Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, November 1, 2013

Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste

Click here to access a book review by Neil Faulkner of Philip Mirowski's book by the above title posted on Counterfire (Britain).

According to Faulkner the book's author explains that "neoliberalism" is merely the latest version of capitalist ideology used to justify the exploitation of working people by the "ownership" class. Author Mirowski apparently felt compelled to demolish this theory because it has been regarded by other economists as a serious academic discipline.

Neoclassical economics provides a fascinating study in the resilience of fatuousness in the service of greed and power. When, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Ricardo realised that labour was the source of all wealth, the vast majority of economists, faithful to the new capitalist order whose spokespersons they were, began a retreat into obscurantist nonsense.

The book's author goes on to explain that neoliberalism is only the latest "obscurantist nonsense". With the repeated disasters to the economy, the disconnect between ideology and reality grows ever wider. As the gap approaches a canyon of disbelief among the public, we are steadily seeing the re-emergence of a finance/corporate controlled police state, otherwise known as fascism.

So, what have our ruling class masters accomplished so as not to "waste" this crisis? The reviewer seems to suggest the following, but surely these must have been cited by the book's author as the ultimate consequences:

Mirowski’s answer is that neoliberalism is now hard-wired into the psyche and everyday behaviour of the mass of humanity.

Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste is an insightful and highly relevant social critique from a radical historian and philosopher of economic thought. For that reason, it is often a joy and a tonic to read. However, as with all such dystopias, we are left deflated by a sense of powerlessness. The people are present only as manipulated, brainwashed, ‘neoliberalised’ victims of an all-powerful corporate juggernaut. They are one-dimensional idiots; consuming pointlessly, obsessing about lifestyle, gawping at celebrities, gazing blankly at moronic TV game shows, forever grasping towards the next, vacuous, artificial ‘want’ created by Global Gobble Corporation.