Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, March 25, 2013

Tory Grandee Lord Heseltine: 'Britons Are Too Rich To Care About Improving Economy'

Britain lacks a "national will" to improve its economy because people are too rich, former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has suggested.

The Conservative grandee questioned whether people who live comfortably in advanced economies are motivated to strive for better.

However in economies like China and India, which are growing at a much faster rate than Britain, people are driven to overcome "real problems".

In an interview with the Independent, Lord Heseltine warned that the economy could keep drifting down.

He told the newspaper: "There is no God-given rule saying you've got to have a well-performing economy. It could be an indifferent economy.

"It's a question of whether the national will is there; whether we want it. And the richer you get the less imperative there is.

"Maybe one of the problems of advanced economies is that people are sufficiently well off that they don't need to drive themselves any more."

He later added that it in the nature of most people to "desire to do something and to do it better".

He also questioned official GDP statistics and instead pointed to rising employment and house prices as indicators that the economy was recovering.

Lord Heseltine is a senior adviser to the coalition government on growth, focussing especially on the regeneration of cities.

Original Article
Source:
Author: PA

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