The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life)

An interesting read. Make no mistake, this is not an academic overview, this is a call to action. As such it's filled with rhetoric, and is a book for the political layperson, not policymakers. The historical parts are fascinating. I feel that the book could've been half it's actual length and gotten the point across better if it stuck to the facts and history a bit more and left a lot of the woolly, high level abstract criticisms out. Almost every modern societal ill is ascribed to the neoliberal boogeyman - as if the loneliness epidemic and environmental destruction is only inherent to modern capitalism, and people aren't miserable under other societal structures too. It rightly points out 'colonial looting' as a destroyer of ecosystems. China doesn't get a mention, perhaps because it's harder to slap a 'neoliberal' label on. They've managed to pull hundreds of millions of people out of agrarian poverty since their own economic liberalisation and industrialisation, but this has been accompanied by environmental destruction just like everywhere else. Very good takedowns of Thatcher and Reagan's politics, exposing how they just lifted policy straight from think tanks funded by super-capitalists, with no care for the consequences. Keynesianism may have been failing when they came to power but what came next went so far the other way it really does explain a lot of our modern day problems despite the criticisms above. The solutions proposed at the end were interesting, but vague. (Only 5 of the 25 chapters are devoted to the author's proposed alternatives) More decentralised government doesn't seem like a bad idea and the idea of the commons is great. Absolutely no thought given to how we simply tax the rich, given how good they are at hiding their wealth. I would've liked to see more policy proposals other than just 'we need to tax the rich'. Given that the tax burden in most liberal democracies is among the highest in the world, how do we claw back wealth from the oligarchs? It absolutely can be done, but I'd like to have seen more discussion of the how to do it without being wrapped around a tree and kicked to death by the bond markets and associated 'neoliberal infrastructure'. The system took years to build, and it'll take years to dismantle and replace, so I don't quite accept their criticism of incrementalism. The commons was not stolen in a day, and it'll not be reclaimed in a day either. They are correct that tweaking at the edges of the system like we've been doing for the past 20 years doesn't work. We need big bold steps, cautiously taken to avoid having to retrace them (for small stakes examples, see botched green insulation schemes in the UK, RHI scandal in Northern Ireland). Probably worth a read. I've been very harsh.

Vital reading. Explains in a nutshell the neoliberalist consensus we’ve lived in since the 1970s, and how we might imagine new stories.