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At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, President Lee Myung-bak said the global economy is in crisis and that the Korean economy faces the prospect of slower growth and rising consumer prices. He called for an aggressive stance and proactive measures from his Cabinet, adding that we cannot overcome this crisis if we believe there is nothing we can do.
It wasn't coincidence that the economy was the theme of the first Cabinet meeting since Lee's inauguration. He won a landslide victory in the presidential election by pledging seven percent economic growth. The energy that powered the opening of the Lee Myung-bak era was the earnest desire of the Korean public for the government to put top priority on improving the livelihood of the people. The deteriorating public livelihood was something that two consecutive liberal administrations ignored as they were engrossed in excessive ideological disputes.
As the president said, external conditions are not favorable. He said the present situation appeared to be the toughest period for Korea in 10 years. But this is not the only administration that has faced economic difficulties. The Kim Dae-jung administration had to cope with a bankrupt country, while the Roh Moo-hyun administration had to fix a credit card bubble that burst. What's important is making a proper diagnosis, paving the way for an effective remedy.
Lee proposed three remedies for businesses: an aggressive approach to business, cooperation between labor and management and stabilizing consumer prices. The fact that Lee announced steps to stabilize consumer prices as a means to improve the livelihood of working-class Koreans showed that he was paying close attention to public sentiment at the street level.
Signs of an economy in crisis are felt earliest in the tightened purse strings of working-class people. The reason superb politicians put top priority on the livelihood of working people is not simply to take care of the weak first. It's because they know that domestic consumption can improve only if living conditions improve for working-class people, and this leads in the end to growth that eventually allows a country to overcome an economic crisis.
It takes more than just stabilizing consumer prices to improve the livelihood of working-class people. It's important to keep money in wallets, but what's more important is to increase the money that goes into those wallets. What matters is job creation and saving the economy.
Lee's Cabinet decided to go to work an hour before the previous government did. It is a sign that the government is taking the initiative and setting an example. But what the public really wants to hear is not just a pledge by government ministers that they will try their best, but a clear blueprint showing how the people and the country can prosper.
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