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Daryl Roche

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Create a paradigm shift by retooling our systems to refocus on the basic needs of everyone….

If our current global economic paradigm can be described as a balance between need and want, an imbalance has occurred whereby the focus of today's economic resources is severely stacked in favor of "want" over "need", then we have missed something very important and valuable. The result is extraordinary waste and the lives of millions spent in social and absolute poverty, the greatest waste of resources, as the basic "needs" of these individuals and/or whole populations are severely compromised and never met. This waste translates into hundreds of billions of dollars as the potential contributions of these people remains unrealized. How can we encourage a paradigm shift using our educational systems both in early development schooling (K-12), college level, and in corporate settings beyond schooling to subvert and swing focus away from "want" towards "need" to rebalance the systems and insure everyone's basic needs are provided before basic wants are promoted?

How can we create a paradigm shift by retooling our systems to provide the basic needs for everyone before promoting the wants of those whose basic needs have already been met and recapture the human potential currently being wasted?

Topics: economics human potential human resources poverty waste
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Feb 1 2013: I think many people believe in this notion as a matter of principle (that no one should have to live in conditions of want).

    Among those who do but don't somehow act on this principle in a meaningful way, it may help to provide a vivid, immediate picture of those living in conditions in which basic needs are not met, perhaps starting with those close at hand. For kids in high school, for example, if everyone wears the same clothes and has a cellphone, and if people don't see beyond this face to the world, they don't realize the family isn't eating or whatever else.

    When distances are involved, as, for example, when people see pictures of refugees in conditions of great need and risk, the challenge is often for people to understand how exactly to make a dent in the problem beyond what they or their families are already doing. There is already a lot of talking and awareness of this issue in schools and beyond, but a disconnect between seeing a problem and knowing something effective to do.
    Do you have some favorites among the TED talks that address this issue of how best to deal with global poverty and related needs?
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      Daryl Roche

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      Feb 1 2013: Fritzie, Thank you for participating, yes, in the abstract most people would find the living conditions of the impoverished deplorable in principle however, with few exceptions will continue with their lives chasing "want" to the exclusion of insuring the "needs" of everyone first being met. This the direct result of the prevailing economic model's influence on the population, through media and commercialization, viewing human beings as a means to increase profits. Whereas the systems supporting economics were once tools of human beings, we have become tools for the machines called economics. We are pummeled every minute of every day with advertising and so-called news to succumb to our desire. We are taught in school to win at all costs. We are told by our employer that the company's bottom line is our only goal. The same employer may also bully us into making a contribution to a charity of the employers choice, i.e. the United Way, where a whopping $0.51 of every dollar actually goes to the charity, or UNICEF - $.14 or The Red Cross - $0.39 and so on…the focus is not on NEED, but instead on WANT…and all of this can be attributed to a seemingly global "underlying assumption"…there is, has always been, and will always be poverty inexpiably…the disconnect isn't simply between "seeing" and "doing", it's more in accepting this assumption…or not. The shift is in choosing…not.
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        Fritzie Reisner 100+

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        Feb 1 2013: I think marketing/advertising have, indeed, become expert in manipulation and creating appealing scenarios that encourage consumption. I don't believe that at school students are encouraged to win at all costs. I cannot figure out what you are refering to in this claim.

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