Consumers & Investors vs Workers & Citizens
The Financial Times has been publishing an outstanding series of articles based on the theme "Capitalism in Crisis". One of the trends I´m starting to understand a little more clearly is that the financial services industry and the crazy salaries earned by the top people within it are just a small part of the puzzle.
A much bigger part is the role played by investors, consumers, workers and citizens. Many of us fit into all four of these roles - i.e. we invest in stocks, consume ipods, work in a bank and receive basic health, education and security from our government.
With technology and globalization, almost anything you can dream of can be identified, purchased and sold at the click of a button. A single person in a home office can probably accomplish more today than an office manager with 10 roaming assistants could have 15 years ago. Think about that for a moment.
This power is presenting opportunities our parents could not even have imagined. There is a flip side to this however.
If we continue to break down traditional barriers and reward companies who provide the best products at the lowest prices, then inequality and job insecurity will rise for those who can´t meet these expectations.
I think everybody has to try and adapt to this new reality. Experts and laymen alike now realize that rising living standards during the boom were mostly a mirage as they were based on cheap credit and by living beyond our means.
In my view, the next 5-10 years will provide a huge amount of genuine opportunities to increase living standards and our personal wealth for real.
We can accomplish this by teaching ourselves and our families how to get into the right mindset, by leveraging the myriad of tools available to us and by taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.
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