Inspiring Joe

A recent comment from a regular reader of this column said that the standard of these articles were declining, one would think such a remark brought negativity but quite the opposite, I am pleased to have affected at least one reader. Meeting and listening to people generally as I travel has had a devastating effect on my views as to the future of society, so it is great to hear that my single efforts to educate and inform, to offer an opinion and to provoke thought has been met with some success.

Money or Ideas

Which comes first, Money or Ideas? This common question has always justified hopelessness – a poor person is someone without education therefore with limited access to income (jobs and opportunities) and is trapped in a cycle of poverty.

Here is some money – buy your way out of poverty. This approach has be tried and tested numerous times by well meaning institutions seeking goodwill and publicity, and claiming to be helping, with highly educated and experienced people talking down to and disrespecting the very people they are supposed to be helping up. Micro loans have been seen as a success but this system is widely misunderstood. Gifts and Loans do not help without the guiding support of education.

Stupid Voters

It is very clear that politicians would like to keep its electorate as uninformed as possible, actively employing strategies that bar serious policy discussions and informed decision making; engaging in gutter politics instead of voter education, vigorously blocking moves to monitor or limit campaign financing, dragging on debate on constitutional reform, all in a desperate attempt to hold on to power.

Marketing

An economist focusing on a particular company, not on a country or a sector, is practicing marketing. Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. And very much like the public misuses of the terms ‘Management’ and ‘Business’, ‘Marketing’ is generally misunderstood and mistakenly used for ‘Public Relations’, ‘Promotions’ and ‘Sales’. The practice of marketing focuses on information processing, strategic planning, communications and distribution.