Here's something that's worth an hour of anyone's time: an intelligent(ish) interview with the super-intelligent Martin Wolf, FT, doyen of economics commentators and billed here as the World's Top Financial Journalist (a title he disowns, BTW, claiming only tangential knowledge of finance).
Mostly, it's a case of listen, learn, reflect: Wolf is impressively thoughtful, not least on the matter of what's genuinely uncertain in our present stressed circumstances. But there were a couple of things he expresses serious interest in, which I'd push back on:
- Citizen's assemblies. Yeah, but who gets to run them? You know perfectly well that a cleverly framed set-up will get any answer that's wanted by the establishment that commissions them**. I mean, seriously, this is bonkers.
- Workers' representatives on Boards: he thinks Germany has done well with this. Hmm. I have some experience, via a lengthy consultancy gig I undertook in Germany, with an archetypal large German co. The workers' board member was given a nice office, and frequent, carefully curated 'briefings' on all manner of topics. He was a nice enough cove, completely out of his depth. Those carefully selected mangers giving him the briefings said he barely understood any but the most basic topics, and was a pushover. Maybe that was exceptionally helpful to the co in question! But I doubt it's what Wolf means.
Enjoy.
ND
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** Fair enough, I once reviewed in detail the output of a CA on use of biomass, which was (I consider) fairly well set-up with balanced opening presentations, and which clearly surprised the organisers as to how strongly the majority was against tree-burning (which as not the answer they wanted). HOWEVER, the official take on it mis-used the actual voting data. Having failed to rig it, they still tried to bias the one-liner takeways. And you know they'd have rigged it even more determinedly for a sequel. You'll all keep voting until you give the right answer.
