We assume economic hiccups always teach lessons to corporates and governments but in reality it is hardly so. We had witnessed a massive financial melt-down in 2008 due to sub-prime mortgage crisis but what I hear is that this event did not force industry and government to tighten the controls and they were back to their merry go-around until this pandemic struck.
While it was a man made disaster in 2008 primarily in US, the present catastrophic situation is much larger in spread and has a lasting impact in the way we do business, run the organisations making us more risk averse and customer centric. The intriguing factor is why the capital markets in major and developing economies are still surging, when people are facing hardships, unemployment. Developing nations and those in the cusp of development receive huge sums of money and this in turn help their economies and try to put more money in people’s hands. This is all good, as long as they don’t drive themselves aggressively towards a debt driven economy. we have seen countries doing that in the past and they are now in precarious state so much so that their people are trying to migrate to a better surviving condition.
The next decade is going to be interesting and the lessons that we have learnt over the last 9-10 months have made us more resilient and resolute to shape up our priorities over how far we need to be indulgent in materialistic pursuits as opposed to healthy, contented and happy life style. It is what, as people, we need to determine and certainly not our Government or other countries.
COVID Vaccine is the single most technological and biological invention in a shortest span of time and we are all blessed that the cure is just weeks’ away. This would not have been possible if the priorities by people and governments all over the world were any different. Our wish is that the same focus and a single minded obsession is extended to other vital areas that need pulse checks – Hunger, Climate Change, Better Living Index, Shaping up Good our next generation, Better Governance and above all the WILL to be “People Friendly” and a Model state.
THE PULSE by Sivakumar Gopal 