Vicissitudes of a Banana Republic

From being the rising star…

…in the eyes of the world, …

… our country’s image has sunk…

…to being a banana republic again.

With banananomics ruling. It’s a pattern.

Stop.

That’s the nature of growth.

It’s hap-hazard.

We’ll have periods of stardom.

Punctuated mostly by bananadom.

Our modus operandi in times of bananadom is very clear.

We.

Get.

In.

During the short spurts of stardom, perhaps few and far between ones, like fast-moving comets with flaring and then vanishing tails, we shall expunge our non-performers and buy potential future-stars.

At times of stardom, we do feel like stars.

We boast.

X-Trillion economy. Nth-largest in the world. Moon mission. Mars mission. Satellite launching euphoria. Ignore all negatives. Sweep them under the rug. Remove all nay-sayers. Make them disappear permanently. Bull-doze their houses. Meanwhile our corruption reaches unprecedented levels.

That’s the nature of anything that is termed as ‘high growth’.

High growth comes at the cost of humanism.

Are we a humane country? Yes and no. Mostly no. Eyewash humane yes. Perhaps a tad more owing to private initiatives.

Are we even a democracy? On paper, yes. In practice, yes and no. Lots of times, no, there are nuances of dictatorship. Eyewash yes. Perhaps a tad more owing to private initiatives.

But we have one thing for sure.

It’s our own very parallel economy.

Our banananomy.

Along with what we’re calling high growth.

High growth?

Yes and no.

Mostly no.

Eyewash tomfooling international community yes.

Perhaps a tad more owing to private initiatives.

Banana Trajectory

Growth …

… is a non-linear entity.

Especially…

… high growth.

Amongst many things, …

… one point needs …

… pointing out.

Between periods of high growth…

… anything can happen.

The levels of what can happen are, amongst other correlations, directly proportionate to the number of similarities between an economy in question and the functioning of a proper banana republic.

Freedom of speech can be suppressed.

Parallel economies can thrive.

Extortion and blackmail can rule.

Genocide.

Landgrab.

Terrorism.

People buyouts.

Apathy.

Dysfunctionality.

And then there’s high growth again, perhaps soon, if the economy gets its act together despite its rulers, and perhaps accelerated, if the rulers come to their senses and return back to being peace, growth and democracy loving .

Without getting into what kind of a republic we live in, for lack of a better phrase, and with a very small use of one’s imagination, one could venture to suggest that our own path of growth could resemble that of a banana trajectory.

The banana in this title doesn’t have much to do with the curvature of the fruit.

Much rather, it’s about the economy to banana republic correlation.

Might I suggest that our economy’s banana behaviour is mostly mild. Then, rarely, it gets intense. Normal growth returns. Then comes high growth. Periods of very high growth are rare, but there too.

Overall I’m happy with my and in my republic.

Sometimes, its banana behaviour beats me up.

Yeah, every ten years or so, there’s a big hit.

No one likes getting hurt.

I do remember to stand up and continue fighting, …

… because it is in this very republic, that I can make my 15% p.a.c.

On the conservative side, that is. Perhaps I can make more.

I don’t get that in any other economy.

You see, occasional banana behaviour is good news for a long term contrarian.

Banananomics lead to blunders, and temporary downfalls, with all indices falling big.

Which is where we have the guts to buy, and big.

Why?

We know we are on a high growth trajectory with intermittent banana behaviour.

A very simple formula suggests itself.

Buy big during reactions to banana behaviour.

Take principle out after spurts of high growth.

Sit tight on underlying in profit, perhaps for life.

A high growth trajectory with intermittent banana behaviour will give you many such cycles in your lifetime.

One stands to make multiple times the ten-yearly hits.

Upon recognising this recurring pattern, one can even fine-tune and enhance loss-attenuation.

🙂