Productivity or equity?

A number of pundits in the press and business are busily chastising our campaigning politicians for focusing more on spending than on productivity. Mention is frequently made of countries such as China and India increasingly producing goods and services in competition with us.

Actually, the politicians are closest to the mark. Spending wealth is the modern challenge, not producing it. Our country, indeed our species, has the ability to produce enough wealth to provide every member of society with a decent standard of living. What we lack is the will to share that wealth equitably, a deficiency we are unlikely to overcome as long as we cleave to the soul-numbing mantra, "we must compete in the global marketplace." If we adopted a more inspiring motto, such as "we must co-operate in the global society," rather than look upon China, India, et al. as menacing competitors, we could delight in their progress as they raise millions of people from poverty. We could look forward to co-operating with them in the production of even more wealth and, much, much more importantly, the equitable distribution of it. This would, needless to say, include ensuring their workers have the same rights to bargain for working conditions as ours do.

The wealth problem in our high tech world is one of distribution, not production.