Robert Wade in Christchurch

7 comments on “Robert Wade in Christchurch ”

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1. Shane Gallagher 1

   12 July 2013 at 9:26 am

   Well worth going to. Excellent speaker. Saw him last night and he has a very interesting thing to say about progressive economic policies and why he thinks the left is getting things wrong.
   • Colonial Viper 1.1

     12 July 2013 at 9:48 am

     Nice that someone from the very conservative orthodox institution which is the LSE is speaking on these topics. Is there a political party out there willing and able to move against the large corporates, banks and financial institutions (including central banks) which are driving societal inequality?

     So far the answer is “no.”
   • Mary 1.2

     12 July 2013 at 11:34 am

     What’s the nub of what he’s saying?
     • Veutoviper 1.2.1

       12 July 2013 at 11:42 am

       Have a listen to Wade’s interview with Kim Hill two weeks ago – a compelling interview well worth the 40 odd minutes.

       http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2560376/robert-wade-inequality.asx
2. red rattler 2

   12 July 2013 at 12:34 pm

   Yeah but its all delusional bullshit.
   Capitalism has long passed the possibility of even pretending to equalise incomes.
   Its premised on a fundamental inequality where one class lives off another.
   Its very survival requires it to increase those inequalities.
   It’s not an option, its a heart massage.
   Ask the multimillions that took to the streets in Egypt, or Brazil, or Turkey or a country near you soon.
   Wade is an academic, his rationale is to believe that intellectuals and experts can administer the right medicine for a dying capitalism.
   And that is not even to factor in the fact that a dying capitalism is killing us all as well as the planet in the process.
   The Fabian dream was conceived at the birth of capitalism imperialism when to survive even then capitalism had to rob the non-European world of its resources.
   Today its a nightmare and the sooner the sleepy kiwis wake up the sooner they can get on with saving their lives and those of a children and grandchildren.
3. Venezia 3

   14 July 2013 at 2:14 pm

   A very thought provoking lecture by Prof Wade. Main points included that we (all western countries) are transiting from democratic market capitalism towards “Oligarchic Impunity Capitalism” with consequent high and rising economic, social, health and political costs. The top 1% of income earners (who fund political parties) are increasingly shaping public policy in their interests. Democracy is suffering in the process. He looked at the “money-empathy gap” shown to correlate with a wealth mindset. Wade gave lots of evidence of this state of affairs. He also highlighted ways in which the debate about social inequality is framed, which helps a lot of people to support the status quo. Progressive people need to push for initiatives to make capitalism work for everyone. This is our most pressing problem. He argues for Predistribution (how to make market income more fair) rather than redistribution (tax policy and public spending policy). Currently many laws, regulations, & policies have the effect of “sluicing income upwards towards the top”. Quantitative easing has been shown to strongly advance the interests of the wealthy. These were only a few of the points covered. The slides will be on the Fabian society website soon.
   http://www.fabians.org.nz
   • Colonial Viper 3.1

     14 July 2013 at 2:55 pm

     I’m afraid capitalism is not fit for purpose going forwards, and it is interesting that despite making many good points, Wade continues to see it as the answer.

     Not only is capitalism an economic model unsuitable (actually, outright destructive) for an age of depleting resources, Hyman Minsky figured out half a century ago that it would never stay stable. A period of stability would always encourage capitalists to start demanding higher returns at ever increasing leverage and risk. Regulations and laws used to keep capitalism stable and relatively fair would be gradually undone as rent seeking from labour and financialisation increased.

     The following is also a good critique of some aspects of capitalism.

     http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-12/guest-post-what-marx-got-right

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