Sri Lanka, Oct. 27 -- To revive a flagging economy, Central Banks often resort to interest rate cuts. As commonly held, low interest rates lead to increased borrowings which then lead to investment and the eventual revival of the economy. To the laymen, the esotericism of economic theory may make little sense, as that sweeping putdown by an amateur economist once had it: "Surely they do not know the difference between Treasury Bonds and James Bond!".

However, for the millions whose daily reality is shaped by the vicissitudes of a stagnant Third World economy, their endless hardships and the struggles for even the basics, life itself is an education, a university of hard knocks. There is no escape from the system, the more it changes, the...