It's Democracy, Stupid

The New York Times > International > Asia Pacific > In Huge Upset, Gandhi's Party Wins Election in India:

"Unlike in the United States, where the most prosperous also vote the most, in India it is the poor who turn out in greatest numbers. That means that the very voters for whom India has been shining — urbanites from the middle and upper classes who benefited from globalization and reforms — are also least likely to vote. The B.J.P. also seemed to suffer from its association with the Hindu nationalism that had powered its rise. Muslims, still repelled by the anti-Muslim carnage in the B.J.P.-controlled state of Gujarat in 2002, resisted the party's efforts to woo them, as did many Indians concerned about the weakening of the country's secular identity"

Meanwhile in the US as the underclass sinks we watch for our investments in prison stocks boom.