On empathy

Recently there has been discussion about the importance/relevance of empathy when it comes to politicians setting/discussing economic policy. But I think people (or at least a few very loud people) are missing the point in this discussion.

When we talk about empathy, we don't mean getting a pat on our head and a hug and our feelings validated. We mean that the politicos grok our reality and govern accordingly. Even though most people would agree that it's important in principle, ultimately it doesn't matter to ordinary Canadians whether our economic indicators look good on paper. What actually matters to us is whether we can afford cheese and dental work and internet access. We don't care about the TSX numbers, we care about whether we will still be able to afford to retire at 65 as promised by our pension managers. We don't care what the unemployment rate or job growth numbers look like, we care that if today our household financial situation looks good and our job looks stable so we splurge and get our hair done, the situation doesn't suddenly reverse so that next week we're sitting there regretting our gorgeous red highlights because now our drug coverage is gone and we could have gotten a refill of our kid's prescription for that money.

Assuming that consumer spending is in fact important to a sound economy, the powers that be would do well to cultivate empathy. If we think they just care about on-paper indicators, we're going to batten down and hoard our assets to ride out the storm. But if we know that they've got our everyday realities in mind, we're more likely to go ahead and buy some gouda for a treat or get those red highlights.