It is a challenge to get leadership to understand the scale of socio-economic discontent. First, absolutely in terms of the total population that are affected by the dysfunctional socio-economic system. Second, relatively in terms of how some have progressed and other have not. There are some big facts that have to be faced including: famine and hunger, war and refugees, poverty and concentration of wealth.

Data about hunger, health and wealth of the world's population shows an appalling situation. How can it be that some 4.5 billion people on this planet are poor and hungry. Compared to what should be … the socio-economic system has failed. There is something wrong when a society that has the capacity to deliver objects millions of miles away in space, not to mention place bombs into any building on the planet … yet cannot build a functioning capacity that enables everyone to have food and potable water. This is failure!

We have amazing technology … but dysfunctional decision making. There is too much of poverty, hunger, disease and death. It is a really sad state of affairs. The idea that around 4.5 billion people are in dire poverty, hungry and with no health or education is obscene. Around 30,000 young children, according to the United Nations (UN) die every day from preventable disease. Poverty, hunger, disease and death are the clear symptoms of a failing socio-economic system. The quality of life for poor people around the world is rotten. It is a disgrace that half the world is poor, hungry, prone to disease and dying prematurely.

There is a huge amount of writing that talks about the failing socio-economic system. There are many studies of the many different aspects of failure. The mainstream media quite frequently publishes articles that chronicle failure. Professors and PhD students study and write about failure. Film makers make documentaries. But the problem is that very little actually gets done to change anything very much.

In my own experience, I have seen the impact of socio-economic failure first hand. For a long time I thought my work was part of a process that would solve problems and make development successful. Seeing dead people and people who are going to die because the system does not work for them changed me, but I have not been able to change the system in any meaningful way.