MBR_Issue_27 -January 2017 low res

Malta Business Review
ANALYSIS & DEBATE
ANALYSIS & DEBATE
Malta Business Review
VIEW FROM THE MOUNTAINS
FASTEN SEATBELTS...
…. AND MAKE SURE IT’S REALLY TIGHT.
By Werner E. Jung
We are all in for a rough ride –
you are going to experience
a new kind of roller-coaster
– one which might not be very joyful
and where we do not know whether the
breaking system at the end will work.
2016 has seen the transformation of
our lives into a post-factual existence.
“I spare myself the idle question of how
we will be in the future, and use the
future instead as a perspective of the
contemplation of today, then I will not
ask who we are, but who we have been”,
Roger Willemsen wrote in his manuscript
in 2015 before his early demise in 2016.
It seems that he foresaw the trend
that man is not driving innovation and
technology any more, but instead man
is being driven by technology and his
own innovations. Or as T.S. Eliot wrote:
“Where is the Life we have lost in living?
- Where is the wisdom we have lost in
knowledge? - Where is the knowledge
we have lost in information?”
Whilst the world is anxiously awaiting
what Mr. Trump, holding the most
powerful office of the world, is going
to tweet next – we are all sitting still,
shivering like the rabbit in front of the
rattlesnake. The irony is that Mr. Trump
and his slogan of “Make America great
again” in itself is post-factual. The
“Good Old Days” are not coming back
– manufacturing jobs, when cars were
predominantly assembled by real people
on an assembly line, are a thing of the
past. Real people today program the
robots which do the assembly. What will
happen when the people who voted for
him, most of them not beeing the ones
doing the programming, will realise this?
We are seeing on a daily basis that the
majority of corporate managers, our
so called “business leaders”, typically
are whining wimps when it comes to
making tough but sustainable long-term
decisions. What they care about, are
short-term profits, stock prices and their
own bonuses, which in turn are tied to
short-term profits and stock prices…..
All Mr. Trump has to do is to send out
a tweet and the CEOs of Carrier, Ford,
GM etc. cave in, postponing the future
of their industry – but making sure
that their bonuses will still be intact for
another year….
The “Good Old Days” are not
coming back – manufacturing
jobs, when cars were
predominantly assembled by
real people on an assembly
line are a thing of the past
We have all grown used to false promises
by our elected representatives, and in
the words “Grown Used To”, lies the real
danger for all of us; and it is our own
damn fault. We have to ask ourselves:
Was the election of Trump, Brexit and
the “right wing” developments we are
experiencing in Europe, just unfortunate
“We were those who knew,
but did not understand,
full of information,
but without perception,
rich on knowledge,
poor on understanding.
So we went,
not stopped by ourselves.”
Roger Willemson
or a “hiccup of history” which will correct
itself. Adam Smith, the forefather of
modern macrocroeconomics, believed
that an “Invisible Hand” will eventually
correct market asymmetries and
imbalances and, strangely enough, there
still are economists around who actually
believe this. The effects of globalisation
have shown us to great extent, that the
“Invisible Hand” is exactly what it says
– Invisible! So do not wait for anything
to correct itself – it ain’t gonna happen!
The taxpayers are the ones who pay
for market imbalances. Barrak Obama,
in his final address to the nation, said:
“The biggest treat to democracy is
complacency”! All we have to do is look
around us to see the effects. In the US
we have are experiencing the mutation
of democracy to “moneycracy” – “one
person, one vote” hast been transformed
to “one dollar, one vote”. And when
we see that in Brussels we have more
than thee lobbyists for every elected
representative, we have to realise that
Europe is not far away.
The extent of our complacency is
exemplified by the reactions to the
terrorist attack in Berlin: whereas
there was a great show of solidarity of
politicians, social groups and media
when the attacks happened in Paris
and Brussels, there was almost nothing
to be seen in and about Berlin. “It
was inevitable – just a matter of time,
when it was going to happen” was the
common attitude one seemed to come
across. How sick can our society get?
The big difference between the EU and
the USA is that America probably can
be fixed. When the going gets tough,
America comes first for Americans – this
is why the right to bear arms is written
into the constitution and why this right
is also being defended by many people
who have no intention of ever buying
a gun. How many people in Europe are
going to stand up for “Europe First” –
certainly not many in my part of the
woods. Where is our solidarity with
Our Europe? A recent survey among
the EU population revealed that
for only 12% of all people put
Europe first.
Malta, normally too small to
notice, in contrast to many
financial institutions, which are too
big to fail, has an opportunity to set a
mark during the next six months of her
presidency of the European Union. Will
she / can she, live up to this challenge
and opportunity? The only alternative
may well be the “Reset” button for
Europe…..
Maybe taking charge of the steering
wheel is a better idea than to fasten
seatbelts…… MBR
EDITOR’S
Note
Werner E. Jung, lecturer
and writer, looks back at
an eventful international
management and consulting career. He lived
and worked in many countries around the
world. As consultant and lecturer he took
a special interest in SMEs and developing
markets. After the financial crisis in 2008,
he discontinued his “old style” teachings and
has taken to research into socio-economic
developments. The focus is on the rising
inequalities and the resulting disruptions.
Mr. Jung holds a degree in Industrial
Engineering and Business Management from
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He now lives in the foothills of the Bavarian
mountains. wej@think-different.org
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