August 2011, Newsletter, Kiwi Scrum

Hello Everyone,

Kiwi Scrum has 2508 members. That's an increase of 66 for the month. I extend the group's thanks to members, who have invited people they know, to join this group.

A long and important newsletter this month. Three days to write and three pages printed. Stick with it; you won't be disappointed. Please share these ideas with others

The August LinkedIn hint:

Your LinkedIn Profile is your online professional identity; it helps you connect with others and be found for career opportunities. LinkedIn now offers a new “Improve Your Profile” Tool, with the goal of helping you maintain a great LinkedIn profile. It's an easy way to optimize your LinkedIn presence. I've tried it and it works well.

I've also found in the process of building a profile on Google+, many opportunities to build my LinkedIn connections. I'm especially pleased to invite many new young people, students and recent graduates to LinkedIn, and to Kiwi Scrum.

The Useful Common:

The Markets of Course: Plus the riots in England. What can we learn from that?

The world is in a mess, and it's getting worse not better. Our politicians and "experts" of all shades make recommendations that are designed to appease the moment and have no possibility of solving the problem. I can tell you what I think the problem is, but that does no good. You have to find that understanding in your own way. Then you will believe it. I can't tell you how New Zealand, or the global community, will resolve the new problems we face. Some say it's too late and not possible. I choose not to believe the idea that we have already destroyed the Earth as a place for humans to live. (What we've already done has lag time of about 100 years.)

My business website is called Open Future. I believe that we can, and we must, find a way forward together, and take responsibility for that outcome, whatever it may be. Repeating the old formula, practised for the last 20 years, won't help.

In preparation for this newsletter I read 30+ pages of so-called expert comment on the economic situation. Nothing of value to report. Essentially there are two stories. One follows JM Keynes, and calls for government action to reinflate the economy and return the world to growth. The other follows FA Hayek and calls for lower taxes and investment by the private sector to return the world to growth. Both these economists are trying to solve a 20th Century problem. How do we build a prosperous and productive economy that provides full employment?

The world is stuck there. We're still debating the 1930's and the principles of Keynes and Hayek. If we are a knowledge society, why don't we use our new knowledge? Political parties around the world, and in New Zealand, still promote ideas that were popular 40 and 60 years ago. We can't deal with our new problems and the 21st Century in that way. Michael Woolcock has a eighty minute lecture called "The Big Stuck" here. Woolcock says that, " The way forward is the "endless journey" of talking and trying things and negotiating again."

Our New Knowledge

In the 1970's Nicholas Georgescu-Roegan, demonstrated that an economy didn't depend on money at all. All economic processes involve a transfer of energy. Whatever we do, we take some high quality energy and we dissipate it into the environment. There are real limits to economic practices, that are determined by the rules of physics, not the rules of the market place.

In 1972 Dennis Meadows and associates published Limits to Growth. This book was widely ridiculed at the time, but it's proven to be a remarkably good guide to what's happened in the last 40 years. Meadows understood nothing about climate change, but he did anticipate peak oil, and shortages of water.

In 1992, with Agenda 21, the nations of the world agreed to save the biodiversity of the world and to take active steps to protect the environment. But since then little has been done. In the USA, attacks on the principles of Agenda 21 (more American irrational madness), were widely supported.

In 1980 the Brandt Commission reported that there were serious problems the world needed to address. Four areas: Environment, justice, economics and social conflict.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has now produced four reports. The bad news is that the way we have developed our economies is destroying the planet's climate system. We MUST, reduce and where possible STOP our use of fossil fuels as quickly as possible. No effective action so far.

The Stockholm Resilience Centre has identified nine planetary boundaries that are likely to have tipping points that when crossed could have devastating consequences for the Earth. They believe that we have already crossed three of those.

We now have a problem called jobless growth. In modern economies, new businesses employ very few people. This is particualrly evident in high unemployment for young people.

Keynes and Hayek knew nothing about any of the new knowledge above. Keynes and Hayek produced an economic proposal for the 20th Century, and those ideas served us well. But like Keynes and Hayek, themselves, those ideas are now inappropriate (dead). Why are we still debating those principles? Here's James Gustave Speth's proposal for Eight Necessary Transitions, to solve our 21st Century problems.

Here's the brutal truth. No modern economy can employ all it's people. Gross Domestic Product, is a poor measure of economic performance and the pursuit of GDP, is the prime cause of climate change and environmental destruction. We cannot solve 21st Century problems with 20th Century economic principles. We don't need to be trapped in the past. That's a choice we make.

There are new economic principles available. Prof. Tim Jackson of England, wrote "Prosperity without Growth; Economics for a Finite Planet". There is some excellent work being done in Australia. Probably also here in New Zealand, but I don't know who to point to. We have, I hope, 20 years to get our house in order. It will take all of that time, and it won't be easy. Compared with the destruction of our civilisation, however, it will be a small sacrifice. We can do it. But first we have to stop our politicians from talking nonsense about economic growth. We can do that at this election. Stop taking their lies seriously. What they promise us cannot happen. Both Labour and National are fully committed to 1980's economic principles, essentially following Hayek. Following Hayek, is a better wrong solution than Keynes's alternative, for the present, but it's still the wrong solution. We were not born stupid. If we are captured by propaganda. That's a choice we make, it's not compulsory. You can free yourself. You can't do much to free other people. They have to do their own work.

Engage with other people and Groups:

The Internet is a hothouse for ideas that too many people make little use of. Your future is dependent on being part of the 21st Century Renaissance that is now happening. The Internet is full of groups discussing where we are and what we need to be doing. One of those groups is Four Years. Go. I'm very grateful for the contacts I've made within that group and for the knowledge and confidence they have given me.

It's also occurred to me in the last month, that the New Zealand forums on LinkedIn, Kea, Unlimited and Kiwi Scrum as good examples, host sensible and intelligent discussions. You can't find that in networks dominated by Americans. I put the difference down to political leadership, and to political systems.

The USA is trapped in a two party system, both parties pre-purchased by the business sector and pledged to maintain the status-quo. American politicians don't serve the public, they serve their sponsors. What pretends to be political debate in the USA is never about any really important issue, it always about some point scoring side show. That rubs off; the news media amplify the message, and finally this nonsense fills the minds of the public. Nobody talks any sense, because the information space is full of propaganda.

In the UK, under the present coalition the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, shut down and shut out relatively peaceful demonstrations, against budget cuts, several months ago. That follows the practice of the Labour Party, which also routinely ignored what the electorate was saying. (Recall the large demonstrations against the war in Iraq.)

Most New Zealanders were pleased to see the Arab Spring. We appreciated people in the streets demanding a real say in the future of their country. I can remember years ago, protest days in New Zealand, when normal government policy was to ignore the street. Given the complete deafness and blindness of the political system in the USA, I predicted riots there, two years ago. I still expect that to happen. I had not considered such an event likely in England, but they have a history of governments that are blinded by their own propaganda too. Leadership deafness like we see in Syria, is not limited to politicians in the Middle East.

New Zealand is blessed with the MMP voting system (which does have it's faults). We do have a Parliament that looks like us, that can be representative of us. I know that causes arguments, often very heated, but those arguments are mostly about real issues. Take the Mana Party, which I expect is not the flavour of the month, for readers here. Hone Harawira, clearly has support in his home electorate, and from today's news, perhaps he has support elsewhere too. If Mana represents many people, that voice deserves it's place as part of the government. Providing that representation, stops events in NZ, like the riots happening across England. MMP gives voice to the discontent in society, and provides a way to resolve problems. Someone like Hone Harawira, may annoy the hell out of you, but protecting his freedom to speak is important.

There a many things we can do to improve MMP, but that's a task for next year. This year we need to make it quite plain that we intend to keep our new two vote system, because we like the changes it's allowed us to make.

Volunteers

There is available in New Zealand a one day workshop to help you re-evaluate your own values and to make new plans for your life and your business. The workshop is called Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream. There are several trained workshop leaders in New Zealand, especially in Auckland and Wellington, but also elsewhere.

Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream, teaches that man is part of the web of life. We call the Earth our HOME, and we've discovered that the Earth is a place where everything is connected. All our specialist training denies that fact. None of us even today are educated about the connection between economics and climate change, or the link between voting systems and freedom of expression, for instance. We are trained to expect to the schooled and re-schooled, but we are not taught how to deschool ourselves. Awakening the Dreamer is the beginning of a deschooling process that we ALL need to undertake.

The workshop leaders are volunteers, but there are costs to set up and run this course. Those costs are minimised if companies choose to run the course in house for staff and invited guests. Contact me if you are interested.

The Value of Engagement

I've made some challenging statements above. You are responsible for what you choose to believe. Do you follow Keynes or Hayek? Or can you see that in the 21st Century neither those economists have much that's relevant to say. That is certainly my position, but it's taken me 20 years to get there.

If we are to live in a Knowledge Economy you have to be responsible for your own deschooling. Higher education is important, but they cannot teach you what you need to know today. Take on the responsibility of informing yourself. Nobody else can do that for you.

The Keynes v Hayek debate at the London School of Economics, 2011.

Dr Philip Lawn, an Australian Economist, gives a lecture, "Dr. There's a Growth in my Economy".

Explore the site of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Here is their Economics page.

Prof. Bronwyn Hayward of Canterbury University, has just returned from a three year study, "Voices of the Future", looking at youth in Europe. She has an interesting view about the riots in England. Radio NZ; Ogg Vorbis - MP3

Invitations

I've given you another challenging newsletter. Pass it on; and invite people to join the discussion here on Kiwi Scrum.

If you need an invitation to Google+, drop me a note and I'll send you one.

More interesting news next month,
John Stephen Veitch
The Network Ambassador