Monday, November 4, 2019

The End of Neoliberalism and the Rebirth of History — Joseph E. Stiglitz

For 40 years, elites in rich and poor countries alike promised that neoliberal policies would lead to faster economic growth, and that the benefits would trickle down so that everyone, including the poorest, would be better off. Now that the evidence is in, is it any wonder that trust in elites and confidence in democracy have plummeted?...
Trickle down or pissing on?

I am not sure about his blanket recommendation to restore Enlightenment values. Enlightenment values led to bourgeois liberalism in which economic liberalism dominates social and political liberalism. Neoliberalism was simply the extension of bourgeois liberalism globally though yet an other empire in thin disguise.

Bourgeois liberalism prioritizes economic liberalism over social and political liberalism based on the assumption that the former is a necessary condition for the latter two. The outcome of this is capitalism, which encompasses free markets, free trade and free capital flows, as the driver of the system. The term "capitalism" reveals that this assumes that capital will be favored over the other factors — labor, that is, people, and land, that is, the environment. The outcome was predictable unless one was wearing blinders. 

So-called democracy was a casually, even though the "democracy" of the Enlightenment was not actually government of the people, by the people and for the people, but rather representative "democracy" in which class structure, power, and wealth are determinative. That's what "bourgeois liberalism" means. Enlightenment thinkers were fearful of "the rabble" and "mob-rule," after. 

This view has persisted. John Maynard Keynes was a proponent of it, for example. See Bruce Bartlett, "Keynes Was Really a Conservative." 
“The class war,” said Keynes, “will find me on the side of the educated bourgeoisie.”
This attitude is reflected presently in the resistance of the bipartisan Establishment that holds the reins of power jointly, passing them among themselves over election cycle, to the rising tide of populism that seeks to unseat them. This is also the attitude of the "deep state" that is now opposing populist-elected President Donald Trump in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.

As far as Enlightenment values go, the American founding fathers, held up as the epitome of Enlightnment values, saw now problem with including slavery in the US Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson, not only a slave owner but also a slave breeder, saw no contradiction in penning, "All men are created equal..." in the Declaration of Independence. George Orwell would later lampoon this sentiment with, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," in his satirical allegory Animal Farm.

We don't need a return to Enlightenment values that were flawed from the beginning and now represent that Western values that the Empire and its vassals are trying to impose through neoliberalism. We need to revisit those values in terms of the 21st century. The 18th century is long past. It was an advance at the time, but looking back to it is not the way forward now.

Project Syndicate
The End of Neoliberalism and the Rebirth of History
Joseph E. Stiglitz | University Professor at Columbia University, co-winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize, former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and former Chief Economist of the World Bank

7 comments:

Peter Pan said...

Rebirth... same as the last rebirth?

Bob Roddis said...

This is such a pathetic and fraudulent argument. As you people never tire of reminding us on other days, the system we live under is Keynesian based upon government issued fiat money.

It's time to take pride in your handiwork and stop trying to blame its many failures upon Hayek who opposed it relentlessly.

Kaivey said...

Hayek was a neoliberal according to a video I watched recently. He believed in a small welfare state as a safety net. I was surprised about that.

Matt Franko said...

Kevin he probably meant a “safety net!” like the Chinese install all around the bottom of their slave factory dormitories.....

Matt Franko said...

“saw no problem with including slavery in the US Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson, not only a slave owner but also a slave breeder, saw no contradiction in penning, "All men are created equal..."

Textbook Platonism 101.... can’t make a decision... abandoned ( by some) in 1860 when the Science Degree was established...

Matt Franko said...

JR the Buddhist guy has a degree in “Physics” from Amherst:

‘The core physics program provides a course of study for those who are interested in physics as a liberal arts major,”

https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/physics/major/major

He will not be discriminatory.... probably believes in “space-time!” etc and all sorts of non discriminatory syntheses....

AXEC / E.K-H said...

Links on Joseph E. Stiglitz’s ‘The End of Neoliberalism and the Rebirth of History’

Joseph Stiglitz is a co-winner of the 2001 EconNobel. The EconNobel has nothing to do with scientific achievements but is an Oligarchy-promoted reward for successful agenda-pushing. So, when Joseph Stiglitz declares the “End of Neoliberalism” this is a signal to the average academic economist that the Oligarchy has changed the communication strategy. Roughly speaking, buzzwords like market and efficiency and growth are referred to the background and buzzwords like WeThePeople and social empathy and sustainability are put in the foreground. MMT’s Stephanie Kelton is the personification for the repackaging of economic policy. Needless to emphasize that the new agenda is the emotionally botoxed old agenda.

Scrap the EconNobel
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2019/10/scrap-econnobel.html

MMT Progressives: stupid or corrupt or both?
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/08/mmt-progressives-stupid-or-corrupt-or.html

Links on MMT-Progressives push Wall Street’s agenda
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2019/06/links-on-mmt-progressives-push-wall.html

MMT’s true program
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2019/06/mmts-true-program.html

MMT and the Green New Deal: Where is the snag? (I)
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2019/05/mmt-and-green-new-deal-where-is-snag.html

MMT Progressives: The knife in the back of WeThePeople
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/12/mmt-progressives-knife-in-back-of.html

MMT/GND: Another case of bad people capturing a good cause
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2019/09/mmtgnd-another-case-of-bad-people.html

MMT: So-called Progressives as trailblazers for Trumponomics
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/04/mmt-so-called-progressives-as.html

Egmont Kakarot-Handtke