How not to become a 'new' third world country

Economics is a hot topic today. We can find a vast number of TV shows witch talks on economics one or another way. It looks like it is impossible to escape it. The hottest topic is, of-course, Britain’s veto to the adjustments of Lisbon treaty. It looks like everyone agreed that this enormous financial crisis was directly caused by greediness of banks and other financial institutions, that our unbearable debt must go down, that we no longer can sustain our risk economy, so we MUST start controlling all those factors witch brings us to the edge of self-destruct. But no, not everyone understood that or maybe not everyone wants to understand that. Well, it looks like Mr PM decided to put a short term benefits (personal ones) over long term benefits of the country witch is hopelessly going down to 

the company of the least important countries.

So what do we need to do? How is it possible for us to stay on the political and economical stage? How can we re-launch our economy and lives?

I think there are at least four major steps Britain has to do.

Financial sector control, I think, is the very first and one of the most painful steps. We have to re-module and re-shape it so it will become more people and business orientated rather than self-enriching and self-orientated. Lets install proper protecting mechanisms to avoid, or at least to minimize, financial earthquakes and crashes. There has to be developed proper tools to protect us from risky and in many cases unnecessary investments into ‘bubbles’. Following the dream to become wealthy is good, but following the greed to become wealthy fast, is a highway to hell and misery. Of-course, we can not just take and one handily destroy the heart of the risk economy The City. We need to do it gradually, little by little replacing it with ‘new’ forms of income.

Adding to the control of the city, we need to rebalance relationship between salaries and bonuses of our ‘irreplaceable’ bosses with the rest of employees.

Second step is to make our economy based not on the ‘bubbles’ but on the solid foundation of High-tech industry and knowledge economics. Britain has a huge potential of becoming the leading country in the world of innovations, research and high tech manufacturer. So we need to start investing heavily into education, support and development of the new research centers and manufactures, and re-qualification of those, who has no job so they can be employed in the new education, research etc. institutions.

The third, and perhaps the most cumbersome, step includes political reforms. We have not seen major changes in the political landscape since peacetime measures (the NHS) were put forward. Out political machine has become unbearably heavy. The bureaucratic nature of politics today is now the kind which anchors us down into a sea of false stability and security. And to what cost? Legislation to make the public sector more efficient and adaptive seems like a Sisyphean task to put forward.  While spending in the major public spending sectors (transport, health and education) has gone up exponentially over the last decade, the government’s ability to quell this every-worrying rise seems to erode with every passing day. The improvements here are threefold. Efficient public spending is paramount to ensuring that this sector does not crumble on its hind legs, but instead adapts and grows. That is, without harming the taxpayer’s purse. Legislation has got to be sped up. Here, no other sustainable option exists. Additionally, the government must be held accountable to all decisions made in Parliament, while enabling the public access to inform sanctions when the rules are not upheld. Of course, with the elephant in the room moved away - bureaucracy - focus can be shifted towards making the welfare system more effective. It may even mean simply distributing benefits more evenly, and eliminating a wasteful Winter Fuel Allowance for those who do not need it.

The most complex and unexplored facet of our plan lies in changing our entire cultural bedrock. We must thank Grandmother Maggie for burying alive our collective identity as a united Britain. With it went our vision of what we are, what we aim to become. It’s no surprise what comes with a consumption-based economy: a new set of values (individualism, corporate greed and material aspirations). It’s also clear that we can not play the same trumpet, with bated breath. If we won’t change our mentality - from cultural consumption to cultural production -  then economic reform is only in vain. Economic change won’t last for long. While no surefire answers exist in exactly how to enact a cultural revolution (excuse the connotations), a good start is simply to become responsible for what we consume. 

It all means an end to the days of scapegoating, corporate greed and reckless consumption. It must be understood that no political overhaul, structured investment or financial sector regulation will last long. Unless, that is, the public takes on the challenge of reforming our values. For these areas of the public sector are inextricably linked, with each domain being of equal importance.