Topic: 2012 BBC Reith Lectures

[Mouth]

The economic historian Professor Niall Ferguson presents the 2012 BBC Reith Lectures, titled The Rule of Law and Its Enemies. Across four programmes he explores the role of man-made institutions on global economic growth and democracy, referencing the global economic crisis and financial regulation, as well as the Arab Spring.

Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and its Enemies 1 19 JUN 2012

Institutions determine the success or failure of nations and a society governed by abstract, impersonal rules will become richer than one ruled by personal relationships, says the economic historian Prof Niall Ferguson. But, he asks, are the institutions of the West now degenerating, as young people confront the fact that they must live with the huge financial debt generated by the baby boomers? And is there a way of restoring the compact between the different generations?

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/reith/reith_20120619-0930a.mp3 or go to the page to listen to it/them on site - http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith

Next one is today at 9am Radio4 and will be available for download later on.

Very interesting stuff, dont always agree with everything he says or even understand some of it but well worth a listen.

[RojoLeón]

He's a recent Bilderberg Meeting attendee. From what I have read of him, he is very much singing the tune the bankers would want to hear - the debt is the plebes fault; it's their mismanagement that caused this mess.. Which lets the banker class and their insatiable greed and corruption off the hook (or at least not to the share of the blame that they should be held to account for).

As a counterpoint - I refer to David Graeber http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-20-graeber-en.html

"What follows is a fragment of a much larger project of research on debt and debt money in human history. The first and overwhelming conclusion of this project is that in studying economic history, we tend to systematically ignore the role of violence, the absolutely central role of war and slavery in creating and shaping the basic institutions of what we now call "the economy". What's more, origins matter. The violence may be invisible, but it remains inscribed in the very logic of our economic common sense, in the apparently self-evident nature of institutions that simply would never and could never exist outside of the monopoly of violence – but also, the systematic threat of violence – maintained by the contemporary state."

You see, amongst the blame shifting, Ferguson neglects to mention the enormous and catastrophic public debt that is at play is as much a function of banker greed as it is the corporatisation of the military and disproportionate spending on 'defense'.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18456131

Viewpoint: Why the young should welcome austerity
The critics of Western democracy are right to discern that something is amiss with our political institutions. The most obvious symptom of the malaise is the huge debts we have managed to accumulate in recent decades, which - unlike in the past - cannot largely be blamed on wars.

 

{edit - for grammar}

[Mouth]

Yeah thats what I mean about not agreeing with everything he says. Bush was in the blcak when he came in wasnt he, but pissed it all away on two wars.

But still its an interesting listen, to a degree I get what he is saying about the law no longer working as well as it should, but then I wonder if it ever really did.

[RojoLeón]

Yeah thats what I mean about not agreeing with everything he says. Bush was in the blcak when he came in wasnt he, but pissed it all away on two wars.

But still its an interesting listen, to a degree I get what he is saying about the law no longer working as well as it should, but then I wonder if it ever really did.

The US is in an interesting position because it has such a reach in it's empire foreign bases. Their defense spending is vast - like half their entire income, and it has been this way for some time - inconceivably large sums of money has 'disappeared' into the accounting ether. On September 10th, 2001, Rumsfeld admitted that they had 'lost' 2.7trillion dollars of defense money. it is speculated that this number has doubled or trebled since then (under Bush the junior)

The other thing with Ferguson, is that he has dined at the top table - he has attended Bilderberg and shared space with the great and the good. (aristocracy, banking, political and business royalty). He will have listened to their hopes and fears and heard their explanations and rationale. They will (one assumes) shift some or all of the blame onto greedy peasants, drunk on easy credit and socialist welfare. They won't (I presume) see their role as enablers, profiteers/racketeers, pimps and pushers in all of this financial mess. Fractional Lending. Derivatives. Sub prime mortgages, etc..

So his story is going to be biased as to where he heard it first. But I take your word for it, and will make time to look at the lectures in more detail. If you yourself are interested, you should read the David Graeber article on the history of debt http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-08-20-graeber-en.html

Unlike Ferguson, he is completely impartial and tells it like it is from an anthropological perspective.