Both. The globalized economy that has gone flat is in some ways a function of information technology which enables and allowed for the grotesque growth of "dodgy" financial activities, the creation of the bubble.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 10:50 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Ottawadissenters] RE: [Futurework] 65 and Up and Looking for Work Interesting, Arthur, but what I wonder about is whether we are still in some kind of information age economy or whether we are in a globablized economy that has gone flat. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Arthur Cordell <mailto:[email protected]> To: 'Keith <mailto:[email protected]> Hudson' ; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, <mailto:[email protected]> EDUCATION' Cc: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 12:20 PM Subject: [Ottawadissenters] RE: [Futurework] 65 and Up and Looking for Work I ran across some material created years ago which I think still has relevance to the topic. I cleaned it up a bit and posted it to a current discussion on the future of work. -------------------------------------------------- Future <http://www.worldacademy.org/forum/q1-full-employment-realistic-and-achievab le-goal#comment-336> of Work and working: considerations for the New Economy While cleaning up some old emails, I ran across this draft document which was prepared for an international meeting. ------------------------ Mr. Chairman. We are in the midst of a fundamental social and economic transformation whose extent and implications we only partially grasp. In jurisdictions around the world, and in both the public and private sectors, the emergence of a global information society is accelerating the pace of change and overwhelming established methods of organizing and governing that were developed for a world of more limited information flow, greater stability and clearer boundaries. All institutions, public and private, are having to come to terms with what has been called the New Economy. It is an economy where the basic building block is information technology. This technology is labour saving, energy saving, and capital saving. It is also distance insensitive. Information technology is the key ingredient underpinning the trend to globalization. Over two hundred years ago Adam Smith wrote his famous book about the Wealth of Nations. He concluded that wealth was based on the division of labour and the extent of the market. Today we can add something else to society's ability to produce: knowledge, information and communications. The new wealth of nations is to be found in the trillions of digital bits of information pulsing through global networks. These are physical/electronic manifestation of the many transactions, conversations, voice and video messages and programs that, taken together record the process of production, distribution and consumption in the New Economy. It is this new process that is so upsetting our traditional views of the economy. The rate and pace of change brought by the information economy is one which demands new strategies for managing and coping. Governments, corporations, trade unions, consumers--all of us have to adjust to the whirlwind of change. To cope with the rapid change we have seen large corporations and governments alike change their basic way of doing things. Shedding labour, adopting smart production and distribution techniques the new watchword seems to be to develop learning organizations. Governments urge those who are just entering the labour force to prepare for a career of change, a career that must include life-long learning, life-long training. It is in this context that I would urge this group to consider doing some of the things we have asked our citizens to do. We seem to be expecting things to settle down, to view the jobs crisis as a deviation from the norm. That given enough growth, productivity and clever management of the economy, we will enjoy a move back to full employment. And maybe we will. Maybe we won't. I don't know about others around this table but I carry insurance on my car and house and other possessions hoping that the worst doesn't happen: that I don't have a car accident, that my house doesn't burn down. But if the worst happens, I am protected. I have a contingency plan. I have insurance. It is my belief that we need to go beyond some of the conventional approaches to the economy. If the New Economy is going to be so radical, so dramatically different, carrying with it so much upheaval then it is appropriate to ask ourselves whether the world of work is likely to be affected as well. Whether the quantity and quality of available work in our countries is likely to change. So I suggest today that we take out an insurance policy on our collective futures. That we begin to prepare a menu of responses to the New Economy. A number of responses to a range of possible scenarios. A number of 'what if...' situations. For example: What if we experience economic growth but the jobs don't increase? What has been called 'jobless growth.' Or there is growth, but the quality of the jobs is less than we have enjoyed in the past. Or we see the continuance of today's trend: growth in jobs at both the high and low ends with little in the middle. Using the jargon, we see the creation of a bi-modal work force with little prospect for upward mobility. The changes that so threaten society when looked at in the old way, may lessen as we come to understand the nature of production, distribution, employment, income distribution and consumption in the New Economy. The key thing to adopt a learning stance. We should begin to study, research and hold conversations on at least the following issues: * The forces of change. How the New Economy differs from the old and what this is likely to mean for the quantity and quality of work. * Future scenarios. What if there is a 'disconnect' between growth and jobs? What if the future doesn't resemble the past? * The implications of globalization on jobs in the developed world. Is the downward pressure on wages and benefits inevitable or is there a way to obtain upward harmonization, so that other countries around the world can bring to their citizens some of the fruits of development long enjoyed by developed countries. * Some feel that the issue is not jobs but rather the issue is income. You know in the 'old days' a job was a means to an end because that is how people got income. In the past few decades job creation has become an end in itself because this is how income can be distributed. While there are many important social and psychological benefits in having a job--job creation can be a very costly way to distribute income. * If the issue is really income then perhaps we should re-visit some areas: the notion of basic economic security, or the negative income tax. What about the guaranteed annual income? Perhaps the New Economy will be less about traditional work but more about community work. About getting that work done that is so needed by families and communities, but work that is not rewarded by conventional jobs for a variety of reasons. * Where is the money to come from to cover off the income needs of citizens? Well we have heard a variety of suggestions regarding new fiscal measures. Measures more in harmony with the New Economy. Measures that address the new productivity of information technologies. Whether it is the Tobin Tax on global financial transactions---which are now running at a trillion dollars a day. Or whether it is the 'bit tax', a turnover tax on the information highway, the transition to a new economy should bring with it consideration of new fiscal measures. Over 10 years ago (January 1996) a report to the European Commission from the High Level Group of Experts recommends that the 'bit tax' be considered for further study. This new source of revenue, tied directly to the New Economy, would allow more citizens to benefit from the new technologies. It might be time to consider a sort-of gasoline tax for the information highway. * We should learn as well why the decades long decline in the hours worked per week has tapered off. Years ago we used to hear about the leisure society, about the 25 hour work week. What happened? We all know that a shorter work week would re-distribute the available work. What forces brought this trend to a halt. It should be noted that not only has this trend halted but we now see two and three income households running faster and faster to keep up. * Another topic is the role of trade unions. They have played a valuable role in building society, in getting us to where we are today. Will that continue in the future? What is the role of the trade unions in the New Economy? Dear Fellows, I have gone on for some time. The specific proposals advanced don't have to be adopted word for word. What is important is that we undertake to become a learning group. That we try to learn about the New Economy and that we be prepared to change long-standing views. That the changes taking place in the global economy may in fact turn out to be a very big opportunity for all if we can only see events in a different way. At a European Community meeting some years ago the then US Ambassador to US Mission said the issues surrounding the quality and quantity of available jobs in the New Economy will not be solved by a conference here or a workshop there. He noted that we are facing a major change in our economies. The change will not be easy or smooth. And that just as the cold war took many years to resolve peacefully, so too will the transition to the New Economy take years of discussion, dialogue and new methods of conflict resolution. It is in this spirit that I urge us to try to see the future of work and working in new ways. My hope is that the work of the WAAS becomes part of a broader collegial process which will help us to learn new ways of behaving, managing and governing that are more appropriate to the new situation. > __._,_.___ Image removed by sender. 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