The lies of Neoliberal Economics

Submitted by truehawk on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 11:10pm

APRIL 1, 2016

We need to stop blaming the victims and clean this mess up.
The Lies of Neoliberal Economics (or How America Became a Nation of Sharecroppers)
by MICHAEL HUDSON – CHRIS HEDGES

"HUDSON: What’s ahead first of all is that the economy hasn’t recovered since 2008. People talk about that there’s been a recovery, but the recovery has only been for the One Percent. The 99 Percent know they haven’t recovered. That’s why they’re voting for Trump, and that’s why they’re voting for Sanders. But they’re blaming themselves. There’s a tendency of victims to blame themselves. And the other part of that …

HEDGES: But let’s be clear: The media doesn’t explain the economic reality at all. They’re always talking about the recovery.

HUDSON: That’s the point. The result of the media telling people that is to create a Stockholm syndrome: The victim, the kidnap victim, identifies with the victimizer. The thinking is that if only we can give more money to Wall Street, it will save us. So if the Federal Reserve can only pump more money into the economy …

They talk about the Federal Reserve creating money with a helicopter. But the Federal Reserve’s helicopter only drops money over Wall Street. It doesn’t drop money over the economy. People don’t get it. The Fed doesn’t say, “We’re going to add $200 to everybody’s checking account so they can have more money and pay their debts.” It’s only lending money to Wall Street."

Tags:

debt

Financial Collapse

Chris Hedges

Michael Hudson

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Comments

Submitted by GreyWolf on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 11:54pm

I love CounterPunch

They have a slew of anti-HRC stuff, most reflected here at this site.

Another slightly older article, not about HRC, is also worthwhile for a cynical chuckle:

Neoliberal Asphyxiation

Neoliberalism sucks the air out of the middle class, and it suffocates politicians. ... It is very likely doomed to utter failure by caving in under its own vibrations, its callousness, its self-indulgence, its narcissistic tendencies with a high probability that a major disruption of the neoliberal capitalist state is dead ahead.

... The result is the rich get a lot richer, unbelievably richer, and everybody else gets really pissed off, signaling outright failure of this brand of capitalism, i.e., neoliberalism, to coexist within the precepts of a democratic republic.

It’s all about privatization and profit and deregulation whilst cutting average people off at the knees. It’s little wonder that people are casting votes of retribution. They’ve been had, turned upside down, sideways, and assailed from the rear. After a while, it hurts.

... Thus and therefore, neoliberalism crunches the American middle class from both ends, meaning cuts in government programs and cuts in wages whilst the public takes on more responsibility for national debt to fund their own public services. This is insanity! And, it’s probably why people are seriously angry, whether they fully understand the reasoning or not.

... where are the voters to go once the reality of November 2016 passes, when the neoliberal status quo continues marching ahead? The answer is found in the streets as civic warfare spreads throughout America. Detroit, Chicago harbingers of more to come. Killings, disrupted public services, police/citizen confrontations, mass shootings, arbitrary shootings and military-armed police can only add up to one conclusion. Civic warfare. It’s already started. ...

... This can only spell trouble. After all, America’s over-loaded with firepower.