I seem to recall saying something similar to this that appears in George Monbiot's latest: "the neoliberal project - which demands a minimal state and maximum corporate freedom - actually relies on constant government support."
In fact my point has been wider: that neoliberal society actually relies on a host of 'unliberal' and unacknowledged supports to keep it going: it is in fact parasitic on certain kinds of infrastructure but tends to make rude comments when other people try to have more advantageous infrastructures.
As George points out "The current financial crisis, caused by a failure to regulate financial services properly, is being postponed by government bail-outs. The US Federal Reserve has reduced its lending rate to the commercial banks, while the Bundesbank organised a E3.5bn rescue of the lending company IKB. This happens whenever the banks suffer the consequences of the freedom they demand."
Indeed. They have us by the short and curlies. 'We' can't afford for them to go under, so all of a sudden, in financial crisis they become state-subsidised: where did all that talk of the market, fitness and competition go? We are all state-interventionists when it's to our advantage!
Monbiot then goes on to talk about the PFI fiasco through a case study of a hospital in Derby. It only serves to drive deeper for me the question of how having to pay shareholders in addition to normal costs can make a project cheaper.
Monbiot.com � The Fat Cats Protection League:
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