Sunday, November 13, 2016

John Weeks — Trump's victory represents the fulfilment of neoliberalism, not its failure

Trump has no intention of limiting the abuses of capitalism, having innovatively engaged in extending and intensifying them. This leaves only one apparent way to maintain neoliberalism with all its destructive excesses: by restricting democracy. The superficially more respectable Republican politicians laid the ground for authoritarian rule by nullifying the protections of voter rights at the national, state and local levels.
Fulfilment of the neoliberal transformation to unregulated capitalism is incompatible with electoral democracy. A polity can have one or the other, but not both. The dark genius of Donald Trump lies in following this incompatibility to its logical conclusion — if his brand of capitalism and electoral democracy conflict, it is democracy that will be undermined.
So capitalism and democracy are antithetical. Now where have I heard that before. (For new readers, I have been saying this for some time.)

Open Democracy
Trump's victory represents the fulfilment of neoliberalism, not its failure
John Weeks | Professor Emeritus, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, and author of Economics of the 1%: How mainstream economics serves the rich, obscures reality and distorts policy.

9 comments:

Ryan Harris said...

He said he would make jobs. He said he would make the economy grow twice as fast. And he said he would win. The Draining the swamp was his campaign managers idea, he reportedly hated it. I don't ever recall hearing DJT make campaign promises similar to Bernie on reforming the fundamental workings of the economy or finance per se.

He's not that kind of person, I don't think, I think he is more like, if people need jobs he will, build things to put them to work. If trade is destroying manufacturing, he will look at trade agreements and the companies that are leaving.
I'm curious to see what he does with United Technologies Carrier plant in Indiana. I'll bet he makes some sort of deal that keeps the plant open. As long as he spends money in a way that allows non-rich people to benefit, and it raises wages, interest rates, and inflation, workers will be happier. Cities won't be left with unmanageable pension obligations and endlessly higher local and state taxes with less and less real investment.

The biggest risk with Trump is that he stops using twitter and cuts himself off from voters. If he leaves people behind and surrounds himself with security and staff rather than keeping in frequent contact with unfiltered voters, he will becomes distracted in the same way Obama did where he loses touch with our reality.

Matt Franko said...

"Cities won't be left with unmanageable pension obligations"

The Fed will take care of that with higher rates....

Matt Franko said...

All of the election rigging was on the Democrat side...

Tom Hickey said...

Greg Palast, The Election was Stolen – Here’s How…

Ryan Harris said...

Looking at the experience of countries that use them, voter IDs solve cheating. India has photo voter IDs for a billion people that make an average 1.25 per day. England has voter IDs starting 2019. Brazil has compulsory voting and photo Id. Canada has voter ID. Germany requires voters produce Id. Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece... Voter roles and voters can't be disenfranchised when they identify themselves and their right to vote can't be questioned.

Six said...

There's more to election fraud than photo IDs. Much more.

Ryan Harris said...

Mr. Hickey raised the issue of purging voter rolls. Proper identification makes it so the eligibility validation is done beforehand. Solves one key issue. Democratic party objections usually revolve around the inability of poor or undocumented residents ability to identify themselves in anyway.

Magpie said...

While the pseudo-Left in the developed world is having little fits with Trump's victory, the pseudo-Left in underdeveloped countries seems a lot happier (in Spanish):

"The American people elected Trump to break with "the economic establishment", Cristina [Fernández de Kirchner] says."
http://www.lagacetasalta.com.ar/nota/65975/politica/segun-cristina-pueblo-norteamericano-eligio-trump-para-rompa-con-establishment-economico.html

Cosas veredes, Sancho.


Malmo's Ghost said...

Democrats stole the popular vote with in excess of 3 million illegals voting:

http://www.infowars.com/report-three-million-votes-in-presidential-election-cast-by-illegal-aliens/