141–150 of 168 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can’t easily go get food from Sikhs? As in what terms?
If you are in South India and are poor, how are you going to find a gurdwara? Might be quite far away and require bus fare that you don't have.
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The parent never asserted that US farm subsidies are a good idea.
As an non-American I would like to ask... For people who are in the "patriotic" group. Your country needs to maintain the infrastructure to self-sustain it's people in a world war. What would be a more effective strategy over food subsidies? Edit: Sorry I meant Farm subsidies, not food stamps.
The reality is, the majority of these subsidies go to multi-million dollar farms, not the small family farms. As a result, we're effectively paying taxes to raise prices on food, which is very regressive in that it hurts the poor far more than the wealthy.
Of course, the flip side of the coin is that without the subsidies, prices would be so low that small farms wouldn't be able to compete anyway. Supply would, assuming the weather cooperates, roughly match demand, and a not insignificant chunk of taxes could go towards other programs (such as subsidizing school breakfasts and lunches). Then, we'd have some bizarre mix of natural disasters that creates a severe shortage of several key crops, causing significant chaos both in markets and in the daily lives of people who like to eat food, and we'd end up right back where we started- demanding the government guarantee that we don't run out of food in lean times, and paying the price for doing so.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an non-American I would like to ask... For people who are in the "patriotic" group. Your country needs to maintain the infrastructure to self-sustain it's people in a world war. What would be a more effective strategy over food subsidies? Edit: Sorry I meant Farm subsidies, not food stamps.
> Your country needs to maintain the infrastructure to self-sustain it's people in a world war. Food wise, logistics wise or technology wise? Because while the US could manage the first two assuming no major internal disruptions, we've pretty much abandoned the third in favor of cheap imports and profits.
From a consumer perspective, sure. From a critical defense perspective, not entirely[1].
[1] https://www.dmea.osd.mil/otherdocs/AccreditedSuppliers.pdf
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The deprivation is rather severe in India. You would notice most of the people are doing full day of work and eat there. In US typical person who eat at a soup kitchen would quite likely be non-working/homeless. I have had my well-off friends in India where 4 person family dinner will cost more than monthly salary of their car driver. And it is simultaneously true that driver's salary is quite less and a decent resta…
Monthly salary of a driver is atleast 10k INR ~ 154$, Your friends are eating at a place that costs 2500 INR per head? That's not a decent restaurant meal, that's a lavish restaurant. I would say 200 INR gets you a decent restaurant meal.
200 INR too is expensive. Even with a programmer's salary I wouldn't spend that money on one single meal.
Most people who have a need to spend that much are better off carrying their lunch. It would cost you 1/8th of that, plus home cooked food means healthy food in general.
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I'll counter your anecdata with mine. I usually take Uber in India, and often ask the driver about his work, how much he makes, etc. This is for a North-Indian Tier-2 city. The answer usually is that he makes INR 6000/month. Now, I have eaten in middling restaurants where a meal for 2 came to INR 2500. In fact, I've been to cafes where a "meal" of tea, snacks, etc. alone came to over INR 700/pp. You would be hard pre…
> In fact, I've been to cafes where a "meal" of tea, snacks, etc. alone came to over INR 700/pp. I've been to restaurants where the expense (including drinks) was 5k per head. One of the companies during placements took new hires out for dinner, the bill was 12k per head. I've been to places in USA where the bill was 200$ per head. This isn't a "decent meal". > You would be hard pressed to get a decent meal in a clea…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll counter your anecdata with mine. I usually take Uber in India, and often ask the driver about his work, how much he makes, etc. This is for a North-Indian Tier-2 city. The answer usually is that he makes INR 6000/month. Now, I have eaten in middling restaurants where a meal for 2 came to INR 2500. In fact, I've been to cafes where a "meal" of tea, snacks, etc. alone came to over INR 700/pp. You would be hard pre…
Uber guy earning INR6000/month! Man you have been conned hard. An Ola/Uber guy earn something like INR35-50K per month after all fuel and car expenses. No one would work for 6K/month even in tier 3 cities for Ola/Uber. In fact there were days when drivers were earning (due to incentives) about 6K (revenue) per day in cities like Delhi and Bangalore
There is a wild rush to get your cab listed or attached to some BigCo transport, because you get paid better, plus guaranteed business. Also note most people driving for Uber/Ola are cabs from black money sources. Most government employees now buy cabs and auto rickshaws and do this business, as avenues for spending black money are drying out. So at the end cab driver makes less money.
Most Uber/Ola business in Bangalore is around IT parks, Malls etc. Where there is a lot of traffic during peak hours, and you can't do more than one trip in the morning.
I have seen these in bangalore, in fact there is one very close to my office. One of the things that concerns me with such projects is that how they effect other eateries in the area. The one near my office that opened recently is on a street with about 5 other eateries. Having a eatery which is subsidized by government distorts this local market and adversely affects the other businesses in the area since they also…
Probably less than you might imagine, for more than one reason.
First, it adds another attractor to the area, and while some people will only get the cheapest food others will at least occasionally have a desire for and money for something different or fancier. Those decisions may very well not be made until the person or group is already in that area. This is why many restaurants are often found in clusters.
Second, for some of the nicer options this may mean a shift from people getting everything as cheap as possible (but still more than the cost now) to people being able to save money on 1-2 meals a day and getting something nicer for another at one of those commercial entities.
Finally, while some places that would be most directly in competition might fail other businesses will surely move in to capture the business of the crowds of people who now have a little more money available to spend.
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Uber guy earning INR6000/month! Man you have been conned hard. An Ola/Uber guy earn something like INR35-50K per month after all fuel and car expenses. No one would work for 6K/month even in tier 3 cities for Ola/Uber. In fact there were days when drivers were earning (due to incentives) about 6K (revenue) per day in cities like Delhi and Bangalore
Several of the Uber guys I spoke with were actually drivers of some rich businessmen; they were told to Uber during the times they were not needed. A couple of them were "for hire" drivers, being paid a flat INR 200/day to operate the car for 10 hours/day. I don't know why they'd be conning me, and so many of them too, unless there's a "driver mafia" out to fool the public about .... what their driver makes?? Doesn't…
Most of them are that way. Most cops are into this business, its getting impossible to invest black cash in a meaningful way. There are now capital controls in every investment. Want to buy gold, land, mutual funds, whatever? Get ready to submit you PAN and Aadhar. So they can't spend money that way. At very same time, they can't sit on cash, because inflation.
They generally buy the vehicle in a relative's name, with black cash(Huge second hand market for this). And do this cab business. Most drivers are poor ex-farm workers. So they take whatever they get.
The last time I heard from a auto rickshaw driver, more or less every cop in Bangalore has something like this going.
This is already functional in the state of TamilNadu for more than 3 years. It is called as "Amma's canteen". Any meal is 1 or 2 rupees. It is clean, healthy & definitely not fast food. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QwO9RyihO8
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Your country needs to maintain the infrastructure to self-sustain it's people in a world war. Food wise, logistics wise or technology wise? Because while the US could manage the first two assuming no major internal disruptions, we've pretty much abandoned the third in favor of cheap imports and profits.
> ...[the US] pretty much abandoned [technology] in favor of cheap imports and profits. From a consumer perspective, sure. From a critical defense perspective, not entirely[1]. [1] https://www.dmea.osd.mil/otherdocs/AccreditedSuppliers.pdf