Educating the public, from a very young age, as to what is involved in a decent and acceptable standard of living, along with their collective and individual responsibilities to maintain, grow and develop their society. No one should be left behind; education must reach all, with meals and healthcare provided, and other social services to reach the most vulnerable. No one should be too far in front; taxing the richest ten percent of the population, will reduce immoral activities, and help finance social programs.A standard of living that is firstly, made possible by marketable production, not just productivity for the sake of reducing unemployment statistics, generating revenue from the sale of goods and services that are financially viable to produce and is clearly in demand. A standard of living that is secondly, evenly divided geographically, across all preferred economic sectors and, more importantly, seen to be fairly distributed amount all in the society, building a majority of middle class citizens.
Collective responsibility is all about respect. Equal respect for any and all career choices, which will eliminate dead end jobs and the ‘work for money’ attitude driven by basic human greed, can guide individuals to view low-paying jobs as a necessary, career path, training for future opportunities. Where a fast food employee presently earning minimum wage can, and is encouraged too, become a skilled chef, a branch manager, a health inspector or a garbage collector, without shame and with the full knowledge that this latter choice can lead to a wide ranging career in environmental management.
Individual responsibility begins after one receives, a love of learning, basic literacy skills with a wide exposure to both academics and technical education on a sound moral foundation, and can freely dedicate oneself to a career choice. This must entail a reexamination of the early and primary education curriculum periodically, to assess its effectiveness and refocus it on to goals and objectives that are driven by long-term development plans.
The minimum wage board has an opportunity to refocus the economy’s long-term plans, by attaching the nation’s minimum wage to a basket of basic goods and services that will create a fixed margin between food, medicine and transportation prices and the smallest pay packet. Setting a higher minimum wage for the agricultural sector or any other key industry must be linked to education and training programs, similar to as on-the-job-training, benefiting both the individual, with accreditation, and the targeted industry, with an adequately sized, skilled work force.
It is society’s leaders that must, commit to a well researched industrial investment policy over the long-term, building the nation’s reputation or brand in those sectors and as a direct result, creating sustainable development, opportunities and jobs. However, the recent past and present economic activities were and are clearly being driven by political cycles, which signal to any potential investor, to wait and see. Removing politics from Government led economic divestment activities, which will allow an industry that needs more the ten years to show socioeconomic returns, requires a fully capitalized statutory body.
Rationale
T.A.J & Associates Company Limited uses this occasion to comment on topics that have been covered, both academically and by the mainstream media, to add its opinion and point out investment opportunity, not to invoke any social action.
