The end of market fundamentalism?
01. January 0001Are we ready for what comes after neoliberalism?
In an article recently published in the American Prospect, the author claims that the era of market fundamentalism is ending, as the neoliberal claim that the economy would thrive if the government just got out of the way has been demolished by the events of the past three decades. Neoliberalism has been a success for the top 1% and a failure for everyone else, and it has also been ruinous for the planet.
The author argues that despite its alliance with free-market economists, neoliberalism is not about impersonal market forces but about power, and its flip side is the destruction of jobs, communities, and families.
The author points out that the Biden administration has explicitly disavowed all aspects of neoliberalism and has managed to get through Congress the most expansive technology and industrial policies since World War II. However, the author also highlights the challenges in making these policies work both as policies and politics, including persistent undertows of bad ideas and residual power, corporate power to block these innovations, and racial and cultural divisions that threaten a fragile progressive coalition.
Finally, the author discusses the challenge of language, as "post-neoliberalism" is not exactly galvanizing as a call to arms, and the term "neoliberalism" doesn't resonate with regular people, much less "post-neoliberalism."