Why are private companies needed? Why can't the government control everything?

Roles in the society

A private corporation worries about making money, while the government (should) worry about making sure they make money the right way and the society benefits from their actions. These two objectives are often in conflict and they are on opposite sides of a tug of war.

How did Switzerland never participate in any world wars?

As others mentioned Switzerland was involved in wars until the 19th century. During both the World Wars, many European nations remained neutral - Switzerland, Sweden and Portugal among the most important. During WW-II, Turkey and Ireland, Greece, Netherlands were also neutral. 

Why doesn't any country in the world have a 100% employment rate?

In economics, there are 3 main types of unemployment:

1. Structural unemployment - this is caused due to changes in technology, markets, customer interests etc. We don't need a lot of typists and stenos any longer, for instance. Every year millions of jobs get obsolete and we replace them with newer ones. The people who are trained only for the old ones will face unemployment until they learn another skill.

The US (defense budget - $612B) spends more on millitary than the next ten highest spending countries combined. Why?

Who are the greatest politicians in different countries around the world over the last 50 years & why?

Asia Pacific

1. Lee Kuan Yew - Showed that a tiny Asian slum of Singapore can become the world's most advanced nation without the need of armies, natural resources or exploitation of people. Amazing leader by any metric.
2. Deng Xiaoping - Can you change the future of 1 million people? How about 100 million? How about 1.5 billion people?

What is OpenSSL? Is it true the organization developing OpenSSL is in a bad economic situation because OpenSSL is totally free?

What is OpenSSL?

Imagine this. You want to send a message to John. You don't know where he is or what his other contact details are. You pass the message to Jane, who knows someone who knows John. The message then is sent to Jane,

Why has every superpower tried to conquer Afghanistan, even though the country has nothing special like oil, coal, natural gas or valuable minerals?

Real estate agents say that the 3 most important things in a real estate investment are location, location and location. You could say the same about geopolitics. 

Why and how was the Muslim conquest so successful?

Climate change.

The period around the 6th century AD was a period of brutal climactic change. Extreme weather events of 535–536. Pandemics like the Plague of Justinian ruthlessly shook the world. Major empires everywhere in the world collapsed like dominoes and created the power vacuum that helped the Prophet & his followers quickly consolidate power over West Asia, North Africa and Southern Europe.

What is "Nash equilibrium" and what were its impacts on the world?

Game theory is a study of strategies involved in complex games. Almost every human interaction - politics, economics, law and religion  can be modeled as a game. You are in a game, if your fate is impacted by the actions of others. 

Why didn't NATO attack India when India annexed Goa?

1. Distracted US administration: Nehru timed the aggression within months of JFK taking over. The new administration was still learning the ropes and was too busy focused on the botched "Bay of Pigs" operation in Cuba. When India took the administraton by surprise, all the President could say was a dignified "Oops!"

Is the US right now more powerful than the British Empire and Mongol Empire during their glories?

No. One can list pages worth of US toys (nuclear bombs, missiles, satellites) to "prove" how US is more powerful than past empires. Power is not an absolute measurement. Power is a relative thing - your ability compared with your peers. Both the Mongol and British empires could afford to dominate everyone else in the known world. 

When did equity investing begin?

The Story of Dutch East India Company
In 1602, Europe was in a state of restlessness. The voyages of Vasco da Gama and Columbus had produced an enormous level of excitement. Plenty of new lands were discovered and new trade routes opened them to exotic destinations.

How has Europe advanced any technology in the last 50 years?

I'm in the open source world and a lot of core technology improvements here come from Europe. So I will stick to just that (leaving alone millions of other things outside this space).

Why does going to war help the US economy?

No. It doesn't help. It used to be thought that way until Keynes showed that any massive increase in government expenses could stimulate an economy in depression. The War itself had a negative effect, but the increase in spending that accompanied that acted against the depression.

What is the convention used to state years in dates? What does BC and AD mean?

There are different conventions used all over the world. A lot of calendars have a focal point through which the rest of the time periods are denoted. The numbering denotion really depends on the most critical year in a particular culture. 

How important is Bhutan to India?

India is a sort of natural fort - with Indian ocean being the moat and the Himalayas being the wall. I have drawn red line to denote the wall and various ancient Himalyan kingdoms as sort of castles.

Where did the names for today's countries originate from?

Names of nations come from a variety of sources and names provide a lot of clues about the culture. Central Asia and Eastern Europe names are mostly named after various tribes, providing an idea to the strength of historic tribes and the constant strive to balkanization / reuniting. 

What's the history of the Islamic insurgency in Iraq? How did the unrest progress? Is momentum building?

Shias and Sunnis have been fighting for over 1100 years on the importance of Imams (religious leaders). Shias place more importance on the people (Imams -- Shia means follower) and the Sunnis place more importance on the customs (Sunna).

Why are Buddhist texts considered more historically reliable than Hindu scriptures?

One particular advantage Buddhist scriptures have is their global reach. From Afghanistan to Japan, Buddhism quickly spread over most of the known world then. People in all those regions were very curious and traveled to India to understand the religion, leaving behind precious clues. Chinese and Sri Lankan scholars were especially helpful in understanding India's culture then. 

Did India gain independence because of non-violence or was it because England were not financially strong after world war II?

Before I bought my home, the masons built all the foundation and walls. Then the carpenters started putting the window frames. Then the painters came. And finally the carpenters put the final touches to the door and furniture and brought me the key. 

What are some reasons why North American and African tribes were always hunter-gatherers at a time where most other countries had long since stopped?

Animals

One reason was that unlike Eurasian animals such as ox, cow, hen, horse, pig, buffalo and asian elephant, African & American animals are not easy to tame. Even with 1000s of years of animal husbandry knowledge you cannot tame a Zebra,

Why is World War II so much more famous than World War I?

1. Personalities: WW-II involved a lot more interesting personalities - Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hirohito, Eisenhower, Marshall, MacArthur, Rommel, Patton, Montgomery and Mussolini. WW-I personalities were all comparatively insipid. Even the Americans don't want to

The United States of America: What is the best thing about United States when compared to the rest of world?

1. Amazing natural things to see: Between Yellowstone, Denali, Grand Canyon, Mammoth Cave, Everglades and White Dunes, US has some of the most spectacular geographical diversity to see.
2. Opportunities: It is not without reason we cross multiple oceans and battle through an archaic immigration system. Some of us could have been in other

History of India: What was "India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh" called before the partition of 1947?

It was just called India. Not British India, British Raj, but just India. I will show you some world maps of that era. Raj is used in the context of the governance and not of the region itself. British India is used very rarely as the term "British" was considered superfluous on most occasions.

Why is the U.S. such a powerful country?

Geography

1. Size: It is the 3rd largest in area and population. The two countries bigger than the US - Russia and Canada have way too much unusable land. The 2 countries bigger than US in population - India and China are still climbing up from the colossal destruction faced in the 19th century - early 20th century and also face severe resource constraints. Russia has still not settled in terms of governance. Brazil & Canada have too few people. That leaves US in a nice sweet spot.

How would a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council affect India?

UNSC Veto.

Every major power runs into issues with the UN. US in Iraq, Russia in Crimea and India in Goa/Kashmir. In those times, it is really important to have the veto on your side. Russia could afford to completely ignore the UN with the security of the veto.

Bharatiya Janata Party: The BJP government increased railway passenger fare by 14.2% and freight charges by 6.5%. How can this increment be justified?

India gave Modi an overwhelming majority precisely for taking such bold and unpopular moves. Everything that is good will start bitter. Eating Vegetables and exercising is always less preferable than watching TV while gulping soda.

Passenger segment of Indian railways loses Rs.26000 crores ($4 billion) every year. Part of this loss is met by high prices on freight, but overall there is still a shortage of Rs.10000 crores. This money has to come from somewhere.

How can one summarize World War II in 10 sentences or less?

1. The players: The war's key players were the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania..) -- yellow region and Allies (UK, US, USSR, France, China, India, Australia, Canada...) -- green region below (as a side note: just as in WW-I, BRIC were on the same side).

How can one summarize World War I in ten sentences or fewer?

1. The players: World War I was fought between the allies (UK, France, Russia plus all green regions below - including Japan & Italy) and the central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Turks plus all the orange regions below). 

Why didn't Hinduism spread to any other part of the world, outside of the Indian subcontinent?

Hinduism and Judaism were historically not that intent on evangelism. Both these religions have more cultural/ethnic roots. Like the pagan religions of Europe & the religions of China, the missionary zeal was absent. There is nothing in the religious texts that makes it a duty of the followers to spread the religion. 

What if China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attack India at the same time?

All the parties will lose. As someone who likes China and madly in love with India, I don't see a good outcome. Still I will play as I was asked.

It is inaccurate in stating US will kick China's ass. In reality, US or any other major power will never mess with China in a direct war. It is not just China's nukes, but it is China's manufacturing keys that everyone will fear. Let us take a direct involvement out of question in this hypothetical battle.

The result will be a stalemate. It is purely hypothetical analysis to show interconnected everything is and nothing against any country. Here is why: