Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

From the Davos conference, we learned that with our new hyperconnectivity, leaders appear slow and stupid, while the people appear fast and chaotic.

This dislocation between the rich and poor, the leaders and the peasants, could be read another way. Whatever happened to the middle class? For years we have been told to avoid arguments, quoting statistics based on averages and in the eighties, one of the biggest insults thrown at New Zealanders was that we were a nation of middle class people.

The middle class includes tradesmen, technicians, people with skills, experience and expertise, who are the engine room and the productive centre of any economy. As a group, it is also the largest contributor to the government coffers through taxation. Without them any economy stagnates.

The new Productivity Commission was asked to look at the whole problem of improving productivity in New Zealand. The commission was given two immediate tasks of reporting on affordable housing and transport problems affecting our markets. These last two topics are important, but are not the main task of the commission which is to attack the root of the problem of workers not working productively. We can't sack them for low productivity when they are disappearing anyway. Many large global banking institutions have identified some of the culprits causing our social division and have already started corrective action.

Management gravy trains are under attack. We need more leaders but, if these leaders are making decisions and are accepting responsibility for their decisions, we can get rid of executive committees. We have been living in a world where such non productive buck-passing activities have been better rewarded than skills and knowledge and experience. Many large banks are shedding unproductive staff. The Barclays Bank is quoted this week as cutting the pay of 30,000 employees, 30 per cent of their staff, but they will be sacking senior bankers and executive directors.

They are also focusing on ‘junior' staff, such as vice presidents, associates and analysts. How might this waist-tightening strategy be applied in our local government? Who would be left to do the work? Do they actually do any work or is the actual work contracted out? How much of the disconnect between the public and their councils is caused by a constipation of career consultants conning committees? If there were genuine communication between council and the public, would we need any consultants?

The conference quoted the desperate shortage of skilled workers at many levels. The shakers and movers of a few years ago are still shaking, but the movers have moved on into management or on to the benefit. Who is this average middle class person? He is not supposed to exist mathematically, but he featured in the news this week. A report quoted the problems of a family that couldn't make ends meet. No one noticed that the father had the average salary, the average number of children and had had the average number of wives/partners to support. He has family assistance, but he was broke and quoted as having had to do without food on some days. If he represents our middle class, it looks like we have real problems on our hands that have to be addressed first. Our image overseas isn't much better. Our New Zealand representatives celebrating Waitangi Day in London probably believed that they were representing good Kiwi middle class attitude.

Just what is our image? Look in your mirror. Are you working class and proud of it? When our Churchill is revealed and he stands up and says that New Zealand expects every man to do his duty for his country, are you ready willing and able? Do you know anybody else in this category? When the inevitable research surveys turn up at your door, do you have any ideas for stimulating growth in New Zealand? When the economy picks up and our skilled workers come back from Australia, are you going to be more worried about New Zealand productivity or will you be more worried about keeping your job? Closing the gap between the rich and the poor will mean reinstating and respecting the middle working class, but are we ready?