A new millennium deserves a new slogan, and I’d suggest:
‘It’s not the stupid economy!’
Politics is (or should be) about people not profits, and putting profits ahead of people, quite apart from the moral question, is quite literally putting the horse before the cart. It’s like saying it’s about being physically fit, it’s not about the exercise.
The current economic booms in India and China are a result of having a very large number of low cost workers. People are the drivers of wealth creation, and the Chinese and Indian model relies on wage suppression (which can’t last forever).
It’s not a model we should aspire to for many reasons, not least of which why would we want to push more people into the ranks of the working poor as we watch other countries lift so many out of poverty.
True wealth is generated through increased productivity, creativity and innovation, and the drivers of those are people so much more than R&D dollars (though investment in R&D doesn’t hurt one bit).
In this line of thinking I’m tremendously influenced by two books I’ve read in recent times. The first is called The Sixth Wave by James Bradfield Moody from the (sadly missed) ABC TV show The New Inventors. In a nutshell, we have been through 5 waves of innovation. In order they have been –The Industrial Revolution, The Steam age, The Electricity age, The Car age, and the Computer age.
Interestingly, the world seems to have stumbled during the movement between these ages of innovation and has lived through the depression of the late 19th C, the Great Depression, the Stagflation of the early 1970’s, and finally the Tech-wreck and it’s morphing into the GFC.
The Sixth Wave will be a move to sustainability and Green energy. And while the Carbon Price is an important part of this, the real change will be driven by people.
The other book is The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. In short we are seeing a clear demographic shift within our society, which translates to a shrinking Working Class, and a growing Creative Class and Service Class. The Creative Class are the drivers of Creativity and Innovation, and are also the great wealth generators of our society. They are also more likely to be people attracting higher wages and working longer hours. They in turn need a great deal of services which they don’t have the time to provide for themselves, and they support workers in cleaning, hospitality, and other service industries. Together the two groups drive up jobs and productivity.
The bottom line is that supporting people provides all the positive outcomes we seek as a society. It has nothing to do with draconian policies like WorkChoices, or sacking Public Servants, or tax cuts for the rich or for big business.
The Rise of the Creative Class is available at the Flinders St, Aitkenvale and Thuringowa libraries. If you get a chance both books are worth a read.