Whilst back in the UK I have decided to subscribe to the Week, a publication that takes the news headlines from around the world and represents different viewpoints of the press on the particular story. It focuses on the press from the UK and USA in the main, and I was struck by an article precised from the New York Times by Ross Douthat (a fellow Mo Bro looking at his picture) entitled “Our reckless meritocracy.” (the full article can be seen at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/opinion/sunday/douthat-our-reckless-meritocracy.html). Given the current dis-satisfaction on both sides of the pond with capitalism it is interesting that he notes:
“In meritocracies, it’s the “intelligence” of leaders that causes disasters, since it makes them run risks that wouldn’t even occur to others…….In place of reckless meritocrats, we don’t need feckless know-nothings. We need intelligent leaders with a sense of their own limits, experienced people whose lives have taught them caution. We still need the best and brightest, but we need them to have somehow learned humility along the way.
There are signs that some of the brightest and best are learning, look at the philanthropic work of individuals such as Bill Gates, but on the whole these people are still caught up in chasing the money. They follow the Thatcher philosophy of believing that there is no such thing as society. The problem is that the society which suffers from this philosophy is now global, and recession always brings out the worst in countries/individuals (see the current Eurozone farce).
markw1965 