Joseph Schumpeter was, for some reason, my favourite economist at University. Whilst it's quite harsh, what I admired about him most was his overt recognition that sometimes the demise of something is required in order to give rise to something better. Having had a brief scoot about Wikipedia today to remind myself of what he was about - I studied this nearly 20 years ago - it turns out, he 'popularised the phrase "creative destruction"'.
It's ironic to find this out retrospectively as it sits so well with my support of the philosophies which emerge from the I Ching, but I can't help but believe this man has some answers to the current economic problems we face on a local and a global level.
My thought for today is that propping up things is not the way to go. Some things do indeed need to collapse, however painful, as this will make way for the new and some "entrepreneurial innovation".
More power to the entrepreneurs I say. If we're going to spend a trillion, let's put it to some really good use!
Showing posts with label economic doldrums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economic doldrums. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Shipping Forecast
I frequently hear Radio 4's shipping forecast, but recently, I got to wondering whether our economic outlook would improve if we challenged the convention and started the news with the weather. Would it help balance out the repeated uni-directional nature of our current economic reportage? At least with the weather we also have highs.
Admittedly, there are pressure zones, but when lows appear, they also tend to move off in one direction and then lose their identity. New highs sometimes even follow behind. We may also have rough, or increasingly very rough times, but we also get high rain, then showers. Tears of joy come to mind. Oh for those in these times!
At least with the weather things are sometimes good; and whilst they're occasionally poor, in other places, it still might remain moderate. Things may also veer off in one direction and even become cyclonic for a time, with squally showers. But later, things are due to be good.
What do you think? At least there's a natural balance to it.
Admittedly, there are pressure zones, but when lows appear, they also tend to move off in one direction and then lose their identity. New highs sometimes even follow behind. We may also have rough, or increasingly very rough times, but we also get high rain, then showers. Tears of joy come to mind. Oh for those in these times!
At least with the weather things are sometimes good; and whilst they're occasionally poor, in other places, it still might remain moderate. Things may also veer off in one direction and even become cyclonic for a time, with squally showers. But later, things are due to be good.
What do you think? At least there's a natural balance to it.
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