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In reply to the discussion: Why American and Britain are Self-Destructing [View all]KY_EnviroGuy
(14,488 posts)22. Neoliberalism promised freedom - instead it delivers stifling control.
A good article from the UK in April that summarizes much of how we got to this point:
Neoliberalism promised freedom instead it delivers stifling control
Creeping privatisation is rolling back the state to create a new, absolutist bureaucracy that destroys efficiency
George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot
Wed 10 Apr 2019
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/10/neoliberalism-freedom-control-privatisation-state
(snip)
The dominant system of political thought in this country, which produced both the creeping privatisation of public health services and this astonishing attempt to stifle free speech, promised to save us from dehumanising bureaucracy. By rolling back the state, neoliberalism was supposed to have allowed autonomy and creativity to flourish. Instead, it has delivered a semi-privatised authoritarianism more oppressive than the system it replaced.
Workers find themselves enmeshed in a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, centrally controlled and micromanaged. Organisations that depend on a cooperative ethic such as schools and hospitals are stripped down, hectored and forced to conform to suffocating diktats. The introduction of private capital into public services that would herald a glorious new age of choice and openness is brutally enforced. The doctrine promises diversity and freedom but demands conformity and silence.
Much of the theory behind these transformations arises from the work of Ludwig von Mises. In his book Bureaucracy, published in 1944, he argued that there could be no accommodation between capitalism and socialism. The creation of the National Health Service in the UK, the New Deal in the US and other experiments in social democracy would lead inexorably to the bureaucratic totalitarianism of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
He recognised that some state bureaucracy was inevitable; there were certain functions that could not be discharged without it. But unless the role of the state is minimised confined to defence, security, taxation, customs and not much else workers would be reduced to cogs in a vast bureaucratic machine, deprived of initiative and free will. By contrast, those who labour within an unhampered capitalist system are free men, whose liberty is guaranteed by an economic democracy in which every penny gives a right to vote. He forgot to add that some people, in his capitalist utopia, have more votes than others. And those votes become a source of power.
Workers find themselves enmeshed in a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, centrally controlled and micromanaged. Organisations that depend on a cooperative ethic such as schools and hospitals are stripped down, hectored and forced to conform to suffocating diktats. The introduction of private capital into public services that would herald a glorious new age of choice and openness is brutally enforced. The doctrine promises diversity and freedom but demands conformity and silence.
Much of the theory behind these transformations arises from the work of Ludwig von Mises. In his book Bureaucracy, published in 1944, he argued that there could be no accommodation between capitalism and socialism. The creation of the National Health Service in the UK, the New Deal in the US and other experiments in social democracy would lead inexorably to the bureaucratic totalitarianism of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
He recognised that some state bureaucracy was inevitable; there were certain functions that could not be discharged without it. But unless the role of the state is minimised confined to defence, security, taxation, customs and not much else workers would be reduced to cogs in a vast bureaucratic machine, deprived of initiative and free will. By contrast, those who labour within an unhampered capitalist system are free men, whose liberty is guaranteed by an economic democracy in which every penny gives a right to vote. He forgot to add that some people, in his capitalist utopia, have more votes than others. And those votes become a source of power.
The situation we're in also explains why unemployment is so low for both nations. Stagnated wages, savings lost to the big recession, inflation and massive personal debt leaves many no choice but to work more hours, more than one job and put to work those who normally would not. New jobs mostly are bottom-dollar pay.
Purging us of the right-wing world-wide is the only cure but the public has zero will to do so......
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I believe the death of the unions was a major factor in both the U.S. and Britain.
olegramps
Dec 2019
#71
WHat can one say? It is demoralizing as hell to live in a short-sighted and very selfish governed
hlthe2b
Dec 2019
#3
What might be going on is a collapse of monarchism and democracy through corporatocracy's insurgency
ancianita
Dec 2019
#5
Believe that if you want to, but honesty requires a much bigger perspective than this study. And the
ancianita
Dec 2019
#26
Nobody's standing by unless they are DISabled from using reasonable means to rid
ancianita
Dec 2019
#35
It takes time to learn when they're LYING. I said what I said, not what you said I said.
ancianita
Dec 2019
#42
Shame does not build a self to preserve. Shame does not build capacity; it incapacitates.
ancianita
Dec 2019
#43
Not in the legal, public, contractual up front sense of "purchase." Trump hid illegal money
ancianita
Dec 2019
#28
It's interesting that you say "a few filthy rich." We know their names, & relative to billions
ancianita
Dec 2019
#76
and the only reason it works is liberals ignore 1500 coordinated radio stations
certainot
Dec 2019
#32
I agree but WHO has funded the placement of those propaganda broadcasts on 1500 radio stations?
hedda_foil
Dec 2019
#44
i think a lot of the stations are just loudly dominant in their areas, or the only AM
certainot
Dec 2019
#48
sex on the wrong brain explains greed is exacerbated by sending impatient satisfaction-
certainot
Dec 2019
#30
brexit champion nigel farage is a radio talk show host. trump is a dittohead. and putin uses
certainot
Dec 2019
#27
thanks. the kremlin recognized the problem before the dem party and has been using those stations
certainot
Dec 2019
#81
Thank you for initiating one of the best discussions I've seen on DU for some time.
scarletwoman
Dec 2019
#40