Let's have a hearty laugh over Bush's gaffe

"There are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population," said Bush. "And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up."

In response, the Indian political leaders were up in arms, ready to verbally shred the US President to pieces.

"George Bush has never been known for his knowledge of economics. And he has just proved once again how comprehensively wrong he is," Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce, said.

"It is preposterous for anyone to say that global food crisis, including the crisis in America, is because Indians are eating more. It is needless to say what the Indians get to eat or what they (Americans) eat. This only shows how he has lost his senses," said West Bengal's leftist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, adding that Bush's remark was nothing more than a "cruel joke."

Interestingly, none of the Indian political leaders, who were quick to fly off the handle, stopped to challenge Bush on how he got his figures.

Last year, a study by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that India's middle class numbered only 50 million, out of a total 1.1 billion population.

India's National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has also estimated that there were 56 million people in households earning $4,400 to $21,800 a year, which it defines as middle class.

So where did Bush get his extra 300 million or so middle class Indians from-

Perhaps from the NCAER's 220 million "aspiring Indians," living in households earning between $2,000 and $4,400 a year, who can afford to buy a motorbike, a refrigerator and a television.