When I was talking to Rob Walker, of the West Gallery, West Putford, Devon recently, he said that in the current economic climate his top end sales were holding up, it was the medium priced works that were selling less.  I thought this was interesting in more than one way.  It may show that the top end of the market is less affected by the current economic restructuring than people on median incomes are, and it may also indicate that where interest rates are low, and share values are dropping or flatlining, buying art is seen as a good investment.  This is good news for artist with an established name.

It made me think about the economic events of recent years.  Having a fairly solid grounding in economics and having been a political activist in the past, I have followed the debates and public responses with interest, albeit from a distance. 

Now, that both the public and governments around the world want to avoid having to save failing banks ever again is entirely reasonable.  But a lot of the other name calling and anger is misplaced and counterproductive.

At the time of the first bank bail-outs I watched a debate on TV where a panel and the audience were debating who was most the blame for the mess: the government, the bankers or the regulators.....  Everyone had their own favourite culprit, and, strikingly, nobody thought of pointing out that an important participant in this game was being left out: the great British public!  Having myself got into debt in the past, and having indeed found it easy to access credit, it never occurred to me to blame the banks who lent me the money....  I was there, conscious, aware, alive at every spending decision I made wasn't I?  I took risks based on expectations of future income, and it didn't work out.  The elephant in the cupboard here is what I call the "R" word: responsibility.

And I knew, shallowly following the news, that 3/4 of all credit card debt in Europe was held by Brits!  I had read about Greece being seen as having cheated itself into the single currency, running larger deficits than the rules allowed.... I knew that the US were carrying large debts on the strenght of dollar being the global trading currency.... It was a gamble, and whilst the going was good, which politician was going to kill the goose with the golden eggs?

But ultimately, prosperity comes from taking full responsibility for where you are.  Bankers like money and are unashamed of it.  Most people on the left think that money is bad, corrupts and/or destroys the planet.   Is it surprising that it is hard to be solvent  when your underlying beliefs are so mixed up about such a crucial part of life?  And is it surprising that the people who like the money-game are coming out of the current phase of turmoil more or less alright?

My remedy is to get on with what you love doing, have faith in your ablilities and, crucially, take responsibility.  Blaming others will never get you out of a rut.

 


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