Getting it off my chest...
So, I've been lurking about, thinking thinky thoughts but kind of afraid to post them, because the intarwebs are full enough of angry ranty people. But then, I thought since almost no-one will read this anyway, maybe I should quit worrying about that and just express myself.
I love Radio 4 for the amazing, eclectic mix of stuff you can get, from Melvyn Bragg asking astrophysicists about(the real)Big Bang Theory and later someone else discussing the "Storm und Drang" playwrights.
So I was quite taken aback when Billy Bragg articulated on air the thing that has been looming over my head. That the "Western" form of capitalism is facing a catastrophic failure at a world wide level but no one seems to want to acknowledge it. From the Global Banks who "don't know" exactly how much toxic debt they have, but apparently feel that it's OK to list them as assets; to our Government who felt that New Labour's plans to burden future generations with their debts were appalling but after 5 minutes in office they plan to do exactly that to those of our children who wish to be educated.
Colonel K's meanderings on the web turn up interesting things-such as the *new* theory that success in business shouldn't be dependent on cost-cutting (a.k.a sacking people)but that unfortunately most of the Harvard MBA's out there are running on the old theory. Aggressively. Drive share price up at any cost(including crippling your own company) because the smart money will have got out before it tanks;never mind the chaos it leaves behind, or the shattered lives. Admiral Grace Hopper, a lady for whom I have an infinite amount of time is quoted as saying "We've gone overboard on management. Time to run the MBA's out of Washington."
Oh Please.
Could we please have a system that sees people as something more than "economic units" and throws them away in pursuit of profit? That defines success as having a majority of people satisfied with their lives and prospects, rather than focusing on the narrow measure of GDP? An article commenting on America's Medical system lists the most "productive" item of GDP churn as a terminally-ill patient in Critical care. Woo-Hoo folks, a half million buckaroonies per week right there!
Sick in every sense of the word.
Money is a tool. It's quite useful but it has no value simply of its own. We need to outgrow the notion that people with lots of money are somehow better/smarter/more talented than those that don't have pots of the stuff.
To borrow a quote from the "IT Crowd" ...."I started this company with nothing more than an idea scribbled on the back of a napkin, hard work and the four million quid my parents gave me ..." Bill Gates may well have been a visionary- whatever you may like to say about Microsoft.(And in this house we do. Ooh yes!) But how far would he have got had his parents not been high flying Lawyers with access to the money men?
How many blindingly good ideas never made it off the starting blocks because there was no obvious way to "monetize" it?
I could go on and on but you probably get the idea. The world is being run for the purpose of making money, getting money. And it works-for a small minority of very rich individuals. It doesn't work for the rest of us. Am I the only one who thinks that this is morally wrong? I doubt it. Thanks to Mr Bragg, I know I'm not alone in thinking that we need a paradigm shift because we can't go on much longer like this.
Humans tend to be resistant to change, fearful of it even. The journey will not be easy and I am afraid that there will be bloodshed along the way.We didn't get to the top of the food chain by being the nicest species on the planet.
I love Radio 4 for the amazing, eclectic mix of stuff you can get, from Melvyn Bragg asking astrophysicists about(the real)Big Bang Theory and later someone else discussing the "Storm und Drang" playwrights.
So I was quite taken aback when Billy Bragg articulated on air the thing that has been looming over my head. That the "Western" form of capitalism is facing a catastrophic failure at a world wide level but no one seems to want to acknowledge it. From the Global Banks who "don't know" exactly how much toxic debt they have, but apparently feel that it's OK to list them as assets; to our Government who felt that New Labour's plans to burden future generations with their debts were appalling but after 5 minutes in office they plan to do exactly that to those of our children who wish to be educated.
Colonel K's meanderings on the web turn up interesting things-such as the *new* theory that success in business shouldn't be dependent on cost-cutting (a.k.a sacking people)but that unfortunately most of the Harvard MBA's out there are running on the old theory. Aggressively. Drive share price up at any cost(including crippling your own company) because the smart money will have got out before it tanks;never mind the chaos it leaves behind, or the shattered lives. Admiral Grace Hopper, a lady for whom I have an infinite amount of time is quoted as saying "We've gone overboard on management. Time to run the MBA's out of Washington."
Oh Please.
Could we please have a system that sees people as something more than "economic units" and throws them away in pursuit of profit? That defines success as having a majority of people satisfied with their lives and prospects, rather than focusing on the narrow measure of GDP? An article commenting on America's Medical system lists the most "productive" item of GDP churn as a terminally-ill patient in Critical care. Woo-Hoo folks, a half million buckaroonies per week right there!
Sick in every sense of the word.
Money is a tool. It's quite useful but it has no value simply of its own. We need to outgrow the notion that people with lots of money are somehow better/smarter/more talented than those that don't have pots of the stuff.
To borrow a quote from the "IT Crowd" ...."I started this company with nothing more than an idea scribbled on the back of a napkin, hard work and the four million quid my parents gave me ..." Bill Gates may well have been a visionary- whatever you may like to say about Microsoft.(And in this house we do. Ooh yes!) But how far would he have got had his parents not been high flying Lawyers with access to the money men?
How many blindingly good ideas never made it off the starting blocks because there was no obvious way to "monetize" it?
I could go on and on but you probably get the idea. The world is being run for the purpose of making money, getting money. And it works-for a small minority of very rich individuals. It doesn't work for the rest of us. Am I the only one who thinks that this is morally wrong? I doubt it. Thanks to Mr Bragg, I know I'm not alone in thinking that we need a paradigm shift because we can't go on much longer like this.
Humans tend to be resistant to change, fearful of it even. The journey will not be easy and I am afraid that there will be bloodshed along the way.We didn't get to the top of the food chain by being the nicest species on the planet.