True Development

Building a society is not as simple as providing well paying long-term jobs, modern basic infrastructure or support services. Developing a society involves, raising the level of poverty. Housing the homeless, training the unskilled, treating the addicts, is only part of the journey. Giving hope, where none exist, is a tried and tested motivator used by criminal enterprises to recruit and keep members. Social scientists, having studied the criminal enterprises, have recommended such a give-hope program. This technique involves make-work, training, treatment and reward programs, without all components, especially the reward portion it simply does not work as intended. Relocating from a high crime area to a newly designed community with jobs, training and treatment, in which five year old workers are rewarded with their own rental apartment and after resident for ten years, a house, designed with the possible effects of earthquakes, hurricanes, climate change and on indigenous people in mind. These new residents will help reduce crime both in their old and new communities.

A Clear Disconnect

Professional qualifications, business and political success can cause even the most, well intension individuals to disconnect from the majority in society. This happens slowly and quietly as one’s world condenses into caste. One’s standard of living can make one the envy and hence target of others. One’s skills and abilities can present one as being financially secure attracting both the salesperson and the criminal. One’s success may earn one the status of role model, always speak very sensitively.

Why Invest

The world economic system is driven by growth or declines in productive activities or sectors. Hence, what is commonly referred to as savings is the basis of this economic system and is externally invested to generate earnings to fund periods of reduce revenues or individual retirements and other social programs. While current income is used to develop, purchase and maintain skills, most economies borrow externally, by issuing country bonds, to fund infrastructure improvements. So, whether an individual or a Government, one invests to diversify into growing income streams and to soften declining revenues, but the actual investment decisions must be driven by improving living standards.

Morals Compassion

The future of any society rest with its children and it is the society’s ability to firstly educate them and make of them productive, taxpaying contributors with a keen sense of right from wrong and clear understanding as to how a society should and or to functions. The balance between the rights of an individual and the greater good to society, has to and should, be decided on a case-by-case basis, with new lines being drawn as the society expands and develops. This is done through the amendment of society’s laws anchored on its constitution or rulebook.

Disruption Cost

Many of us recognize the need for preventative plans and actions both in life and in business as the greatest issue restricting success, limiting the fallout from crime and accidents, dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters, and of course, removing that most crucial self doubt. The resulting prevention and reaction plans must be valued and compared to assess its cost to benefit and win stakeholders’ acceptance. The insurance sector and safety regulators have combined to present the most secure environment, but it is generally left to the individual to comprehensively follow the rules and response plans.

Public Transparency

This is another call for nations and states to establish and empower an independent office of Budgets and Audits, following the call for an independently elected public prosecutor. This body must be established under the constitution to remove, as much as possible, politics from the financial cost of both recurrent and capital expenditure. Many international agencies have issued such calls as a precursor and prerequisite to giving aid or approving loans. Some Governments have commonly sidestepped the issue by pointing to an Auditor General type of office, which falls under and is funded by the executive and therefore cannot be judged to be independent. Such an office continuously withholds reports for numerous years under claims of lack of qualified personnel and adequate funding.

Credit for an Idea

Financial Institutions, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the current lack of consumer confidence due to uncertainty both on the job front and as to the direction of interest rates, are finding it difficult to lend. So where would an entrepreneur, a community business or a manufacturer access credit to win market share and expand to create more jobs, certainly not traditional commercial banks. A deposit taking, consumer lending bank is not in the risk taking business. Net Worth, for loan security or guarantees, and reducing the provision for bad debts on their balance sheet is more important than analyzing any business ideas.

Private Equity

Bankers worldwide, faced with a growing public and political support for the inevitable separation of their conservative retail banking business from some of their higher risk merchant and investment operations, since the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the subsequent bank losses and failures, are testing business models that would maintain their profitability as well as meet the newly proposed legal or regulatory rules. One such proven model is Private Equity business.

A high risk, high return model which can and for all intents and purposes is needed to, within the new rules, invest in large scale development projects and ongoing business operations, that can independently raise debt financing from the surviving retail banks. With these new retail banks not being allowed to own a majority stake in any type of business, Private Equity allows the new bank to, with their own reserves, partner with high net worth individuals or other corporations, who would have been past customers of their merchant and investment banking operations, to equally invest as initial contributors. Hence, the new bank maintains its high return portion of its portfolio that is so important toward pleasing shareholders and competing for large deposits.

Personal Planning

Every parent must teach their children to take care of themselves; stay healthy by eating nutritious meals on time, be security conscious, be productive, copy and guardedly protect their important documents and prioritize tasks needed to accomplish preset goals. Setting goals and listing the necessary tasks will drive decisions and avoid emergencies (unscheduled responsibilities). It is therefore these decisions (description of each task, activity and reference to other related tasks) that must be structured by category, by date and time and financial amount, in order of importance.

Financial Products

Everyone has criticized financial institutions for be too conservative or taking on to much risk. What one needs to understand is that a particular financial institution through their range of products is deliberately designed to be conservative or progressive high risk takers. Any financial crisis is therefore based first and foremost on miscommunication more than any clever misuse of funds and this is clearly a failure of regulators to protect the sector.