Is US the Land of Opportunities It Was? Is India?

Contrary to what one had been thinking all along, America is no more the land of opportunity it was. Immigrants had to just land on its shores to get rich, as evidenced by the richly perfumed relatives - nurses mostly - one encountered on one's trip to Kerala. These people - I remember - are terribly stingy also. They never let any money go waste, counting and pinching their pennies like we never do here. Joseph E. Stiglitz a Nobel laureate in economics has another viewpoint.

It seems from the article that US is the most unequal of societies with one per cent controlling ninety-three per cent of the wealth. The same situation we have in India except that the one per cent maybe 2 per cent here. It also states that the rich don't need essential services, so they deliberately cheat, corrupt, stultify governments to curtail on essential services. In India apart from doing all that, the businessmen also connive with government to take away the fruits of essential services. 

As proof what should I share here. Take Kannimozhi's case. The benefits of the shady dealings went to her television channel. A minister who has interests in quarrying is in charge of environment in Maharashtra. The result is that that the hills under his charge for protection and nurture are rampantly quarried at all times of the day and night. Another case is of the chairman of BCCI being the owner of the IPL team Chennai Superkings. I was shocked to realise this from the press. Is it me, or, can't anybody see the clash of interest in all these cases?

The rich accumulate wealth at all costs using their power while the poor exist a subsistence level existence: watching cricket, movies, reality shows, and shows where crores are handed out in cash. Capital stays in the hands of the rich, and any usurper of this capital is sternly dealt with. Who says India is a land of opportunities? Just as Stigliz avers, India is no better at equality of opportunity than France during the French Revolution. Remember: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity? 

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here. View my Youtube Channel Page. Read about my novel Mr. Bandookwala, M.B.A., Harvard.