Posts
Robert Peston seems to be doing a much better job than Stephanie Flanders (BBC economics editor) and Nick Robinson (BBC political editor) these days, as he explained in his recent blog ... where we are, the people responsible, the dilemmas they now have and the vacuum of ideology that exists ... e.g. take a look a few key points below for instance:
"... it is by no means a trivial political event that Gordon Brown should make an explicit attack on what he called a 'bankrupt ideology' that 'markets always self-correct but never self-destruct' ... a somewhat delayed reaction to that recent spot of bother for banks ...
... but this wasn't just any old failure of markets. It was a system breakdown that has prompted a theological crisis for most mainstream economists and an existential crisis for those whom we trusted to deliver financial and economic stabiltity, viz regulators, central bankers and finance ministers ...
... and for politicians ... such as Gordon Brown ... there's something of an ideological crisis .... It's all very well to say, as he did, that 'what failed was the right wing fundamentalism that says you just leave everything to the market and says that free markets should not just be free but values-free' ...
... but for years his government was seduced by this so-called fundamentalism ... and if Brown no longer trusts markets for the efficient allocation of precious resources and the optimal pricing of goods and services, what does he trust? ...
... if markets are no longer the best guarantor that resources won't be wasted in commerce or public service, what is the new insurance policy of optimal resource distribution? ...
... it's all very well to ditch a faith, if it can't be sustained by the facts. But I suspect that voters will want to know what will fill the vacuum ... and although bashing bankers' bonuses may resonate with many, it's not really a comprehensive industrial or economic policy."
To which I added the following comments below:
... "Wise words Mr Peston - perhaps you should be political editor and economics editor too.
* Traditional economics is dead.
* Traditional politics is dead.
* Traditional enterprises are dead.
* Traditional nations will also die, unless they change the above very quickly.
Can Brown fix it .... No - he exacerbated the problem in his 10 years as Chancellor*
Can the Tories fix it .... No - they haven't got a clue, and if they did they wouldn't do it anyway.
Vacuum - there is ... at present ... but as ignorance reduces and things get much worse (which they will again soon - as nothing has been done to address the above issues) the 'battle' of the future will begin - a 'battle of values' that transcends nations (take a here for instance) ... and successful nations will emerge out of the crisis powered by a new form of leadership, economics and politics (which was predicted over 20 years ago but is just starting to come to the fore now) ...
History tells us change things will, and with modern 21st century technology, change will happen in many different ways ... but history also tells us the UK is unlikely to one of the successful nations ... unless it responds right now and it does not falter in this goal.
David Clift, A Future 500 Leader
* Brown was responsible for introducing the 'targets culture' and for driving in highly wasteful 19th century management practices, as well as focusing on a flawed economic strategy which was over reliant on the city, fueling it by overseeing the removal of the constraints that kept commercial & investment banking separate (brought in after the last great depression!), then bailing out the banks with our money without fixing the fundamental problem (and a problem he himself had previously helped to create) ...
