This book may not be a barrel of laughs but it has turned out to be true. First published in 1998 Gray takes on free market ideology that has been dominant since the 80s. It's proponents convince the public that the market is the natural state of affairs, to which Gray points out that it is not 'a gift of social evolution. It is an end-product of social engineering and unyielding political will'. And with disastrous results.
What one figure has stuck to me is the divorce rate in the UK in 1992. One divorce for every two marriages, comparable only to the US. Unemployment and family breakdown rose after deregulating labour along with a burgeoning underclass unheard of in the rest of Europe. The visible signs of social erosion after Thatcher are so striking that she was not wrong to claim that she changed everything in Britain. Certainly it seems that more people are losing out after her than before.
When choice is god than what difference does it make if you are paying for a divorce or pay for a car? Effectively it nullifies morality and value judgements. What happens to the things that we can't use money to solve, like a liveable planet or friendship? Do these become commodified and just a product we can buy and sell? If I look around my town I can see that the markets aren't good for even businesses let alone creating beautiful surroundings.
I think the quote at the beginning of this blog is useful to think while reading this book. Gray also says 'free market policies lost political legitimacy while at the same time altering the economy and society in ways that democratic choice cannot reverse'. This is not utopian thinking but he suggests that what we are becoming is where anarchy is permeant. In 2009 he wrote an updated foreword after the financial crisis of 2008 where he seems to be vindicated of his view as the correct one before anyone else even considered the question. We cannot go back and our future is uncertain. There will be no one way of correcting the situation, if it can be corrected.
A sober read and argued with detail it's the book you need to read to understand out economics today and to be able to at least understand how we got here.
Now it's audience participation time! If you enjoyed this blog and my previous work than you can help support me in a few ways:
- by being my patron on Patreon.com
-give a one off donation with Buy Me a Coffee
-Buy one of my literary books
-Share this blog on your social media
-Leave a comment, you can even recommend me book
-Follow me
I can't stress enough how much all this helps me and how in the long run it will help you, so if you can and you want to please support my free content so I can keep on producing my beloved blog.
Live long and prosper.
No comments:
Post a Comment