A better economic path for the future?
Studying economics/organizational behavior has long been a hobby of mine (I know, I crossed over the nerd line into the dark arts - or at least trying to understand them - some time ago) and while most of this site will be dedicated to my fiction writing and other creative endeavors, my blog will often delve into the world of economics. Sometimes my writing and interest in this field will come together (which they do in a tongue and cheek way in a recent story of mine - The Ralguudian Assumption).
So why talk about it here? Because it is unfortunate truth that even most well educated Americans do not fathom the degree to which our economic environment is manipulated for the gain of a select few. One could blame it on a lack of awareness, but it's more complex than that. Ask anyone who reads the paper (or website/television equivalent) daily and most can tell you there is a growing degree of inequity in America. Some may be able to direct you to a graph or two proving the point. However, it is far easier to identify the problem than its actual cause. The truth lays hidden behind many layers of bureaucracy, backroom political and corporate dealings (sometimes with each other, sometimes with should-be competitors) and the propensities of human nature (fear, greed and selective validation).
In my regular perusals of the business news feeds I came across an article that did a nice job of explaining the heart of the inequity problem we have. You can paste the following link into your browser to read it (figure on 15 minutes to get through it all):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-04/feds-new-mandate
The author does a nice job of laying out the problem with our economic morass and even goes so far as to suggest a partial solution by proposing a different set of metrics for the world's central banks to employ in ensuring an equitable and optimal balance between labor and profit distributions. It does not go far enough however, because what is needed in addition to the new metrics is a new standard to determining when and where it is appropriate for the government (not just the central bank, but government at every level of society) to insert itself into the economy, and when and where it should butt out (this being, perhaps, the bigger problem since involvement leads to control and control leads to power, which is one of the fundamental draws for people to have a career in politics).
Over time I hope to propose some ideas on how to reframe and then clarify the role of government in helping (or, not unduly inhibiting) the economy for the betterment of greatest number of people (hint: I don't think Communism, Socialism or most other "ism's" are the answer). I hope you'll pop in from time to time to see what I've come up with and can weigh in with your thoughts on the matter.
Regards and happy writing,
Raymond M. Walshe
