Jerusalem ?

Here's a marvelous article by FT columnist, Luke Johnson. It's about about what a great nation Britain was/is. It should be read whilst listening to Eddie Elgar in the background, slowly rising to a suitable crescendo as you reach the final paragraphs.

His basic premise seems to be that Britain has been great and can be great again. We discovered capitalism, after all, he says. Right up until 1950 Britain accounted for almost 25% of world manufactured output. Military force was a factor, "The British Empire was largely an undertaking to boost trade", he says.

The core reason "we" became great was because of people like him. If it hadn't been for Britain's "pioneering" capitalists (for he is one) "we" wouldn't have got to where we were in 1914 when, "Britain owned 45 per cent of the world’s foreign investments".

And, "Britain even inspired a second revolution with the privatisation of state assets under Margaret Thatcher. It revived our economy in the 1980s and has been copied everywhere from eastern Europe to South America".

It is true that from the 1970s onward, and especially following the collapse of the Stalinist states, there has been a global wave of privatisation and related polies - otherwise known as "globalisation". We would therefore expect to see that there has been a real boost to economic growth and wellbeing since that time - a "revival" in fact.

The chart below, from the IMF, shows something quite different. World economic growth during what the IMF calls the "Golden Age", from the 50s until the 70s was around 3% a year. This was the period of all the "old fashioned" policies subsequently rejected by Thatcher, Blair and the Globalisers.

During their period, that of "Globalisation", economic growth has been halved! Some "revival". At this rate, we will be "revived" back to the stone age before too long!



Undaunted, or unaware, he goes on to say that the secret of "our success" has been that "we" somehow created a society in which "we" allowed people to get rich. Because if "we" reward initiative, "the whole community gains through the “invisible hand” ".

But just a minute, somethings wrong (in the words of Jimi Hendrix). "We" have slipped behind! "We must do better if we are to prosper in the global economy of the 21st century".

What should we do? What? What?

We should reduce our tax rates, reduce government spending and, "engender a stronger sense of self-reliance and responsibility. We need to regain our sense of confidence and adventure...".

You see, this is what a good education does for you.