All Must Read: The Rise of Esoteric Knowledge, Refeudalization, Crisis and Renewal - Dr. Erik Reiner [View all]

[mckara]

For truly understanding our economy's fundamental problems...

"As the Cold War advanced, what were once merely assumptions needed in order to fit mathematical tools to economic realities gradually became accepted ‘truths’. Economists adopted economic individualism, i.e. they abstracted from studying societies. When Margaret Thatcher famously said 'there is no such thing as society' she was merely stating a fundamental assumption of ruling economic theory. Assuming no difference between economic activities and a frictionless economy, economists modeled a world where a coordinating nation-state was no longer needed. So Ronald Reagan’s statement that 'government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem' was completely in line with ruling economic theory at the time. The society modeled in neo-classical economics did not need governments, only centuries of experience would contrast what had become the mathematically obvious fact expressed by Reagan. Economic theory modeled a world with no voluntary unemployment, and it therefore became legitimate to label all the unemployed of the world as 'lazy.' Neo-classical economic modeling produced that blend of wishful thinking, ignorance, and intolerance which we call neoliberalism." Erik Reinert

http://publicsphere.ssrc.org/reinert-economics-and-the-public-sphere/