Neoliberalism is far from over . It is in its multi-vector predacious zombie stage where it does great damage in so many fundamental ways. People are socially and intellectually blind to its impacts.
It is one on the great issues destroying Western civilization and nobody wants to address it, just like war, militarism , empire and few others on my shopping list.
Hard agree. I'm old enough to remember the 1980s (I was a teenager, but still) when the project of neoliberalism was far more contested, fragile and contingent. The problem now is that the whole mindset has been internalised even by those who claim to oppose it. It will take an enormous effort to dislodge it.
Well said, Luke. As a futurist and engineer, I follow the development and privatization of scientific infrastructure closest. It is difficult to incentivize capital toward fundamental research in certain fields. Without champions, the systems to produce scientific architecture erode away like untended bridges.
For sure. And a lot of private investment in research and innovation isn’t in things that are socially productive or useful. There’s a reason so many of the most significant scientific and technological innovations have their origins in publicly-funded research.
The only difference I see is the collapse of the "globalist" aspirations of free trade everywhere. So we have a rise of (typically ethno-)nationalism undermining this aspect of neoliberalism, which I would argue has emerged due to neoliberalism's own failures. I guess the only other difference is that it's intellectually dead. In the 80s and 90s its proponents argued that it would lead to a glorious future. We're in the future now and I don't see very much glorious about it. So it's just the default mode of governance domestically even though it clearly isn't capable of delivering results for the populace.
Your point about tech is pertinent. Although the neoliberal model is a failure and will continue to lead to more instability, recent developments in tech suggest that the ruling class reaction is simply to impose complete surveillance and oppression of any potential resistance, of which I can't picture much anyway in such an atomized society.
2020 was also the year Mark Carney gave the BBC Reith Lectures and had the gall to jump on the anti-capitalist bandwagon, literally lecturing us all on the importance of morals over markets (just Googled his cv - yep, not a socialist!). You are right - this is neoliberalism donning its latest disguise so that it can carry on!
Neoliberalism is far from over . It is in its multi-vector predacious zombie stage where it does great damage in so many fundamental ways. People are socially and intellectually blind to its impacts.
It is one on the great issues destroying Western civilization and nobody wants to address it, just like war, militarism , empire and few others on my shopping list.
Hard agree. I'm old enough to remember the 1980s (I was a teenager, but still) when the project of neoliberalism was far more contested, fragile and contingent. The problem now is that the whole mindset has been internalised even by those who claim to oppose it. It will take an enormous effort to dislodge it.
100%
Well said, Luke. As a futurist and engineer, I follow the development and privatization of scientific infrastructure closest. It is difficult to incentivize capital toward fundamental research in certain fields. Without champions, the systems to produce scientific architecture erode away like untended bridges.
For sure. And a lot of private investment in research and innovation isn’t in things that are socially productive or useful. There’s a reason so many of the most significant scientific and technological innovations have their origins in publicly-funded research.
The only difference I see is the collapse of the "globalist" aspirations of free trade everywhere. So we have a rise of (typically ethno-)nationalism undermining this aspect of neoliberalism, which I would argue has emerged due to neoliberalism's own failures. I guess the only other difference is that it's intellectually dead. In the 80s and 90s its proponents argued that it would lead to a glorious future. We're in the future now and I don't see very much glorious about it. So it's just the default mode of governance domestically even though it clearly isn't capable of delivering results for the populace.
Your point about tech is pertinent. Although the neoliberal model is a failure and will continue to lead to more instability, recent developments in tech suggest that the ruling class reaction is simply to impose complete surveillance and oppression of any potential resistance, of which I can't picture much anyway in such an atomized society.
2020 was also the year Mark Carney gave the BBC Reith Lectures and had the gall to jump on the anti-capitalist bandwagon, literally lecturing us all on the importance of morals over markets (just Googled his cv - yep, not a socialist!). You are right - this is neoliberalism donning its latest disguise so that it can carry on!
It’s just as silly as saying “late stage capitalism”. Just sounds like wishful thinking.
I once heard it said that Reagan and Thatcher made greed acceptable. I think it still is, possibly more so.