Learning to Earn?

University fees, Unemployment, or Government deficit. There is a weary air of concern surrounding money in the UK right now. At an organisational level solvency is key, but likewise it seems the individual concern is how to earn more cash. In times of strife and uncertainty it is human nature to adopt a degree of self preservation and introverted stacking of financial sandbags around your little corner of the world.

Ask most people about their financial clout and the answer (if you get one) will invariably involve a quantification of what they "earn". Of course we all know what this means and how it might translate into lifestyle and behaviours. But with the word comes an erroneous, and I would argue, dangerous idea. As inflation soars to a three year high of 5.2% we are beginning to see the value of our pay-packet eroded at an alarming rate. We go to work, we face down recession, and we think we are "earning" a living.

Now by no means am I seeking to undermine the mentality that we (and Europe) should work our way out of recession back into less fraught financial times. What I am considering is whether we are kidding ourselves by suggesting that we are really "earning" in a climate such as this. With money losing value faster than you can hand it to a shop assistant, we are moving towards a model where value is simply being transferred 1 for 1 rather than being generated with every transaction.

In happier times when salaries are rising and the National GDP is healthy, we can all draw close to the comfort blanket of successful Capitalism as the total wealth of the nation increases along with our personal fortunes. What is most sobering about our current (albeit temporary) position is the fact that we really do need to fight for every pound.

I enjoyed myself at Dartmouth Food Festival this weekend. A brilliantly run and attended event with real quality producers on show. It did however occur to me in-between stuffing my face with pies and pasties, that every sale ringing up around me was a baby step into the gale force problem of the credit crunch hangover and its runaway inflation. Right now we aren't so much earning money, as wrestling it from the next man's wallet.

Of course the basic trade model that we have does not fundamentally change when we are in tough times, but recently the domino effect of shaky investor confidence and rising cost of living does put us in a situation which does not lay well with a reliance on Capitalism and its perpetual model of growth.

So what I am really saying is that at least in the short term we should reign in our expectation of being able to "earn" to our hearts content and fill our own wallets. Instead perhaps we should hone our sales patter and focus on providing better value to our customers. That way we might have a little more respect for the man handing over his hard earned cash, and realise that we really are all in this together.