Financial
meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump –
neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left
failed to come up with an alternative?
by George
Monbiot
PART 5
For all
that, there is something admirable about the neoliberal project, at
least in its early stages. It was a distinctive, innovative
philosophy promoted by a coherent network of thinkers and activists
with a clear plan of action. It was patient and persistent. The Road
to Serfdom became the path to power.
Neoliberalism’s
triumph also reflects the failure of the left. When laissez-faire
economics led to catastrophe in 1929, Keynes devised a comprehensive
economic theory to replace it. When Keynesian demand management hit
the buffers in the 70s, there was an alternative ready. But when
neoliberalism fell apart in 2008 there was ... nothing. This is why
the zombie walks. The left and centre have produced no new general
framework of economic thought for 80 years.
Every
invocation of Lord Keynes is an admission of failure. To propose
Keynesian solutions to the crises of the 21st century is to ignore
three obvious problems. It is hard to mobilise people around old
ideas; the flaws exposed in the 70s have not gone away; and, most
importantly, they have nothing to say about our gravest predicament:
the environmental crisis. Keynesianism works by stimulating consumer
demand to promote economic growth. Consumer demand and economic
growth are the motors of environmental destruction.
What the
history of both Keynesianism and neoliberalism show is that it’s
not enough to oppose a broken system. A coherent alternative has to
be proposed. For Labour, the Democrats and the wider left, the
central task should be to develop an economic Apollo programme, a
conscious attempt to design a new system, tailored to the demands of
the 21st century.
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