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The UK government, with the strategy/steer of Gordon Brown in his time as Chancellor and as Prime Minister, has quietly but stealthily increased taxes ... and at the same time consumed massive amounts of public money and driven huge amounts of waste into public services as well ... through the use of out-of-dated practices (e.g. command & control management approaches) and the indiscriminate use of 'targets' ...
If this wasn't enough ... he has also orchestrated a strategy of deliberately increasing the amount of dependency people have on his party's policies too ... through a plethora of new allowances which are complex & expense to administrate (e.g. working tax credit, child credit, council tax relief, mortgage support etc) ... why is this?
Is this really because Labour want to 'help' hard-working people ... or is it because by doing so they can have much greater 'influence on people' ... those who like to apply Poweromics* see creating a culture of dependency as a simple way of having more influence over people, as 'fear' can easily be instilled in all those who are dependent ... (e.g. because of the 'fear' that they may lose them if someone else comes into power).
The cost of such approaches, and the increase in civil service overheads that result, create further cost burdens at both a local and a national level ... and they are at a cost of other things too ... e.g. they reduce responsibility, take money away from front line services, reduce the nations competitiveness (as there are even less people available to create wealth), create further pressure on borrowing and impact negatively on the nations trade deficit ... it also takes away time/resources away from others areas such as skills, enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurship, which are the kind of things that allow a nation to naturally prosper in a sustainable way ...
There is a key question we have to ask ... Do we help people "to learn to fish", or just "keep giving them food"?
Despite the rhetoric, the UK Government has over the last 10 years primarily focussed on the latter - the Conservatives are starting to point this out, and talking about a new era of responsibility and independence ... and the Labour party are already starting to bring their 'investment' to bear by starting to induce fear in any alternative ...
But in a world (ie a 'system') where there is much 'interdependence' ... e.g. individuals, communities, enterprises and the environment are inextricably linked together and affect one another... does anyone in Government really understand what's needed to create a prosperous and successful future ...?
Personally I'm not convinced, and the fact that 21st century leadership and management practices are completely opposite to what they currently apply themselves, suggests they're unlikely to 'see it' ... or 'vote for it' ...
... when 'leaders' do "see it", they're tending to 'duck' rather than 'do' ... Poweromics will continue to destroy communities, nations, corporations and economies, ... until Ignoromics reduces further and more 'leaders' take responsibility and/or new 'leaders' emerge to replace them !
Let's see which one occurs the most ... David Cameron is now describing "Poweromics" openly ... but does he really have the answers? ...
Understanding "Interdependence" as well as "Independence" is also crucial ....
* Poweromics = People using position and power for their own personal gain, based on poor moral values, self interest and greed.
