'Social Justice and Economic Dynamism, Ambition and Compassion, Fairness and
Enterprise............gives people the (sic) better chance of a better future in
which all people can play their part'
Sounds good but what if we changed it slightly - 'Economic Justice and Social
Dynamism,........................'. See what I mean? It's not the same thing at
all, yet I believe this rearrangement would give a much better definition of
what most contributors to this debate have in mind. It seems clear that we now
have an 'official' Third Way that accepts the 'inequality' of economic 'reality'
as an immutable law, but believes that it is possible to erect powerful
structures around it which can ensure a more equal chance of jumping onto the
economic 'merry-go-round' or of climbing back on if (or when) you fall off. Does
anybody out there believe that this is a workable proposition? Or would they
think, as I do, that widening economic inequality has the inevitable effect of
both increasing the degree of 'social intervention' required while reducing the
resources available to provide that intervention?
The government's departure from reality seems to be that the resources (whether
of human, natural or 'social' capital) used in economic and in social
interactions do not come from a common pool. But the reality is that
irrespective of the rate of growth of these resources, if the
inequality-producing economy controls an ever-larger share of resources than the
'equalising' social sphere, the net outcome is that inequality will continue to
grow across the board - with all the consequences that has for security, health,
social cohesion and so on.
Perhaps the disappointing number of contributions to this debate is a reflection
of the apparent abandoning of any attempt by this government to reset economic
thinking. For those that believe that it is futile to even argue the case any
more - I would suggest that events are almost certain to prove us right and the
government wrong - probably sooner rather than later! There will come a time
when the politicians are desperate for a new view and I think it is essential to
be ready with an approach to economic policy-making that will make sense of the
coming turmoil and provide effective ways of tackling it.
Diarmid Weir
djgw@febl.abel.co.uk
-------------------------------------------------------------
Posted to 3way, a service of Nexus. http://www.netnexus.org/
Hosting and email provided by new media consultants On-Line Publishing