The Welfare State is dead – long live the Kinky State

March 30, 2014June 27, 2019 Karl H RichterLeave a comment

I don’t mean the type of adulterous scooter socialism enjoyed by French President Francois Hollande – I mean an agile and nimble State that is deftly able to do more with less. Kinky like an inflection point in a trend line. Kinky as in ‘crinkled’ and ‘intertwined’ and ‘complex’ and ‘strikingly unconventional’. Kinky like talk about the rise of smart power in a multi-polar world – because this is the new practical reality, not because the laissez-faire types won the ideological debate about the size of the state. Quite the contrary, it’s dangerous to mistake coincidence for causality.

Global Impact Economy Forum. US State Dept, Washington DC, 26 & 27 April 2012

May 7, 2012March 2, 2017 Karl H Richter3 Comments

I recently went to Washington to learn about the new global impact economy being advocated by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and specifically to find out whether it is aligned with social business and social investment initiatives in Europe. Indeed, there is much more commonality than disparity, and (hopefully) this is the beginning of […]

HS2: Is there veracity in the velocity?

March 13, 2012March 20, 2012 Karl H Richter2 Comments

Promoters of the new high speed rail line (HS2) between London and Birmingham claim that it will generate £2 of economic benefit for every £1 spent. The Government says the benefit will be lower, around £1.40. But if a number is the answer, then people are asking the wrong question. What is the real benefit […]

The Road Less Travelled: Social Business in Europe

January 25, 2012February 22, 2012 Karl H RichterLeave a comment

Call it a new kind of capitalism. You make goods to sell to a mass market but your aim isn’t profit. Enterprises are run by workers and customers and surpluses are ploughed back to achieve social goals. Capitalism? Not as we know it. Karl H Richter, co-ordinator of the task force for a European Social […]