Member-only story
Economics as if people matter
Yesterday marked the 71st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It was founded on October 1, 1949. Upon that occasion, one of my Chinese friends in China asked me to comment on the idea and practice of socialism.
I think it is a timely request. The world’s economy has been undergoing tremendous hardship even before the emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic. The main reason for such hardship for the vast majority of the people has to do with the idea of Neoliberalism. Neoliberalism can be understood as the revival of the old capitalist thinking, prior to Marx and prior to the advent of progressivism and reform movements. The Oxford Dictionary defines Neoliberalism as the ideology “favoring policies that promote free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending.” It is an extreme form of laissez-faire ideology that discourages government intervention and regulation. To put it bluntly, Neoliberalism is economics as if the common people don’t matter. Profits for the capitalists are the top priority. Needless to say, this ideology contradicts the core principles of every major religion — Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc. It would not be a stretch to say that Neoliberalism is anti-human in its spirit. What is a mystery to me is why so many people in the Western world have embraced it.
