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my clarity is a gust of wind, gone too soon (at home in the matrix)
my clarity is a gust of wind, gone too soon (at home in the matrix)
Gordon Brown on fairness, stewardship and cooperation & the global economic crisis
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http://www.theage.com.au/world/old-values-will-help-us-survive-a-new-global-age-20081018-53n0.html?page=-1

Old values will help us survive a new global age

·         Gordon Brown

·         October 19, 2008

We must act to uphold fairness, stewardship and co-operation in dealing with the credit crisis, writes British PM Gordon Brown.

LIKE most of you, I have come from a family that values hard work and that brought me up to take responsibility and appreciate the importance of enterprise. For generations my father's family worked the land as farmers and many Browns still do. So it's hardly surprising that I believe in markets, competition and rewarding creativity and effort.

I admire the market's ability to release the dynamism and enterprise of people and so my Labour Government is pro-business and pro-markets and always will be.

But I also know that we do not live by markets alone. I have long understood that markets rely on values that they cannot generate themselves. Values as important as treating people fairly, acting responsibly, co-operating for the benefit of all. And these values that our economy and society need in order to flourish are not born in markets, nor in states.

These values - fairness, stewardship, co-operation - are learned in families, neighbourhoods and communities and developed in the relationships we enjoy as a society.

The first financial crisis of the global age has now laid bare the weaknesses of unbridled free markets. In the past few weeks trust, the most precious asset of financial institutions, has been eroded.

Families whose only speculation is buying a lottery ticket or a premium bond or a few shares rightly feel they are being unfairly endangered by storms they had no hand in creating. And what's happening around the world is raising fundamental questions for the new global age about the right relationships between markets and governments.

In this unique period of global change we are in uncharted waters. But we do have a compass by which to navigate. And while action is being taken to rectify the financial weaknesses of our banks and institutions, we must now also act decisively to uphold and apply the fundamental values which can shape a stronger economy and fair society of the future. This is not something that can be guaranteed by more and more intrusive regulation - it is about upholding three key ethics in public policy and across the public arena.

Markets work best when underpinned by an ethic of fairness. The institutions of the marketplace need to be founded on the ethic of stewardship. And this new interdependent global economy cannot work for the world's people without an ethic of co-operation.

Firstly, the ethic of fairness means we reward hard work, thrift, enterprise, effort and responsible risk-taking, but refuse to condone or reward irresponsible or excessive risk-taking. We celebrate those who profit from creativity and hard work but not those who make reckless gambles with other people's money. That's why, for example, a new Financial Services Authority code of conduct will make long-term success the basis for bonuses in the future.

Fairness means that in these tougher and difficult times where there is a risk of hard-working families being hit by unemployment originating in global forces well beyond our shores, we have a duty to act with urgency. So we are extending our new deal for jobs. Where there is a threat to enterprising small businesses - the lifeblood of our national prosperity - we must be there to help with new support in accessing credit. Where people make the effort to save for a home, we must do what we can to assist by getting the housing market moving again.

Secondly, the ethic of stewardship must restore to all financial institutions their public purpose. Boards need to proceed on the basis the best companies do already: that when people start a new business or save for a wedding or Christmas they are investing not just their cash in the bank but also their hopes and dreams. Quite simply: banks are unique because they are stewards of the people's money. That's why we have acted not just to stabilise the banking system, but to ensure that financing is passed on to small businesses and families who want to get on with ordinary life in these extraordinary times: banks doing what banks were built to do and the best banks have always done.

We are also finding that in an interdependent global economy the ethic of co-operation matters more than ever. We are in this together. Risk has been globalised, but the responsibilities to act when problems arise have not been. In the 1940s, visionaries took on the challenges of the day and built international institutions that have lasted for 60 years. But they were designed for an era of sheltered markets and national competition. Now we must build global institutions for an era of global markets and global competition. I have set out my proposals for a new global early warning system, for cross-border supervision for action to eliminate the conflicts of interest that have dragged our world economy down, and for fundamental reform of international institutions.

The smallness of political debate has all too often obscured the scale of these huge global challenges that we must address together in a united way as one country.

This is not just any time - not the time for politics or economics as usual. It is a defining moment for our emerging global society. And tough times test not just our institutions, but our beliefs. In this uncertain world the values of fairness, stewardship and co-operation that underpin markets at their best have come of age. These are the values that can unite the nation, will ensure we can pull together as one country - and we will come through the downturn stronger not weaker.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

 


October 20, 2008 | 6:36 AM Comments  1 comments

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PersonalLoans Lisa P
December 2, 2008 | 3:52 AM
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