Rebalancing the economy

[FairDooz]

If you had 3 wishes to rebalance the economy, what would they be?

 

What would you do to fix the faults with the current "system"?

 

Here's a list of issues to consider, but I know it won't cover everything:

 

Uncontrolled Executive Pay and Bonuses

Corporate Tax Avoidance

State spending and National Debt

Vested interests influencing political parties

Inequality of opportunities

Imbalance between the financial sector and manufacturing

Red tape and regulations hindering entrepreneurs

Too few regulations allowing corporates to avoid responsibilities to society

Short termism in business and politics

 

It may not seem much, but here's what my first wish would be:

 

That we all learned to distinguish between entrepreneurs, investors and speculators.

 

Why?

 

Well, they may all be "Capitalists" but we need to distinguish between those making a long term investment in the companies which pay their taxes and provide jobs, and the speculators who make money from the movement of share prices and provide no social function. I would make sure that short term speculators paid more tax and long term investors paid less. I would treat Capital Gains as income and tax them at the same rate as earned income from employment.

 

My second wish would be to refocus on manufacturing and engineering so that we can be at the forefront of research, technology and innovation. It would bring jobs to "the regions" and help to bridge the country's economic divide and balance of payments deficit.

 

My third wish would be for a new political system. Party Politics is broken. Politicians need to deliver short term results which may not be in the long term interests of the country. I believe there is "Wisdom of The Crowds". I wish we could vote for ideas and elect spokespeople for those ideas rather than having one vote for a single person every 4 or 5 years who comes with a raft of divisive party political policies.