The Neoliberal Revolution

"Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable." - Milton Friedman

Towards the end of WW2, Friedrich von Hayek wrote and published 'The Road to Serfdom', which argued that fascism is the inevitable endpoint of giving the state too much power over the economy. Powerful governments led to oppressive societies and individual serfdom. The economy should be controlled by individuals: the free market ensured the freedom of individuals.

In the aftermath of WW2, a group of Western intellectuals, including Hayek and Friedman, gathered to pass judgement on the world. Their conclusion: governments had too much power, too much control. Individual freedom and private property were in danger. There would be more tyrannies, another great war.

Over the years, this group and their associates founded a range of economic think tanks to propagate and popularize Neoliberal ideas (neo = new, liberal = economic freedom, free from government control and regulation). In America in particular, Neoliberalism got mixed up with the 'Greed is Good' objectivism of Ayn Rand. These think tanks received a lot of funding from big corporations, who would benefit from free-market policies.

The 1970s were a period of economic and political turmoil. The think tanks upped their game, laying the foundations for the Neoliberal policies that Thatcher's government would implement. Privatization of public assets. Deregulation. Tax cuts for the rich. The Neoliberal revolution had begun.

In 2004, a new economic think tank was born: the TaxPayers' Alliance, a corporate entity that unashamedly pretends to be the voice of the masses. (Recently, the head of the TPA advised the government to cut pensioner benefits immediately, despite all their election promises not to, because old people will likely die or have forgotten by the next election.) Throughout the 2000s, the TPA campaigned aggressively against government spending.

Until 2008, the Conservative party had agreed with New Labour's spending plans, sometimes even suggesting that they spend more. But the economic crisis, created by an under-regulated financial sector, was an opportunity: the Conservatives teamed up with the TaxPayer's Alliance to rewrite history: government overspending had ruined the economy. The Conservatives, the TPA, and the Media Overlords all propagated this retcon. After teaming up with the Conservatives in 2010, so did the Liberal Democrats. The TPA advised the coalition government on its policies. Spending cuts. Privatization. Deregulation. Tax cuts for the rich. The Neoliberal revolution was taken to new extremes.

And now look at the news.

(Sources:
'The Establishment' by Owen Jones
'How Corrupt is Britain?' edited by David Whyte
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34439965?SThisFB )