Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Hangover



The first minute and fifteen seconds are commercials. Then comes a bio of the guest, Niall Ferguson, which lasts until about three minutes and thirty seconds into the video. Then you get about twenty minutes of good stuff.

The video was recorded in February. In the interim it looks like there may have been a change in political direction even if the results so far are meager. Inflection points are by definition the beginning of change. And at the inflection point there is balance. But there is also momentum. And ultimately the question is: how much force can be applied for how long in order to increase the velocity towards the goal? Just getting to the inflection point is not enough.

And something else. Mr. Ferguson says no one has been discussing his preferred solution - Privatization. That is not true. Harry Browne who ran for President on the Libertarian ticket in 2000 and who I strongly supported at the time was saying exactly that during his campaign. The Federal Government owns too much of America.

And let me also speak to his last point. The trouble with our education system. The solutions are appearing in places like Kahn Acadamy among others. It would be really good if our education system wasn't so reactionary. But it doesn't matter. The Lower Education Bubble will burst. The end is in train. We just can't say when. The if is not in doubt.

Niall's book Civilization: The West and the Rest will be out in November.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

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