Ahilan Kadirgamar
"The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is past the ocean is flat again." - John Maynard Keynes
When economists, policymakers and intellectuals refuse to identify economic problems and address them, the people do. That is the meaning of burning tires, mass protests and strike shutdowns. Colombo and many parts of the country were stranded on Monday with private buses on strike. As this article is written, Chilaw is in a state of curfew, after militant protests by the fishing community met with police firing killing one protestor and injuring several others on Wednesday. The JVP protests in Colombo met with the heavy hand of the police including tear gas. And major protests are continuing to be mobilised. While the facts are clear – 9% increase in petrol from Rs 137 to Rs 149, 37% increase in diesel from Rs 84 to Rs 115 and 49% increase in kerosene from Rs 71 to Rs 106 – this week’s protest mobilisations are a far better gauge of the economy than what any economist may write.
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