The great reset by George Tran
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”
Winston Churchill
During a time of uncertainty and turbulence such as 2020, change is inevitable. The great reset is a series of economic proposal aiming at a more sustainable method of conducting economic. Fiscals improve from government spending is what drives this idea. If there is much government-spending going into the economy, why don’t we direct it toward infrastructure and project that benefits the environment. Alongside environmentally infrastructure, projects that have a positive impact toward the living standard are also looked into. Well then, what exactly is the great reset proposing?
What does the great reset propose?
The first proposal of this to invest in technology education. This proposal considers the current job market. Constant change in the economy through utilizing technological improvement, allows many industries to move toward autonomy. Skills that are viral in logistic, manufacture, marketing now all require extensive technological skills. Therefore, an investment in trying to spread this knowledge will create a strong workforce. Which is the backbone and is certainly helpful for any economy to achieved growth.
Secondly, the great reset promotes long-term investment of the private sector into sustainable energy. This could be achieved through the implementation of policy such as carbon tax or subsidizing clean energy. Investment in a sustainable industry that could benefit the environment, while simultaneously improves long-term profit sounds like a win-win. However, carbon tax and clean energy subsidy should not be the only measure carried out. Governments around the world could try to stop subsidizing major polluter like oil and gas production. Developed country such as the US, Canada, and Australia still spend money to subsidies fossil fuel. This type of subsidies is what could be described as a destructive relationship. Limiting the opportunity of sustainable energy to compete as an equal, while wasting taxpayer money on industry that harms the environment.
The third proposal is one that focused more on how we perceived economic success. Instead of focusing on GDP as the only measurement for economic well being. Another form of measurement that consider other aspects of a nation such as increase in collected net worth or sustainable indicator rather than just output. Gross Domestic Product is calculated by adding consumer spending with government spending, investment, and net export. This creates many problems for GDP, the statistic relies on formal data and transaction, this means that all informal or unrecorded economic activities are ignored. Secondly, GDP emphasize the material output to be the economy itself without considering other factors that promote a sustainable economy. Politician who wants to avoid looking directly into environmental problems, usually use GDP growth as a shield from taking real responsibility against climate change. All of these problems could be lessened if a better measurement of economy can be implemented.
Entrepreneurs are the one at charge for most of the production and consumption process, so it is only logical for the proposal that they should be the one implementing new technology and rules that are environmentally ethical. However, this should be implemented by the people rather than the corporation. If the consumers demand change, there definitely will be change. Large corporation usually only care for profit and the only way to change their behavior is to show them that being environmentally ethical is profitable. If implemented correctly these changes could create a business environment where producer compete to be the best in sustainable and organization that are not won’t be able to survive.
Final thought
Even though the World Economic Forum is not a government organization and is essentially a society of wealthy people that loves economic, their proposal certainly does have a good point. Even though implementation of this proposal is highly unlikely since the organization doesn’t really have any power like the UN or the World Bank does. The main goal of this proposal is to stir up conversation as well as putting out the idea for sustainable development. If the idea is spread and people can visualize a future where sustainability is achieved, it could become a reality. Overall, the great reset is a creative way to raise awareness and hope during such an uncertain time and everyone could learn a thing or two from it.
Author: George Tran, Content Writer, Onside Media, TO, Canada. He is currently based out of Hanoi,Vietnam. If you have stories to share kindly email: – georgetran.onside@gmail.com
