This present economic debacle is a golden opportunity to bring about financial,Govt and social reform.

Capitalism has no problem in producing profits.It is the inequitable sharing of profits which creates the imbalances and thus a system failure.When we rely on Govts to distrubute wealth,much of it gets lost in the bureaucracy and inefficiencies,hence we are no better off.

Currently,we like many Western Countries have huge deficits in our infrastructure and get into more debt when have to borrow from the Central banks of the world to finance it.

There is a smarter way. Australians have over $1 trillion in Super.The Govt can issue infrastructure bonds to individuals who can invest their super safely.Why not let all individuals take control of their super?Australians have lost $160 billion in super in the last 12 mths.We can finance our own recovery,if we are smart.

Have any of our fellow OLO readers have some solutions/reforms to our socio/economic system that will benefit us all?

One of the biggest areas of reform could be in the area of how we deal with retirement.

I actually think retirement should not be in the hands of the private sector but something for governments. Retirement should not be about making profits for a large corporate but about ensuring the financial security of our retired and elderly.

Primarily there is nothing wrong with speculating if you are using extra money that you can afford to lose but here we have a system that fosters the use of this retirement income for nothing more sometimes than gambling. There are very little safeguards or regulation protecting that income and sometimes very little information via ASIC until it is too late.

What is the point of governments ensuring superannuation if the risk is too high, there is no regulation or safeguards. How is the layman to distinguish between honest and ethical funds and others?

It is a mad system that maintains a dichotomy between the retired doing well only at the expense of others who may as a result be struggling in an blown out housing market and high interest rates. Conversley, when the prices and interest rates are low, the income of the retired is adversley affected.

It would appear to be madness that only benefits one small sector of society and it isn't the commonman/woman.

What would be wrong with a strong government pension fund which we all pay into as we do with Super which we get to draw as a pension later on. This is an inbuilt and safe security for our future and still allows people to be able to invest outside the government system if they wish to allocate extra funds for that purpose.

You've got to be kidding Pelican. If we had such a system, KRudd would have smashed the doors down, & have spent most of it by now.

I can't believe there are still people who don't understand that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, capable of standing between a Lobor polly, & a stack of money.

The much maligned old Joh B had money squirreled away in hollow logs, for special purposes, all over the place. It only took Goss & his Labor mates, including guess who, 2 years to have emptied the lot of them. The thought of drunken sailors springs to mind.

Remember the job they did of looking after the earnings of our aboriginals. Ned Kelley could not have a better job of ripping their wages off them, but only a government could have made all the money, & any, & every trace of it, disappear so completely.

When it comes to money, I would not trust our financial institutions out of sight, but I'll take them before any government.

Its a golden opportunity to do something with Defence (I have to smile broadly when I call it Defence).

There will be no peace coming out of this crisis...so we might as well get ready for trouble.
China will need close watching for reaction to the source of the problem...American greed.

Hasbeen,you like most in our society expect our Govts to fail.There is no reason why our Govts can be run far more efficiently with actual accountability.The Singapore Govt owns a runs OPTUS,a very profitable well run large Coprortation.Our Govts cannot run a chook raffle.Why?There is no accountability.In reality they are controlled by the large corporates who donate to them.We do not have true democracy.We could have a true say in Govt with the power of the net.Each of us could vote on important issues with a simple PIN as we use in banking.

We have let the bureaucrats run the system for too long.The way they feather their nests is by growing the number of fat cats.NSW is a prime example of this.Change the rules which govern their employment.Pay them more if they are more efficient and punish stupid,corrupt behaviour.There is no real acountability.They outsouce their decisions to private consultants and take no responsibility themelves.Why should anyone in the PS have total job security?Bring in a survival factor as we have in private enterprise and things will run much better.All we have presently is a big sheltered workshop run for the sake of the bureaucracy and it has failed us dismally.

We need smaller Govt that is small business friendly.Self employment and small business is the way to make economies very efficient and distribute wealth more equitability.While real wages have risen,people's share in our GDP over the last 10 yrs has not.GDP has almost doubled and living standards have actually fallen even with real wages growth because of increased taxes,insurances and the lack of competition in our retail corporate food industry.

Hasbeen, while I understand your scepticism it is possible for such a fund to be separated from general revenue and only to be used for the sole purpose of retirement pensions.

This can be done both via legislation with inbuilt safeguards including a strong audit process. In essence, make it illegal to for governments to withdraw from the retirement fund even as a 'loan'.

Surely you cannot argue that the private system is better when the proof is in the pudding. Millions of people worldwide have lost money invested for retirmenent security either through mismagement or fraudulent activity. How could it be any worse?

I also agree with Arjay about small business. Governments of all ilks seem to make overly difficult for small business to establish, operate and succeed.