An Open Letter to President Obama

Your Excellency,

I am pleased to introduce myself as an ardent admirer of your goodself, and am based out of New Delhi. This letter of mine has been prompted by the results of the just concluded US midterm elections.

Your message to us on our sixtieth Republic Day that “India has no better friend and partner than the people of the US” won you millions of hearts in our country. This was also been reported on the front page of The Times of India.

Your election as the forty fourth President of the US, was indeed a landmark in the history of not only the US, but in the history of the world as a whole.

Far from being yet another electoral victory in the various democracies around the world, your electoral success was yet another epitome of hope, meritocracy, and above all a changed mindset of my brothers and sisters of America, which overlooks the origins of a candidate, and instead lays prime emphasis on their core competencies, to deliver the nation from the various challenges confronting it.

This changed mindset which has originated in the US, shall ultimately find its echo and effect in other parts of the world as well, especially where the traditional mindsets dominated by caste, creed, religion, and color of skin, are still deeply ingrained into the body politic as well as every sphere of life. Needless to add, meritocracy is the obvious casualty in such parts of the world.

Your Excellency, perhaps the biggest challenge confronting the US and the world since the past two years, has been the economic crisis and its after effects, the roots of which lies in excessive and unchecked consumerism, propelled by equally reckless financial institutions, which in the zeal of attaining spectacular growth, market dominance, and reporting ambitious sales numbers, prompted some overzealous individuals and decision makers, to throw all caution to the winds. Of course, the innovative and creative advances in loan securitization and derivatives, had only added that proverbial fuel to the fire.

Since the past two years, a concerted and coordinated effort by major economies of the world led by the US, have managed to arrest the unprecedented liquidity crisis to a great extent. And certainly, more such efforts are expected in the short and medium term.

Despite the flood of money inundating various economies around the world, thanks to the benevolence of various governments to arrest the economic slowdown, and loss of jobs, which could be a political disaster for any politician or political party at the helm of affairs, what is being missed out is that, are we now laying the foundations for yet another catastrophe which could hit us hard, a few years down the line, when some of the leading economies of the world, would be grappling with spiraling inflationary pressures, jobless growth, and a steady erosion of the values of their respective currencies?

While there could be no two ways about the need to inject massive liquidity into the beleaguered financial systems today, to effectively meet the challenge on hand on a timely basis, yet it would be dangerous to lose the sight of prudence which ensures that for one, we are not repeating the past mistakes of unbridled consumption fuelled by easy money, and secondly for every dollar that is being released into the system today , at least half of it is being spent to improve the productive capacity of the economy with sufficient linkages to create sufficient jobs, and arrest the ever bloating fiscal deficits.

Unfortunately, I am constrained by my limited knowledge to give a detailed account on the specifics of such linkages. However, at a very elementary level, may I suggest that such linkages could be:

* reducing oil consumption by encouraging Research and Development of alternate fuels, which are both renewable and environment friendly,
* focussing on creating better infrastructure to facilitate the private sector to expand output and employment in the most cost effective manner, and
*most importantly, sponsoring the development of various environment friendly technologies which could have their own spinoff effects in the future.

In this context your $150 billion new energy agenda which aims to reduce the greenhouse gases by 80% by the year 2050, besides of course creating five million new jobs, is certainly in the right direction which would give the US a leadership position on facilitating the desired climate change in the world.

Apart from the technologies which could help tackling the challenge of global warming and reducing oil consumption etc, technologies to efficiently and effectively harness the rainwater could be an excellent investment for the future.

Today it is oil, and tomorrow it could be potable water, which could become a major source of foreign exchange earning for any country.

The second manifestation of the challenge before us, is to revisit the old school of thought, which necessitated sufficient checks and balances in any economy, with stringent punishments to deter any financial institution daring to throw all caution to the winds, and then causing unmitigated disaster, as was witnessed two years ago. A highly regulated capitalist society need not be an oxymoron, and today few would have the wisdom to contest this fact.

Your Excellency, to be honest , you are both unfortunate as well as fortunate to be elected to this most coveted office in the whole world, at this particular juncture. Unfortunate because of the immense challenges confronting you as the forty fourth President of the United States, and fortunate because hopefully, under your able guidance and with the coordinated and untiring efforts of your highly distinguished and able team members, things should only get better from now onwards.

However, given the roots behind the problems today, which is chiefly the fact that living beyond one’s means and lending beyond one’s means, had become a way of life encompassing not only an average US citizen, but also those iconic corporations which were once a cherished destination of many bright students of some of the leading business schools of the world.

This has to change, not only in the US , but perhaps across the economies in the world which are today engaged in a similar fire fighting exercise.

To all those who have reposed their hope, trust, and aspirations on you two years ago, perhaps you may consider the following message in strong and unequivocal terms:

“ We owe it not only to ourselves, owe to our future generations as well, not to repeat the mistakes which brought us to this stage in the history of our nation. We will change our mindsets, we will be an epitome of a nation worthy of being emulated across the globe. Not simply because of the fact that we are the most powerful, not simply because of our influence across the globe and beyond the globe in the universe, but simply because of the fact that we the people of the United States of America, know how to manage our lives and our economy better. The path is likely to be difficult, testing, and full of frustrations. But we will endure the same, for we know that a dream destination awaits all of us, at the end of this path. We will reach there.”

Your Excellency, while your forthcoming visit to India is being eagerly looked forward to by millions of my fellow countrymen including myself, I would also pray for all the success which you have hoped for, and would be really delighted at witnessing your re-election two years down the line.

Most Respectfully,

Navneet Dhawan

New Delhi