Wednesday 2 September 2009

The end of an 'era'


As time progresses, many are looking for the 'green shoots' of recovery (e.g. see my previous post) ... but many people are starting to realise we are coming to the end of an 'era' (see Stephanie Flanders' latest blog). With the UK consumer debt now standing at £1,400,000,000,000, and more & more people worried about their jobs (with unemployment continuing to rise rapidly), it's definitely time to start asking more questions ... the Government are trying to respond early to the risk of another 'lost generation' now too (and to try to reduce this risk of social unrest), but once again this only addresses the symptoms ... it does not fix the fundamental problem.

The fundamental problem is 'traditional economics' is 'too narrow in scope', and is 'effectively dead' ... and the current toxic mix of 'Poweromics' & 'Ignoromics' is now starting to collapse too (nb the advent of internet/mobile technology will predictably make this so) ... a new 'values system' will emerge, and a 'new economics' focused on 'adding value for others' will be needed (see Leanomics) too ... but such changes requires 'leaders' to learn from mistakes ... and they will need to do a U-turn in many of their policies & practices too ... but are the current 'leaders' likely to do this ... well history suggests not and recent articles suggest very different people will be needed to bring this about too ... so there's a lot more to do, and much more to come ... before we reach the 'real turning point' and start along the 'road to recovery', and the 'path to prosperity' ...


For instance - take a look at my comment added to Stephanie's blog below:

Post 6 (leanomist) wrote:

"IMHO I believe we are coming to the 'end of an era' - and the signs of recovery should not be focused on house prices rising again, people starting to borrow heavily again, or GDP simply stabilizing (or rising slightly again). Traditional 'economics' is too narrow in scope, and effectively 'dead' ... and a 'new economics' will emerge (nb Dr. W. Edwards Deming highlighted the needs for this way back in the 1990's) and new 'economic indicators' will be needed. For those interested in exploring this a little more you can take a look at this post, which also looks at some alternative indicators to use whilst searching for signs of a 'turning point' and the 'start of the recovery'..."