Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems

[Póg mo 1,749]

Pretty good article on why our world has been steadily going to hell for the last 50 plus years.

Neoliberalism the ideology at the root of all our problems

Imagine if the people of the Soviet Union had never heard of communism. The ideology that dominates our lives has, for most of us, no name. Mention it in conversation and youll be rewarded with a shrug. Even if your listeners have heard the term before, they will struggle to define it. Neoliberalism: do you know what it is?

Its anonymity is both a symptom and cause of its power. It has played a major role in a remarkable variety of crises: the financial meltdown of 2007‑8, the offshoring of wealth and power, of which the Panama Papers offer us merely a glimpse, the slow collapse of public health and education, resurgent child poverty, the epidemic of loneliness, the collapse of ecosystems, the rise of Donald Trump. But 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?

Inequality is recast as virtuous. The market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve.

So pervasive has neoliberalism become that we seldom even recognise it as an ideology. We appear to accept the proposition that this utopian, millenarian faith describes a neutral force; a kind of biological law, like Darwins theory of evolution. But the philosophy arose as a conscious attempt to reshape human life and shift the locus of power.

Continued on link...

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Jacque67 7,328]

Interesting read. Not sure why labels have to be applied, but a very well written coherent piece.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

These 2 paragraphs right here...

"We internalise and reproduce its creeds. The rich persuade themselves that they acquired their wealth through merit, ignoring the advantages such as education, inheritance and class that may have helped to secure it. The poor begin to blame themselves for their failures, even when they can do little to change their circumstances.

Never mind structural unemployment: if you dont have a job its because you are unenterprising. Never mind the impossible costs of housing: if your credit card is maxed out, youre feckless and improvident. Never mind that your children no longer have a school playing field: if they get fat, its your fault. In a world governed by competition, those who fall behind become defined and self-defined as losers."