I recently attended an Accenture Technology Workshop Conference in Chicago. One of the best topics we discussed at the conference was the "shift" that is occurring in our society/economy today. This shift, as coined in the video below, isn't something new. Rather, the conference speakers believed, it is occurring at a faster pace than previously thought.
The original and subsequent video are posted below. If you're short on time, just watch the original video because it is shorter.
Back to the topic of shift.
I realized from the video that while this tremendous shift is occurring, most individuals are simply not ready. Just last night on 60 minutes, Steve Kroft asked both Senator Clinton and Obama if they had plans of enacting protectionist policies if elected as President to help relieve the economic pains Ohio is feeling due to the off-shoring of manufacturing jobs.
There is a fundamental problem with the acceptance of the question Kroft proposes. It goes beyond the fact that protectionist policies are not going to solve the problem of the shifting economy. Shutting our doors to global competition is probably the worst solution in "protecting" jobs and uplift the economy. One fantastic example of an extreme protectionist policy and its subsequent effects is detailed in "History of Humanity" by Sigfried J. de Laet. His writing on the Qing dynasty shows how protectionist or isolationist policies "limited China's dealings with other countries, so that China remained ignorant of the development of the world outside."
While such facts show the error in Kroft's proposed solution, the fundamental problem is his interest in such questions. Rather than seeking real answers on how our government can help us manage in a shifting economy, Kroft proposed to bait the two politicians with the humanizing, easy answer. Protectionist policies are always easier to do. It easier to close the door on a problem or blame China, India, your neighbor on the pains at hand. But the blame game doesn't solve the root problem which is that shift is occurring. How individuals outside manufacture, outside Ohio deal with the shift economy is the real answers that we need. Such answers are much more difficult and require more transformational changes than slapping on a tariff or reducing subsidies to business that outsource.
If we look at the deeper question that shift has presenting to our generation, then perhaps we can think of the right solution.
