Zombie Economics. Devil's advocate no. 8.

1. I have to say this. It's uncomplimentary of the PM. But who cares. I am not PKR so mdm SUA can't issue any show cause letter. I am a Malaysian.

2. Who doesn't want to see Malaysia regress to a kleptocratric state again 

3. Previously under 1mdb,now maybe under bestinet or nexG? 

4. Some people heap accolades on anvar ebraheem. He's the best FM and the bestest economic manager of our country. Blah blah . 

5. I beg to differ, politely sir 

6. Any economist, not only I, will dispute his or his people's claims about good financial governance. 

7. I have my version of the K-percent rule as regards budget deficit and tax refund arrears . 

8. These 2 versions shatter the myth and the hollow claims on good financial governance. 

9. I found the answer given by 'Tom Selleck' Amir Hamzah, the 2nd FM not convincing at all, when Rafizi raised the matter . 

10. Our deficit to my mind should be set around 4% of our GDP. 

11. That's fine and dandy. Except our GDP is not our true GDP and therefore our deficit is not our true deficit. 

12. But because we have included tax refund arrears as revenue in our national accounts aka budget, we have a spurious budget . 

13. Assume the true income is 100b. But because we have included tax refund arrears as realized income, our spurious budget becomes say, 150b. 

14. 4% of 100b is 4b while 4% of 150b is 6b . Hey presto, we have a deficit of 6b . 

15. We borrow to meet the deficit. But we tell people, don't worry-the incremental compared to that incurred by previous administrations is less. 

16. About the incrementals, these are of interest to a academicians in colleges and those busybodies who like to split hairs. 

17 . The majority of people don't give a rats ass of attention to the incremental . All the know the public debt is 1.3 trillion. What are doing to decrease it substantively ? 

18. The point is you can't. Not as long as you include refund arrears in our GDP. 20,30b. 

19. A spurious GDP will lead to a spurious deficit. 

20. This is where a spurious deficit gets interesting. It can be the hotbed for nefarious and mendacious activities by nefarious bureaucratic brahmins. 

21. The spurious deficit can hide these rapacious activities. 

22. It can be used to find bailouts, fund wasteful projects, provide cheap loans to crony companies. And the PM getting no wiser about it. 

23. We can't discount the possibility of these bureaucratic brahmins skimming from the top. 

24. It proves what Milton Friedman says, we are excellent at spending OPM. 

25. Therefore my concern of the deficit isn't confined to it just being an exotic subject shattering the myth of claims of good financial governance. 

26. But more concerned as to the deficit being used to conceal corruption activities by bureaucratic brahmins and politicians. 

27. Aspire to wholly exclude tax refund arrears in the GDP or keep it the barest minimum. Aspire also to achieve a true deficit 

28. I am not holding this back- but I suspect our GDP and our deficit are heavily doctored by bureaucratic brahmins and creative bean counters. 

29. These dishonest people are running circles around our PM who's more interested in reading novels by Vaclav Havel and Gabriel Garcia 

30. The other component of good financial governance is managing the tax refund arrears. 

31. Keep it to the minimum say 2 or 3b instead of 10b and above. An impregnated tax refund areas would only shatter the claims of good financial governance, Sir!