THE LIVING ROOMS

Eco Echo column August 2010

An Embarrassment Of Riches

I wrote last month about the World Cup, and I’m going to touch upon it again today.  Don’t worry, I’m not becoming a football bore; I simply believe that we have a wider lesson to learn from what is happening in the world of soccer.

The unceremonious dumping out of the tournament of the England team, supposedly our ‘dream generation’, showed up something which many commentators have noted: that there seemed little motivation for these pampered players to do well for their country.  This despite huge financial rewards – or is it because of them?

You could argue that massive bonuses have done much the same for our bankers.  Perhaps they have got to the point where they have so much money that it no longer motivates them.  Quite the opposite, in fact: being cushioned from ever being hungry again clearly had the effect of desensitising them to the extent that many lost sight of reality.

When so much cash and adulation is heaped on Rooney, Lampard & co, it is hardly surprising that they think that they do not need to continue improving themselves.  Compare and contrast this with the many reports shown during the World Cup which showed kids in South Africa who are desperate for education, and who endure harsh conditions to achieve the qualifications which could lead them to a better life.

Although we don’t all earn Premiership salaries, there is a real danger that many of us are becoming too comfortable to know what really matters.  The long queues outside Apple stores to buy the latest iPad or iPhone certainly would suggest this is the case.

The website poverty.org.uk has some interesting figures about the UK’s continuing slide into income inequality.  Between 1998 and 2008, the income of the richest tenth of the population rose by nearly 40% in real terms; the income of the poorest tenth actually fell.  The top 20% earners account for nearly half of all income; the bottom 20% just 5.3%.

As inevitable government cuts start to bite, this means fewer opportunities for those who are literally and metaphorically hungry to access the help they need to escape the poverty trap.  Meanwhile a significant proportion of the population are sufficiently insulated by growing wealth to become complacent and desensitised.

It is not a recipe either for fairness or for success, as our footballers and bankers have shown.  If our football team fails on the world stage, all that results is disappointed fans.  If our economy fails to perform, we are in real trouble.  We have been warned

Article published in Eco Echo August 2010