I measure industrial productivity as output per dollar of profit. High profit means low productivity. High productivity means low profit. Every defender of profit is sure to say No, low industrial productivity is not a problem. The answer is obvious, because boosting industrial productivity means making less profit.
There is a lot of that these days, a lot of evaluating the expected result and basing one's view on the outcome. This is exactly the opposite of the thinking we need. We need first to understand problems in terms of their causes, not in terms of the result of some potential solution. The time for thinking about solutions is only after we grasp the causes.
Wrong-headed
thinking arises as the economy decays, as things more and more turn out worse than
expected. The bad economy changes our approach to problem-solving. We come to position ourselves for the greatest advantage out
of economic necessity, even if other people are hurt by it. More and
more we think micro ("what's best for me") instead of macro ("what's
best for us"). It puts neighbors at odds. It is the source of polarization.
1 comment:
The post makes two points. The major one is that economic decline is the cause of the decline of reason.
The minor point is that because of the decline of reason, we are unlikely to be successful in our efforts to reverse the economic decline.
The major point identifies the cause of a problem. The minor point identifies a result of the problem.
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