But are the institutions of the West now degenerating?

[pennyw]

The Human Hive


Episode 1 of 4, The Reith Lectures, Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012


The eminent economic historian Professor Niall Ferguson argues that institutions determine the success or failure of nations. In a lecture delivered at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he says that a society governed by abstract, impersonal rules will become richer than one ruled by personal relationships. The rule of law is crucial to the creation of a modern economy and its early adoption is the reason why Western nations grew so powerful in the modern age.

But are the institutions of the West now degenerating? Professor Ferguson asks whether the democratic system has a fatal flaw at its heart. In the West young people are confronting the fact that they must live with the huge financial debt generated by their parents, something they had no control over despite the fact that they were born into a democracy. Is there a way of restoring the compact between different generations?

Listen now. Duration: 42 minutes
bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jmx0p

 

[buckeye45_73]

I dont want to sound redundant, but left wing ideologies, just not good, They want atheism and socialism and it's not working real well.

 

[pennyw]

But the critics of Western democracy are right to discern that something is amiss with our political institutions. The most obvious symptom of the malaise are the huge debts we have managed to accumulate in recent decades, which, unlike in the past, cannot largely be blamed on wars. According to the International Monetary Fund, the gross government debt of Greece this year will reach 153 per cent of GDP. For Italy the figure is 123, for Ireland 113, for Portugal 112 and for the United States 107. Britain’s debt is approaching 88 per cent. Japan – a special case as the first non-Western country to adopt Western institutions – is the world leader, with a mountain of government debt approaching 236 per cent of GDP - more than triple what it was twenty years ago.

Now often these debts get discussed as if they themselves are the problem, and the result is a rather sterile argument between proponents of ‘austerity’ and ‘stimulus’. I want to suggest that they are a consequence of a more profound malfunction.


bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jmx0p/features/transcript

 

[pennyw]

Have a listen, it is certainly food for thought!

 

[salem.hills]

Yeah its kind of odd maybe some bunch if a-holes just spent like drunken sailors. Its obvious to me the liberal has invested our appeals courts, hs/universities, and media. This is the only thing dragging our society down.

 

[pennyw]

Yeah its kind of odd maybe some bunch if a-holes just spent like drunken sailors. Its obvious to me the liberal has invested our appeals courts, hs/universities, and media. This is the only thing dragging our society down.

You are so right, I should have listened to you first.