{"id":193936,"date":"2018-09-30T23:56:21","date_gmt":"2018-09-30T18:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=193936"},"modified":"2018-10-05T00:02:35","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T18:32:35","slug":"yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/","title":{"rendered":"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/a> –<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr Harsha De Silva<\/a>, Economic Affairs State Minister, has always been in awe of Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a>, the leader of his party and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. He\u2019s not alone in this. There are many who believed that Wickremesinghe was the only senior politician with his head screwed on right.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[Well, \u2018right-wing\u2019 could be the subtext there, but then again he\u2019s not been shy about his ideological preferences. We could add that the \u2018left\u2019 or what\u2019s left of it is pretty \u2018right\u2019 too, in the wing-sense of the term.]<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s leave aside parentheses. Let\u2019s focus on the economy, of which Wickremesinghe was made out to be an expert.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>A good manager, we were told. A brilliant mind, we were told. Uncorrupt and would not tolerate corruption, we were told. We were told a lot of things. \u2018Thanikara molayak<\/i>\u2019 we were told: a brain, nothing else. Let\u2019s not go into the incorruptibility claim; let\u2019s pass over all that with a single word, \u2018bonds!\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, the approver, that\u2019s Harsha, made an interesting plea just the other day. He wants the country\u2019s upper middle class \u2018to act with some social consciousness to help the government offset the impact of the depreciation of the Sri Lankan currency.\u2019 He wants the \u2018high income people\u2019 to demonstrate some \u2018social consciousness\u2019 and offers some tips: postpone by just a couple of months that new luxury car or that trip to Alaska. These, he believes, could help cut the demand at the margin.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know where the middle class is located; I don\u2019t know what kind of lines separate it from the lower class and the upper class. I don\u2019t know, therefore, what lines frame the \u2018upper middle class\u2019. I don\u2019t know if Alaska is a great tourist destination. A 7-day tour costs something like US$ 3,000 per person. Assuming a family of 4, i.e. of the\u00a0punchi-pawla-raththaran\u00a0<\/i>size, that would be 12,000 US dollars. That would be around Rs 2 million and if you add airfare probably in the region of 3 million rupees. I don\u2019t know what kind of income earning avenues allow for that kind of bucks to be spent on an Alaskan holiday. I don\u2019t know the size of the \u2018upper middle class\u2019. Perhaps Harsha could tell us because it would indicate what kind of society we live in and of course tell us something of the wealth distribution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, I am perplexed that someone like Harsha, who swears by capitalism, should talk of \u2018social responsibility\u2019. Why on earth should anyone think of \u2018society\u2019? It\u2019s all about self-interest, isn\u2019t it? Sure, we have CSR projects, but that\u2019s brand-building and a palliative for a non-existent disease, corporate guilt. The upper classes are not into belt-tightening; they pass tax burdens on to the consumer, even as they lament such mechanisms.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s concede however that it\u2019s actually in the interest of the rich to be socially conscious, to tighten best and embrace \u2018austerity measures\u2019 that force them to go to Anawilundawa instead of Alaska and take tuk-tuks for a change. Let\u2019s say that it\u2019s just a minor part of a major plan that Harsha and other economists in the UNP have hatched to save the falling rupee.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The boss has laid it out. Wickremesinghe, speaking at a school in Nattandiya has said, correctly, that Sri Lanka needs to handle the devaluation crisis with utmost care. He says that Sri Lanka cannot increase interest rates as other countries have done because it would affect investments. Didn\u2019t know that we had lots and lots of investors, but then again let\u2019s just concede that we need to insure against investor-flight.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting is that the PM has stated that action will be taken to arrest the crisis in one month\u2019s time, vowing that the government will not allow the economy to crash. What the \u2018action\u2019 is he has not detailed, but he\u2019s given us a hint in the following observation:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018The situation is expected to be more stable [by] then,\u2019 that\u2019s one month from now. If there\u2019s stability then there\u2019s no need of any \u2018action\u2019 one would think. It\u2019s all volatile and that\u2019s not his fault, of course.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>However, the conviction he\u2019s expressed regarding ability to prevent a crash sounds dubious when he also says \u2018we do not know what will happen in the future with the trade wars which the USA had got into with Canada and China\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now all these are random statements made in forums not necessarily discussing the nuts and bolts of managing an economy, but they do indicate anxiety and confusion. The more disturbing matter is that this UNP-led government is clueless about the global economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dr W.A. Wijewardena<\/a>, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank has written extensively on how incompetent the government has been. Clueless, really. For example, taxing savings, any AL student would tell you, is a disincentive to save. Perhaps Harsha could detail the logic of that particular decision.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s \u2018local\u2019. The understanding of the global, i.e. larger destructive processes which countries like Sri Lanka are ill-equipped to face, is as or more disturbing. Wickremesinghe didn\u2019t seem to know that China exists or rather had discounted China\u2019s pivotal position in the global economy until \u2018Brexit\u2019 his him between his eyes. Up until then he was badmouthing China. It took \u2018Brexit\u2019 to make him realize that the West won\u2019t and indeed cannot help Sri Lanka. He said \u2018We will look East\u2019. Clearly, he must have been looking in some other direction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sorry, but we can\u2019t say\u00a0kohomada tikiri mole<\/i>\u00a0to that. Even if one believes that model to prosperity peddled by the IMF, World Bank, the USAID and their preferred \u2018economic experts,\u2019 this kind of ignorance is unpardonable.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about the upper middle class, but I doubt that even the upper class (do they go to the moon on vacation and are they planning to buy rockets, I wonder?) must doubt the UNP\u2019s claims to having a handle on things economic. The lower classes, i.e. the middle-middle and lower according to the Harsha Classification, do not have any doubts and if you have doubts, ask a cross section. Ask them what they think of Ranil or the UNP or this Yahapalana Government when it comes to sorting out economic problems. You would probably get a earful. On second thoughts, maybe you will not. Just two words, be it in English or Sinhala. No prizes for the correct guess.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer.\u00a0<\/i>malindasenevi@gmail.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":137374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nYahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-30T18:26:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-04T18:32:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"279\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"356\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Malinda Seneviratne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Malinda Seneviratne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/\",\"name\":\"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-30T18:26:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-04T18:32:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c6d24e0ae978470bd40e92d7d50f8ea3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\",\"width\":279,\"height\":356,\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c6d24e0ae978470bd40e92d7d50f8ea3\",\"name\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0a7ffc2e0a0e760dc3fcfd1d7a3942cc98d989fccd85f0c214437b94f6d271d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0a7ffc2e0a0e760dc3fcfd1d7a3942cc98d989fccd85f0c214437b94f6d271d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/mals\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2018-09-30T18:26:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-04T18:32:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":279,"height":356,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Malinda Seneviratne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Malinda Seneviratne","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/","name":"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-30T18:26:21+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-04T18:32:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c6d24e0ae978470bd40e92d7d50f8ea3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","width":279,"height":356,"caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/yahapalana-economists-at-least-they-provide-some-laughs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Yahap\u0101lana Economists: At Least They Provide Some Laughs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c6d24e0ae978470bd40e92d7d50f8ea3","name":"Malinda Seneviratne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0a7ffc2e0a0e760dc3fcfd1d7a3942cc98d989fccd85f0c214437b94f6d271d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0a7ffc2e0a0e760dc3fcfd1d7a3942cc98d989fccd85f0c214437b94f6d271d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/mals\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194065,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193936\/revisions\/194065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}