Maggie's Farm

The Great British historian, Lord Macaulay, predicted the future unraveling of the United States economy in a letter written in May 1857. Macaulay’s prediction was based on his analysis of American institutions. Discussing the life of Thomas Jefferson with an American author, Macaulay wrote, “You are surprised to learn that I have not a high opinion of Mr. Jefferson, and I am surprised at your surprise. I am certain that I never wrote a line, and … uttered a word indicating an opinion that the supreme authority in a state ought to be entrusted to the majority of citizens [counted] by the head; in other words, to the poorest and most ignorant part of society.”

opens another great Nyquist, on the same topic as NJ's post: How to savvy where the heck we're going here --

He brings in CG Jung nicely --as a way of explaining why our reach exceeds our grasp, in the prosperous institution-building times, and why we don't know it until scarcity sets in --the worst time to redesign society. That's our fatal paradox, he says, and Mr. Jung explains why the only way out of it is thru the individual decision to do what is right. Government cannot do it, nature thwarts.

http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/jr-nyquist/american-economic-calamity-predicted-in-1857

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