The problem with 40 years of neo-liberal experimentation is that all the seeds they have sown seem to have fallen on barren ground. The latest revelations about the perils that have accompanied the privatisation of old age care in Australia highlight the deregulation, privatisation, globalisation and corporatisation revolution was a complete and utter waste of time. When you dissect Islamic State, Stalinism and the Nazi ledger you can easily count the social and human costs.
Bankrupt ideologies tend to sow their seeds on barren ground. Initially the plant takes root, but eventually it withers and dies as the assumptions bankrupt ideologies are built on cannot sustain their long term survival. The problem with the neo-liberal seed is it can be hard to quantify the damage caused. Every day in Australia and overseas, people are beginning to count the massive costs neo-liberalism has caused.
When you count the human and social costs they are on a par, if not worse than, the cost of Nazism and Stalinism combined. The misery caused by the privatisation of the old age sector, coupled with the growing inequalities and social dislocation caused by the neo-liberal tsunami are real. Billions of people around the world and millions in Australia are paying the price for initially embracing an ideology which is based on the maximisation of profits for unaccountable corporations irrespective of the human, social and environmental costs.
The tragedy has been in almost every democratic society on earth, neo-liberalism has become the parliamentary mantra. The mission statements of parliaments around the world have seen the neo-liberal flag hoisted up by successive parliaments at the expense of the bulk of the population. Parliamentary representatives have long ceased to listen and govern for the people that have put their faith in them. Time and time again the bulk of the population discovers their parliamentary representatives are more interested in pushing the neo-liberal privatisation, deregulation, corporatisation, globalisation barrow irrespective of the damage it causes to the people they represent.
Democracy – rule of the people, by the people, for the people has been hijacked by that small section of society (the 1%) who own the means of production, distribution, exchange and communication. Aided and abetted by parliamentary representatives who are more interested in exercising what little power they have than taking any notice of what the electorate wants and expects. No wonder more and more people are refusing to participate in a political system they no longer have any faith in. The rise and rise of corporate crony – capitalism, has been a complete disaster. Only now, 40 years after the first neo-liberal seeds were sown, an increasing number of people are realising the neo-liberal seed was diseased to start with and never had any hope of ever growing into anything worthwhile.