Comments by "Rutvik" (@rutvikrs) on "Why Sri Lanka has been engulfed in a political crisis u0026 lessons from a polarised nation" video.

@pardeeptandon SL is facing an economic crisis not an ethnic strife. They have had a budgetary deficit of 12-17% YoY after civil war. The current crisis is a perfect storm of issues with lack of ability to afford the services being at the root. Not Chinese loans, not dynasty, and definitely not religion. Since this is an economic crisis, name one economist who has blamed Sinhalese majoritarianism. People are transposing their political views and country's politics on to SL for internal validation.
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@haberdasherrykr8886 damn. You mean people would have protested to pay more taxes? Which fictional country is this my friend? My fraternity would want to move there. 🤣
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@marlinthaya6438 there are two narratives in India, one run by right wing that China is responsible and the other by liberals that Sinhalese majoritarianism. Both have no basis in economics. Again I emphasise. SL is facing an economic crisis not an ethnic strife. Being in the profession, I can confirm the china angle is academically disproved and there is zero mention of Sinhalese nationalism by any economist or paper. Here is a simplified analogy using personal finance, a person borrows and spends 10-12% his salary every single year. In the ast few years, he has bought an expensive credit card on top the existing debt. Now the person lost the job(tourism) and went bankrupt. Do you blame the person for this one act of taking the card or his general tendency to keep borrowing more than he can earn? Today nearly all economists agree it is the latter. People outside the Rajpakse family were not any better, the country is fatally addicted to debt and has resigned to being a remittence economy. Corruption is inevitable, the average Sri lankan government official is just as corrupt as Rajapakse because there is no hope in remittence economies. It would be unfair of me to expect you to quote or read journals/papers. Here is a simple thing you can do, see what international youtubers are saying about the SL crisis and find me a single mention of Sinhalese majoritarianism.
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@haberdasherrykr8886 my haughty friend. Can you back up your claim with a citation? As this is economics, i think I know a thing or two considering i have a PhD in it. Please educate me one 3 things as you have attained a higher grade of existence: 1. Name a mass mobilisation of people anywhere in history or region to restore taxes. 2. Where is the proof of a complicit media and ethno nationalism being the root cause? Name the economist and the paper. 3. Tax breaks was a poll plank for the opposition as well(see point 14 and 16in their manifesto, exactly what was implemented). How do you make the prediction Sirisena would have fared better? 4. There are no definitive papers out on the topic, I happen to know the conversation as I am in the academia, what is your source to back up your "Andhbhakti" hypothesis? Not even non Indian Youtubers are making the claim.
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@marlinthaya6438 your comment is so intertwined that anyone reading it can see the infusion of Indian politics. Not even a single international content creator, journal or economist has implied that causation. Again I am willing to be educated if there are any. This is not a problem democracy can solve. A person who has addiction will always blame luck and externalities, SL's current crisis has little to do with infrastructure and more with govt expenditure in post war SL. You can verify the payments and deficits on Statista. Be it right wing narrative of Chinese loans or liberal "Sinhala majoritarianism", they have no factual basis. We are placing ourselves into the story for mileage.
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@haberdasherrykr8886 thanks for admitting the "tangential" line. The whole issue has the proclivity of the country to overspend regardless of who's in charge. The legislative is not the root, executive has always been. 1. There will never be a mass protest movement to increase taxes for themselves. 2. I asked you to name an economist or paper, answer is godi media? 🤔 3. Every WhatsApp university graduate ever. 4. There are fields for that in economics, behavioural economics, particularly nudge theory which has been applied even in India. No one is doubting mismanagement in the field, everyone knows it's not a particular political party that is at fault. 5. One of the perks of being in academia is networking and exposure to conversations. No one is talking about Rajapakse's Sinhalese nationalism. If there are any reports by Banks or think tanks, please quote them.
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@marlinthaya6438 1. I have heard this narrative enough to discern that it comes from a niche of liberal politics. This is the same narrative i have heard about India, word to word. So I assumed you were Indian. 2. There is considerable consensus that the current crisis is structural which started after the end of civil war. The post war spending was initiated by Rajapakse did not stop under Sirisena either. It just changed the international partners(Japan and IMF instead of China). Sirisena's policies focussed on HDI instead of infrastructure. 3. Even if the public had became aware of "the crisis", voting people out would not have been the answer. Democracy is unequipped to deal with balance of payments and fiscal overheating crises. Would people have accepted lesser wages? Would pensioners forego their pensions? Would farmers refuse subsidy? This is what was needed post 2019. Yet this is what it will take to come out of the current crisis. This is very akin to Greek financial crisis with no winners and no "correct" options. I hope things get better for your nation.
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@pardeeptandon not sure what that UP reference has to do with this crisis, but ok. 🤔
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@pardeeptandon because the issue today is economic in nature, not an ethnic strife.
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@haberdasherrykr8886 I only quoted you,when you rightly admitted that issue is tangential. If Sirisena or any other leader was in charge the very same situation would have cropped up because there is no income, instead of Chinese loans there would be loans to run healthcare during pandemic. When your executive(IAS/PMO equivalent) is addicted to operating without fiscal responsibility, this is what happens. How do you think the 1991 Indian BoP happens under babudom? You have bought into the simplistic liberal memetic that right wing govt is the root cause of the issue(that curiously shares all properties across borders). Apparently populism is only a right wing phenomenon. This when, someone like Kejriwal is handling electricity despite of the advice he is being given. Your issue is that populace does not see things your way. 1. Public is acting in self interest. Your or my judgement means nothing. Democracy is unequipped for such situations even in US or EU. Look up the Greek crisis to see a primer on what will happen with SL and i doubt they have Yannis Varoufakis to fight back. 2. Oh sorry, I did not realise my question was that hard to comprehend. It's India that is facing the crisis, no SL. 🤣. It's funny to see the same canned answers, Bhakt/godi media. 3. You are not "proven wrong" on any point "by this mere PhD" because of cognitive dissonance. I can never prove you wrong with your canned answers and inability to cite. You sincerely believe regime change is the answer to BoP crisis, thank heavens people were not this senile during 1991.
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@pardeeptandon implies Sirisena was fiscally conservative. Please see his manifesto. He had the same tax exemption promises as Rajapakse. He wanted to spend on welfare instead of infrastructure. People voting on the basis of preferential economics can also lead to balance of payments crisis. Democracy does not solve this in any form.
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