The Plight of Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is a term used to describe the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with economic liberalism and free-market capitalism. It is generally associated with policies of economic liberalization, including privatization, deregulation, globalization, free trade, austerity and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society. Neoliberalism is the dominant ideology permeating the public policies of many governments in developed and developing countries and of international agencies such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization.

Neoliberalism is an old term, dating back to the 1930s, but it has been revived as a way of describing our current politics – or more precisely, the range of thought allowed by our politics. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, it was a way of assigning responsibility for the debacle, to an establishment that had conceded its authority to the market. 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.

The largest corporations continue to accumulate wealth via exploitation of cheap labor and resources in the developing world - the results of globalization and “free trade.” The largest corporations continue to accumulate wealth through coopting or weakening of democratic institutions - via crony capitalism, clientelism, regulatory capture, populist neoliberal propaganda, ALEC and other pro-corporate legislative manipulation and groupthink, etc.

The largest corporations continue to accumulate wealth through war profiteering and nation building whenever those opportunities can be created. The largest banks and corporations continue to accumulate wealth through “structural adjustment programs” that decimate developing economies. The largest banks continue to accumulate wealth through the increasing financialization of every economy.

A vast swath of the voting public around the globe doesn’t have to think for themselves, but can rely on the neoliberal programming delivered by mass media to consistently vote against their own best interests. People who want to support the neoliberal agenda have access to excellent fake science to counter glaringly obvious negative impacts (re: consumer health, worker safety, climate change, species extinction, collapsing ecosystems, resource depletion, etc.) or the inevitable economic train wreck intrinsic to growth-dependent capitalism.