Infrastructure Bank
Preface
An argument towards reform.
Systems are fashioned by their parts and the wider context they act in. As constituents of one, we can therefore mould it - together, through what we believe is right or wrong, by what we want ourselves to be - and more importantly what experiences we want future generations to have decades, or centuries in the future. Humanity has an opportunity to reach greatness, but equally could end in pain and misery.
The decision to mould ourselves, and society is not so simple as what what moral principles to follow - this is a very passive act. Humanity created the system we live in, and if we collectively decide to remake it, then so it will be. Compromise is necessary, without it it will be hard to make any progress, trapped in a constant swirl of wasted actions.
We need to look at how to fashion our system in a way that creates long term improvement in metrics that actually matter. This may not be measured in financial gains for the few, but in a general standard of life and opportunities offered for all, and progress towards the goal of striving ever higher. Humanities has possibilities way beyond what we can conceive now, if only we strived.
In no means does this mean that all people should have equal outcome. It is imperative not to ignore our own nature. Biologically we have evolved to reward ourselves (chemically) towards goals leading to self-preservation, and we should build a society that acts in a similar way. Rewards for things that are of benefit (and vice versa punishment for failing to act towards common good). Positivity is always the preference, but the persuasive power of the negative can not be ignored.
Cold pushed us to build shelter. The system needs to push us to strive for greatness.
The capitalist system is a good example of a ‘reward’ system. People are rewarded for taking risks, finding cost-cuts and growth in productivity, creating real lasting technological improvements to society. But in tandem this system can also overlook key metrics of long-term human wellbeing. It can be too focused on short term gains, because short-term rewards can be persuasive to human instinct. Short-termism however can lead to ever reducing gains. Capitalism, indadvertently may be a system that takes advantage of our very nature for transient gains, and although it has been successful at finding growth over the last centuries, without careful observation and adjustment, how do we know it is still guiding us in the right direction?
This short-termism does raise a question. How do we provide motivation for long-term gains, when we may not be alive in the long-term? Do people care about a future they won’t exist within? Global warming is a common example, why cut fossil fuels if you won’t feel their impact.
Bad apples are common to find in any system. Before rot sets in and spreads, they should be separated from the tree, for its own protection. If they can be rehabilitated, this should be attempted. If not, then unfortunately re-ntegration would compromise the health of the rest of the system.
No system is perfect and there will always be crevices for people to fall into. Retribution and blame is a useless tool, though is a part of our emotional retinue. Instead we should look towards righting the wrongs, and giving people who are able to take it a track back onto the right path.
We should be wary of seeing a bad apple where it is merely a pear. What looks like a risk to a system may instead be an opportunity to adapt to the changing status quo. Be wary of judging too soon without critical thought.
Equality of provision
Long-lasting thinking
Short term thinking is a byproduct of our inherent desire for material goods. But happiness is built in the long-term when our children have noticeably better lives than ourselves. This means we have to sacrifice some of our material-desires to fund the future. ### Infrastructure #### Essentials first Houses are essential and all people deserve at minimum a place to live and food to eat. Eventually there should be a system that makes this attainable for everyone. This requires mass building, and eventually the market will likely be a combination of the private-market (ownership, renting) and council houses (owned by the state). Council houses being the necessary stepping stone for the escape of the poverty trap.
The size of this place could then be a product of their hard-work. #### Ownership from source All resources possible should be able to be extracted and refined within the UK at a minimum level - keeping expertise in the UK workforce, and infrastructure and materials for all scenarios. I.e. coal mines and steel manufacturing should be subsidised to ensure there is a minimal provision. Similarly for any other important natural resources that we can process/extract. Whether this minimum provision is 1% (more/less) or if this provision is exported at a net-loss, this is still an important to the economic strength and independence of the UK. #### Investment Long term thinking requires investment that starts now, and plans for 10, 20, 30 years into the future. As the Chinese Proverb goes - “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” ### Planning & Government & Enterprise Allowing people the freedom to come up with their own idea, act on it, and reap the rewards of their risk, is an important part on motivating hard work and creativity. Possibly even those who act once, won’t just have one innovation and will be ‘serial’ inventors, their previous rewards help to fuel a chain reaction of ‘creation’.
There is however the effect that people think from a short-term frame, invent now, take profit. Relax on the profit they have generated. Investors can be motivated by these short term time frames, always looking for the next ‘fad’ to make a short term gain on. We need to seriously look at how we can encourage companies to invest in the future rather then practices like price-gouging, ‘layoffs’ focused on increasing profit margin rather then innovation. Intervention by ‘Sovereign wealth funds’ & even motivating individuals to take a stake may provide companies with a guiding force towards long term growth.
People & Society
Skill-Flight
We need to work out how we can retain high skilled engineers, technologists, etc within the UK. There are lots of intelligent people but also lots of movement towards the United States. It is unlikely that we will be able to compete further in most industries but we need an industrial strategy to allow us to compete on a global scale in at least a few industries. We likely can not compete on wage so we must instead compete on an ideological, cultural, and the general standard-of-life. The UK may not be able to pay the most but it can offer other intangible assets. ### Prisoners Responsibility Prison should not be a place to wait out the sentence ascribed. It is a necessary solution to the problem of protecting society from those who would damage it. For high-risk prisoners there is likely nothing that can be done to rehabilitate and reintegrate and they should be isolated from society for the rest of their lives. If they can provide benefit to our society, then let them, but if we cannot be sure they will not cause serious irreversible harm we cannot release them. To do so would be to renege on the responsibility of ‘government’ to society.
A large proportion of the prisoners are lower-risk and although they have caused damage to society, they have an opportunity to reintegrate and overtime be a net-positive, or at least reduce the net harm they have generated. This reintegration should be done both inside prison and outside. Prisoners should work for the society they have damaged through ‘optional labour’ giving them skills and training they may not already have, providing recompense for their actions. Since the end goal is no re-offense, prison can offer a place to get their feet on the ground, skill-up, and settle into work so release isn’t such a hard jump. Once out of the prison they continue repaying their debt to society by hard work with no continuing criminal enterprise.