neoliberalism
a modified form of liberalism tending to favor free-market capitalism.
Neoliberalism (neo-liberalism) refers primarily to the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism. …The term has been used in English since the start of the 20th century with different meanings ..The definition and usage of the term have changed over time
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adding page this day:
Céline (@krustelkram) tweeted at 7:55 AM – 14 Apr 2017 :
Thanks so much for writing about @KateRaworth ‘s doughnut economics
@GeorgeMonbiot & also this: https://t.co/iha927Ng43 and many others. <3 https://t.co/kFQlwbmZX9 (http://twitter.com/krustelkram/status/852883037427818496?s=17)
we respond to these crises as if they emerge in isolation, apparently unaware that they have all been either catalysed or exacerbated by the same coherent philosophy; a philosophy that has – or had – a name.
What greater power can there be than to operate namelessly?
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Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency. It maintains that “the market” delivers benefits that could never be achieved by planning.
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Attempts to limit competition are treated as inimical to liberty
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Inequality is recast as virtuous: a reward for utility and a generator of wealth, which trickles down to enrich everyone. Efforts to create a more equal society are both counterproductive and morally corrosive. The market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve.
equity – everyone getting a go everyday..
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In The Road to Serfdom, published in 1944, Hayek argued that government planning, by crushing individualism, would lead inexorably to totalitarian control. Like Mises’s book Bureaucracy, The Road to Serfdom was widely read. It came to the attention of some very wealthy people, who saw in the philosophy an opportunity to free themselves from regulation and tax. When, in 1947, Hayek founded the first organisation that would spread the doctrine of neoliberalism – the Mont Pelerin Society – it was supported financially by millionaires and their foundations.
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among American apostles such as Milton Friedman – to the belief that monopoly power could be seen as a reward for efficiency.
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Something else happened during this transition: the movement lost its name. In 1951, Friedman was happy to describe himself as a neoliberal. But soon after that, the term began to disappear. Stranger still, even as the ideology became crisper and the movement more coherent, the lost name was not replaced by any common alternative
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It may seem strange that a doctrine promising choice and freedom should have been promoted with the slogan “there is no alternative”
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The freedom that neoliberalism offers, which sounds so beguiling when expressed in general terms, turns out to mean freedom for the pike, not for the minnows.
Freedom from trade unions and collective bargaining means the freedom to suppress wages. Freedom from regulation means the freedom to poison rivers, endanger workers, charge iniquitous rates of interest and design exotic financial instruments. Freedom from tax means freedom from the distribution of wealth that lifts people out of poverty.
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As Naomi Klein documents in The Shock Doctrine, neoliberal theorists advocated the use of crises to impose unpopular policies while people were distracted
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Another paradox of neoliberalism is that universal competition relies upon universal quantification and comparison. ..The doctrine that Von Mises proposed would free us from the bureaucratic nightmare of central planning has instead created one.
Neoliberalism was not conceived as a self-serving racket, but it rapidly became one.
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Rent is another term for unearned income
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As property prices and the withdrawal of state funding load people with debt (think of the switch from student grants to student loans), the banks and their executives clean up.
debt as violence
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neoliberal theory asserts, people can exercise choice through spending. But some have more to spend than others: in the great consumer or shareholder democracy, votes are not equally distributed. The result is a disempowerment of the poor and middle.
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Like communism, neoliberalism is the God that failed. But the zombie doctrine staggers on, and one of the reasons is its anonymity. Or rather, a cluster of anonymities.
The invisible doctrine of the invisible hand is promoted by invisible backers.
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Neoliberalism’s triumph also reflects the failure of the left. When laissez-faire economics led to catastrophe in 1929, Keynes devised a comprehensive economic theory to replace it. When Keynesian demand management hit the buffers in the 70s, there was an alternative ready. But when neoliberalism fell apart in 2008 there was … nothing.
This is why the zombie walks.
The left and centre have produced no new general framework of economic thought for 80 years.
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What the history of both Keynesianism and neoliberalism show is that
it’s not enough to oppose a broken system.
A coherent alternative has to be proposed.
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same day from Paul Mason:
@paulmasonnews
My essay from @tgrdebate in Der Speigel: spiegel.de/spiegel/neolib…
be you. 