Blog Archive

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Neoliberalism

I have been reading a lot lately about neoliberalism. It's a term I thought I understood, but didn't. The more I read about it the more I think it plays a big part in the mess society is in, and how it seems to always to be out of sight, yet we can always feel its power.

Neoliberalism as I understand it has many features of liberalism but also has a strong undercurrent of the belief that economic markets should be free of any interference so as to let the "invisible hand" of the market do its wonders.

I see markets that are not tightly regulated to be a scourge of society. I've seen firsthand what can happen when capitalism is unfettered. It's not pretty. Well, let me take that back--it is pretty for those who own the businesses and for those high up in management. For everyone else, well, not many glad tidings to proclaim. To put it succinctly, it the gig economy on steroids.

I'm always surprised there is not more pushback from society. But I am beginning to see that the forces that mitigate the pushback are enormous and not always visible.

***

No comments:

Post a Comment