videos, the stories, the soundbites - they have shocked all of us in Mumbai, India, and the civilized world.

Now, the blame game, the rolling of heads, the scoring of brownie points have started. From the POV of political parties, this is a great time to do this - elections are just a few months away.

But what of us? What do the citizens India, who happen to live in Mumbai, get out of this? Another round of unkept promises? Another round of mumbled words and meaningless gestures passed off as action?

We won't be fooled again. Not any more. In the Mahabharata, Vidur tells us that one of the six things a man should avoid is "a king who fails to protect". We are now livid and we want to get rid of the kings and queens who failed us.

What do I want to see thrown out from our country and our system?

1. cynical corrupt politicians
2. inept politicians and bureaucrats who have corrupted our systems, by making 'politically convenient' appointments at top levels in our security and police forces
3. ineffective politicians who hold positions as rewards for services rendered to their power mentors in their parties
4. criminal politicians with track records, and underworld connections - banned for life
   
5. a government that has demoralised our defence forces - the whole row about pay for our soldiers is an incredible and outrageous farce. Our soldiers are a million times more dedicated to our nation, and a million times more valuable, than our politicians
6. accountability which is now to the party bosses and not to the electorate

What do I want to see happening now?

1. Public and published accountability of all politicians - what have they accomplished against their promises? Public review to be held every six months, and each candidate will be given one grace period of another six months, if he's failed against his promises. If their is shortfall of performance after this grace period, we the public will physically and through media agitate for his removal.
2. Meritocracy, and only meritocracy, in senior security (that include police) appointments.
3. Removal of all security appointments from political influence. To start with, ensure that the federal investigation agency is itself free from political interference
4. Removal of political interference in the day to day functioning of all security and police forces
5. Publicly punish all politicos with criminal records and connections with the underworld. They cannot be allowed to participate in political life ever again.
6. Strengthen our laws and our security forces equipment and training - it's pathetic that Mumbai policemen died after being shot through the head, while he was wearing a helmet. Surely, somebody took a bribe to accept low quality helmets which is supposed to save lives!

Utopian? Maybe. Too drastic, too draconian? Absolutely. We have been mealy-mouthed and polite and gentlemanly for far too long. Now, our blood is up, and we want change. We MUST have change, and nothing short of big, dramatic change for the positive will satisfy us any more.

The time to reap what you sow

On Nov 22, 2008, the New York Times this article on Citigroup: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/business/23citi.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=business

As usual , NYT does an excellent job of description, analysis, and collecting together various strands to make up this long article. As an ex-customer of Citibank, and one who has had long associations with Citi staffers in India and a few other countries, I can only add some specific comments and observations to the NYT story.

My customer experiences as well as those dealing with the Citi staffers have given me two clear impressions about Citibank (maybe it's true of Citigroup as well):

• a culture of risk
• a culture of short-changing the customer to the point of being dishonest

My experiences convinced me that Citi has created and rewarded a culture of lack of integrity - lying is a part of its DNA. And I don' t like being lied to. I am not alone in my low opinion of Citi - just check out the numerous blog entries from customers who think they've been cheated by the bank.

The culture of risk also runs contrary to my expectations - I always believed that banks have to run on two principles: prudency and conservatism. After all, a bank runs its business on money taken from depositors, who expect their money to be safe in most cases.

The NYT story I have mentioned above tracks the sorry tale of Citigroup from 2007, or thereabouts. NYT also carried a story four years ago, on November 7, 2004, (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/business/yourmoney/07citi.html), which tells us that the brass at Citi knew that a lot was rotten in the state of Denmark, and one person - Charles Prince - was given the job of cleaning up.

How does one person change a culture created over decades? The NYT commented in the Nov 2004 article: "Whether or not Mr. Prince succeeds will speak volumes about how effectively a chief executive can change the culture of a company as large as Citigroup, as well as offer a test of whether the bank can still dominate markets and rake in profits without crossing regulatory and legal boundaries."

Obviously Mr Prince failed in that job. Maybe he was destined to fail - unless he could replace a whole generation of managers overnight, he couldn't have changed the culture. Maybe he didn't want to succeed - he was being advised by Robert Rubin, and here's NYT from the Nov 2008 story:

“Chuck Prince going down to the corporate investment bank in late 2002 was the start of that process,” a former Citigroup executive said of the bank’s big C.D.O. push. “Chuck was totally new to the job. He didn’t know a C.D.O. from a grocery list, so he looked for someone for advice and support. That person was Rubin. And Rubin had always been an advocate of being more aggressive in the capital markets arena. He would say, ‘You have to take more risk if you want to earn more.’ ”

Rubin was the Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration, when he "helped loosen Depression-era banking regulations that made the creation of Citigroup possible by allowing banks to expand far beyond their traditional role as lenders and permitting them to profit from a variety of financial activities. During the same period he helped beat back tighter oversight of exotic financial products, a development he had previously said he was helpless to prevent." Looks like Rubin is one of the architects of the mess that US banking is in now.

Now, I read that he is (was?) an advisor to Barack Obama during the period of transition. If he continues to advise the new President of the USA, God save America, and more importantly God save the World! Nothing short of divine intervention may suffice.

The Promise

I never thought it would happen in my lifetime. I wanted it to happen, but at the back of my mind, I believed that Bush and his Republican bunch of thieves would steal the electoral college away from Obama, like he had done to Gore eight years ago. 

But I am glad I was wrong. I am glad I over-estimated the powers of the greedy military-industrial complex commanded by the Republicans. I am glad that Americans finally stood up and voted to get a new man into the White House - Barack Hussein Obama II. 

He couldn't become the Prez of the US, right? He's black, with a Kenyan father, and his name is all wrong. It's not British Isles - like Kennedy or Clinton or Bush. It's not a German or a Dutch sounding name, like Eisenhower or Roosevelt. It's not North European at all. And worse, it's got Hussein as the middle name! 

Anyways, when it came to the chase, these didn't matter. What mattered was what Obama stands for, and his ability to inspire the grassroots to come out and be counted. 

He's got his job cut out for him. The US has become the most disliked, and indeed possibly the most hated nation on earth, for some years now. That doesn't stop people from migrating there - it still is a nation of opportunities, and doesn't discriminate against you when you are making money for yourself and others. But, outside of the US, most of the world tends to bridle a bit about the US. Many, including me, believe that there is only one rogue state in the world, and that's the US; it's still the most powerful nation on earth, and we can't ignore it, even if we wish to. That image is not a nice one to begin with - and Obama has to change that. 

Having lost political credibility in the world, it is now losing economic credibility thanks to the meltdown of Wall Street, and the ham-handed efforts of Paulson and the Bush administration to save their rich cronies, and let the taxpayer go to hell. Again, not nice for a new Prez. 

The promise is that Obama will tackle these with the basic values of humanity, which belong everywhere to everyone. Decency, honesty, prosperity WITHOUT greed, respect for others which breeds others' respect for you, and working together for a better world.

Sounds idealistic? Utopian perhaps? Maybe, but that's what Obama has done to me. Like a old diehard romantic idealist, I believe there is space in the world for ideals, and that you can live your life by your ideals, and that you can inspire others to share in those ideals. 

And Obama has the next four years, at least, to show that ideals can make a big difference to the world. Tough, but I believe that he can do it. At least, now there's somebody in power in the US whom I like and can support.