Reith Lectures continued

He rightly began by spelling out the problems an overcrowded world faces, extreme poverty and time is running out to solve the problems that cascade from living on an overcrowded and environmentally compromised planet. However his solutions left me – and most of his audience judging from the Q & A session – gasping with disbelief. Comment after comment was prefaced by ‘I would love to join you in your optimism, but….. We have choices he stated many times. We have the choice to reallocate resources in more productive ways- in ways that will produce more benefits for all. That ' s more or less it. He made the point with one particular example. Providing anti-malarial mosquito nets for all of Africa he costed at $1.7 billion, and noted that this was roughly what the USA defence budget was for one day. I can point out absurdities and obscenities of the world economic system ‘ til the cows come home but it doesn ' t solve any problems.

The only member of the audience who seemed wowed by Jeffrey was ex-Spice Girl Gerri Halliwell, (working for the UNFPA) who was allowed to ask a question. All good stuff, alleviating poverty, and helping desperately poor people, but this missed something really important.

I am sure Dr. Sacks is a fine fellow, his book ‘ the End of Poverty ' seems like a progressive look at poverty and world development … .but. What the missing meta analysis steamed and stomped and simpered away in the background throughout his entire lecture. His position is that we can solve the world ' s problems; and he stated several times we are on an unsustainable path right now, one that we can ' t maintain much longer- excellent observation!!- using the very same systems and mechanisms that got us here in the first place. Albert Einstein ' s famous statement that you can ' t solve a problem using the same level of thinking that created it in the first place is particularly apt.

There seems to be no overarching structural changes required in Jeffrey Sack ' s viewpoint. He doesn ' t see any inconsistency in our current economic and political system, we just have to make better choices. A debt based fractional reserve monetary system that demands continued growth on a finite planet doesn ' t seem to be a problem. A capitalist system that tends to concentrate wealth in the hands of a very few is not a problem. A money system that is based on scarcity and greed, also seems to be able to encourage and facilitate a environmentally sustainable, fulfilling, and socially just human presence on this planet. Words like rearranging the deck chairs and Titanic spring to mind.

What ' s so galling about this Reith lecture is that I believe that one of the foremost economists of our times ought to search deeper and with more integrity than this. What is also so galling is that he personally is involved in good work, excellent problem solving using his discipline- economics. He has rolled up his sleeves and gotten his hands dirty, more power to his elbow I say. But what he is lacking is a wider perspective that I think springs from an unwillingness to question some of the basic assumptions of our current way of life. Unless we are prepared to question the values and beliefs that underlie and determine how we live an act no amount of good projects will take us where we need to go. And we need both, this is a both and analysis, we all need to roll up our sleeves and do what we can and we need the vision of what kind of world do we really want. The two go hand in hand.

I whole heartedly agree with Jeffrey Sacks when he says, “ The world does change, it changes remarkably. ” And “ We need -- this is the possibility of our inter-connected, socially networked internet-empowered age --involvement from all of us. We all play a role. It doesn't just go through government, and if government remains as impervious to evidence and knowledge and capacity as it is right now, we're going to have to go increasingly around government. ” Radical stuff, but we need more than this.

We need to be asking questions like, ‘ What is success? ', ‘What do successful human being look like?', ‘Can work really be totally and uncompromisingly fulfilling, and make a profit?', ‘How much is enough, and when does enough become too much, and what happens then?' There are many more.

I will continue to listen to the Reith lectures and continue to criticise and comment. Not out of spite or cynicism, but from an open hearted concern and inclusivity. I want a world to hand onto my children and grandchildren, not a dead planet. I want all of us, including Jeffrey Sacks to join in this most urgent of tasks, but I don't want us all rushing along the wrong path, or heading for anything less than making the world a sustainable, just, and fulfilling place for all. And I am willing like Dr. Sacks to get my hands dirty. Ideas are utopian, but ideas and vision combined with pragmatic problem solving now are the only thing that will make a difference.