YOURSAY | ‘No plan would work if corruption continues to plague every single pore of our administration.’

Economist: Think ‘Fast & Furious’ when talking about economy

Hplooi: During Dr Mahathir Mohamad's era, there was a strategy, an idea of the big picture.

The flaw in Mahathir's era was in the implementation; the zaibatsu (financial clique) model of the 'great leap forward' was stymied by incompetent (grossly so) cronies and distorted by the need to fast track the New Economic Policy (NEP).

However, now we only have ad-hocism and policy fragmentation. Every minister is a programme unto himself. And the incompetence persists, now even more so.

Do we have a strategy in the new Asia where every country is maxing out on the very policy we adopted one to two decades ago? Or how would we position ourselves when the world evolves into multipolar centres?

Would we just end up as colonies of raw material suppliers to the dominant power(s)? Do we even have an economist in the house?

As for the context behind the term 'animal spirit' that economist Shankaran Nambiar used in his book, I believe he was referring to the same term used by the great 20th century economist John Maynard Keynes.

Keynes in his work of 1936 described how human behaviour, emotions, etc, moderate and can be moderated by economic stimulants such as consumer confidence, employment rate, interest rate, etc.

He prescribes that in a falling economy, the government should spend to stimulate the 'animal spirit'. Keynesian reflation is a key tool of government economists to date.

In contrast, Frederick Hayek was the opposite of Keynes (this may be a popular aphorism, but the contrast I believe, is more subtle) in the sense that he believed that an economic bust should be left to run its course.

As a result, the recovery would be more robust. So yes, stimulate the animal spirit but take care of the Hayekian contradictions.

The Analyser: Is Shankaran talking about looking at the big picture and having a long-term vision? The man must be out of his mind if he thinks that Malaysians are capable of embracing those concepts.

Malaysians are too interested in themselves to look at anything beyond their own well-being.

It's my understanding that former premier Mahathir’s big picture began at his feet and ended at the top of his head. His whole political career was directed specifically at himself, allegedly building his wealth and his reputation and ensuring his power.

If along the way some crumbs fell to the poor miserable souls of Malaysia, then that was more by chance than by design.

When a person has unlimited money at one's disposal, it's easy to portray the image that one is embracing the big picture.

But the reality of the Mahathir era is quite a different story. It was he who built the classical Umno stand of ignoring Malaysians until election time, then showered them with tokenism to make it appear like he really cared.

Alfanso: To see the future with the big picture has to be a laborious thought process. But how do you propose that Mahathir or PM Najib Razak would have done that?

Or, as Shankaran says, to revive the animal spirit? Nay - from our past, we can assume that it has always been the easy and lazy way for Malaysians.

A quick way to build wealth - a 10 to 30 percent in everything coming in or a share of everything or a dip into the funds not belonging to you.

I am not an expert, but if one can get benefits the fast and easy way, why bother about the difficult, hard process? They will choose the former, hands down.

RCZ: For the PM and the other Umno goons, reading Shankaran's book will be like Greek to them.

They won't understand it, as they are too stupid. All they know are slogans and spin, and how to get rich fast and furiously. Improving the economy and the big picture plan? What's that, they will ask.

The change needed is to get rid of Umno. The opposition members, once in power, will not only read this book but will also understand and implement its sound suggestions.

Oscar Kilo: Shankaran, do you expect consistency from a corrupt, self-serving, opportunistic, flip-flop administration?

Just a Malaysian: No plan would work if corruption continues to plague every single pore of our administration.

The whole BN and all its players have to be overhauled. Any strategy will fail if those in charge only think about lining their pockets.

We are at the terminal stage of cancer, and all PAS worries about is how those guilty of having sex outside marriage should get more strokes of the cane.

How stupid and irrelevant have Malaysians sunk to. Indeed, a level of simplistic stupidity never seen before.

Existential Turd: There are elements in Malaysia trying to pull the country back to the horse-and-cart era.

Talking about the need to think ‘fast and furious’ (when it comes to the economy) is like telling a person dying of hunger to have a balance diet.

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