There is a popular saying, when it comes to economic forecasting, that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’.  This expression provides a comforting and confident view of top line growth in economies, with the associated presumption that even small and struggling boats will do better in better economic times.

Would that it were true.

I found myself thinking about anchors – those devices that hold us in one place.  For many of the smaller vessels bobbing around in this stormy global economic sea, they have disproportionately huge anchors, with mighty short chains, that hold them down.  While the massive cargo ships, tankers, destroyers and aircraft carriers are built for deep and stormy waters, these smaller mom and pop businesses, in my view, are held down by the increased power that giant corporations have – power to create advantageous regulatory policies; power to merge and grow larger; power to undercut on prices to kill small businesses.

I think this is worth consideration and debate.

And if you’d like a more authoritative view on this, I’d encourage the reader to explore Klaus Schwab’s (founder of the World Economic Forum) 2016 article about the fourth industrial revolution, and the need to ensure a future that is bright for all:

In the end, it all comes down to people and values. We need to shape a future that works for all of us by putting people first and empowering them. In its most pessimistic, dehumanized form, the Fourth Industrial Revolution may indeed have the potential to “robotize” humanity and thus to deprive us of our heart and soul. But as a complement to the best parts of human nature—creativity, empathy, stewardship—it can also lift humanity into a new collective and moral consciousness based on a shared sense of destiny. It is incumbent on us all to make sure the latter prevails.

photo credit:  fotolog