My economics degree is making only a small contribution in equipping me to digest the deluge of information now pouring out about where the world and Australian economy are headed in 2009 and beyond. It’s like using an umbrella in a blizzard.
There is a range of different takes on the global meltdown. The social, economic and governance outcomes always feature, but now psychology is alleged to be playing a part. Regardless, reality says the proverbial economic flywheel has, at best, slowed considerably and, at worst, ground to a halt and is looking for reverse gear.
In the good times, the literature is filled with stories of ambition and success with uplifting anecdotes that can leave you feeling like an under-achiever.
Reports now focus on how bad things are and why they’re going to get worse. The anecdotes look at the battlers, losers and the culprits and you feel overwhelmed and powerless. We’re in a bad space from which there seems to be no escape.
Well, I don’t believe we have checked into the likes of Hotel California. The iconic Eagles song of the same name was a take on the hedonism and excess in America in the late 1970s. It describes an inviting and luxurious hotel, but once you check in, there is a twist. The patron’s struggle to find “the passage back to the place I was before” culminates with the despair of "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave". It’s an entrapment from which the ‘guest’ is not able to escape.
Certainly the Hotel California parallels are there – the excess of the sub-prime circus; the gluttony in share markets that paralleled; the eventual crisis and a sense of hopelessness that pervaded for both the players and spectators all caught up in the mess.
But a path back is being pioneered. Rescue packages, big doses of capital injection, government expenditure and retention of employment now have the spotlight in the political landscape. Policy structured to manage inflation and interest rates have taken back seats as governments strive to shore up the economy and arguably their political survival.
And yes, psychology is part of the escape plan and it’s a real battle. In early 2008, Governments were shouting at us to reduce spending and debt and save, save, save. We were on a precipice as our household debt ballooned.
Alas, this advice was neither attractive nor conducive to the population accumulating the spoils of our modern lifestyle. Consumption was good. Money was no use in a bank account.
Twelve months later governments are crowing it’s now time to spend, spend and spend some more. But alarmingly, we are using our money boxes and are saving again. We’re told household savings rates have now hit levels last seen in Australia in the late 1990s and still climbing. Our behaviour is at odds with where the Government would like us to be – living in shopping centres and consuming our way out of trouble.
So how do we get alignment in the psychology, practice and outcomes? How can we make sure we all check out of the Hotel California?
In the late 1950s, they banned subliminal messaging in the media and advertising. It was potentially too powerful and manipulative to leave unchecked and unregulated. At its most trivial, the unscrupulous could have us all eating bananas when ordinarily we may have chosen apples.
Despite the ban, courses today that help you build your self-esteem, lose weight, improve relationships and even your sex life are said to incorporate subliminal messaging techniques.
So is this the answer as the Government seeks to shift our gaze away from a hemorrhaging financial system, a share market akin to a roulette table and the wallowing property sector?
Apparently there is no body of solid empirical evidence to verify the claims about subliminal messaging. Yet arguably it’s similar behaviour that got us here in the first place. The lemming-like behaviour that became a practice to look past the facts to discern a dud as a good investment opportunity that was sub-prime. What proof do we need?
Well, assuming my subliminal message has worked, you should all feel like having a Coke Zero about now. So get with the message, get with the program and make the best of the spending spree.
Note: this column was not sponsored by Coke Zero.
Bob Hawes is development partner at Buildev.
Bob Hawes |
Monday, 16 February 2009 2:27 PM |
