It’s not the Economy, stupid – it’s people!

Homelessness in any society is a measure of its Moral Compass and Social Conscience. In Australia, where I live, the latest figures provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2011, record that there were 105 237 homeless people (49 out of every 10 000 people in the country). In the Northern Territory this reaches the staggering figure of 700 in every 10 000! This astonishing number reflects the very poor status of the Original People of Australia - the Aboriginal. We should hang our heads in shame.

In the USA – the wealthiest country in the world – on any night in January 2013 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported there were 610 042 homeless people (19 out of every 10 000 people in the country). According to the Walking Shield website that caters for Native Americans there were 90 000 Native American families that were homeless - using the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 2003 figures. This is now 2014 and, with respect, I suggest that there will not have been much improvement since 2003.

These figures – statistics – are an appalling indictment of the way current economic theory and capitalism are disconnected from “real” life.

Everyone is worried about the “economy” but they forget or ignore the fact that the “economy” would not exist without people. People ARE the economy. Look after people – pay them a liveable wage – and the economy will prosper. The low paid will have more money to spend after the essentials have been catered for. This is both the ethical and the morally correct thing to do.

The “multiplier effect” is, I understand, something like 1.5 – for every $1 in increased basic wage (for the low paid) there is a $1.50 benefit for the “economy”; increased spending power, increased taxes for governments, reduced requirement for social security benefits and generally better health and well-being for the recipients. This is the “churn” effect that money has - what goes around comes around and then some!

I remind my one loyal reader that over one hundred years ago Henry Ford said that every worker should be paid enough to buy what he makes!

It is not the “economy”, stupid – it is people!!