Memo to Dave

Hi Dave

Paul Krugman has written an insightful piece on defeatism within the Depression. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/the-defeatism-of-depression/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto. I actually see it as depression within Depression, and one with a huge human cost.

Krugman is right, people do get blinkered into thinking that there is no other way and it is a bit scary when he points out that it was WW2 which really dragged the world out of the last enduring slump. A demand driven recovery is obviously the way forward, but an organic one that makes and invests profit, not another bubble and certainly not a global conflict, is what is needed. The thrust of Krugman's piece is that if only government would let go of its prejudices the depression could be fixed within months.

I am not sure about that, it is not prejudices which hold back the UK, and possibly not the USA either. It is deeply ingrained systems which enable the rich 1% to use the effort and money of the 99% to print themselves more cash. It is the attachment to capitalism which requires examination and I am a capitalist. At the moment too much capital leaves the system to easily and for too little risk. The free market is now a free for for all for the elite. In the Unofficial Big Society Green Paper (available to buy at www.bigsocietygreenpaper.org) I have worked to outline an alternative way forward which would preserve the central functions of capital within our system. There will be others.

It would be great if you could begin 2012 by renouncing your admirable but irrational attachment to the status quo and commission a thorough examination of the alternatives before it is too late. The UK has a unique set of challenges and the myriad policies being rushed through fit neither our needs or each other.

A period of reflection and strategic planning would be invaluable and might reverse the depression within the Depression, if not the Depression itself. Whilst I am sure there isn't a quick or painless solution, I am equally sure that unless we start doing the right things, and quickly, decline is inevitable. The UK has to behave more like a business. That means investing for the future, living within our means and energising the population to success through a clear strategic plan. The alternative is a bigger and bigger black market (paying less tax), more people excluded from society and an eventual breakdown of that society along with a complete loss of our global position.

Gareth