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"Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning"--Warren G. Bennis(1)

"The trend will continue until it ends" --James Dines, stock market analyst(2)

The above quotes reflect our deep understanding that people are the most important resource rather than money, and that we cannot rely on our social growth by focusing our attention to the conventional financial markets. We need a new economic language in order to work together towards the social goal to have more meaningful lives and feel happier.

This week, I received the special investigation into the condition of Canada's economy "State of the Nation(3)" and I became very disenchanted about the sincerity of our conventional economists and business gurus. All at once the federal government has admitted the increasing productivity gap between the US and Canada, and now the same economists and business leaders who supported the downsizing of our economy for the purpose to reduce the deficit and fight inflation are telling us that they have the answers to bridge this economic gap with the US within the next fifteen years.

The only message I get in reading this special investigation is that we can't trust our conventional economists, our business leaders, and our politicians. We have a federal government which has been doling out one billion dollars to its friends, and at the same time we have business gurus preaching the dogma that we have to reduce taxes to increase productivity.

I say no, we don't need to reduce taxes to increase productivity, we need governments who cares about their citizens. What is important is not the reduction of taxes per se, but making sure that social spending provides an active contribution to our overall well being. Therefore, rather than speaking about taxes and growth of gross domestic product (GDP), let us speak of active social spending and of a better social well being.

References/endnotes

Relevant political and economics articles http://ensign.ftlcomm.com

1. Thought Leaders Forum: Warren Bennis, http://www.pfdf.org/leaderbooks/bennis/

2. Business Dynamics, by John D. Sterman, 2000, Forecasts and Fudge Factors, page 631 http://www.mhhe.com/sterman

3. State of the Nation "The National Post's unrivaled team of writers cast a searching light on the widening gap between the U.S. and Canadian economies. After years of telling Canadians there was nothing to worry about, the federal government has finally recognized it has a major problem" http://quarterlyreport.nationalpost.com/