'In the 1970s, when Keynesian policies began to fall apart and economic crises struck both sides of the Atlantic, neoliberal ideas began to enter mainstream politics. As Friedman remarked, “when the time came that you had to change … there was an alternative ready there to be picked up.” With the help of sympathetic journalists and political advisers, elements of neoliberalism, especially its prescriptions for monetary policy, were adopted by Jimmy Carter’s administration in the US and Jim Callaghan’s government in Britain.

Right wing parties evolved into those who believe that competition is the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency. It maintains that “the market” delivers benefits that could never be achieved by planning. Attempts to limit competition are treated as inimical to liberty. Tax and regulation should be minimised; public services should be privatised. The organisation of labour and collective bargaining by trade unions are portrayed as market distortions that impede the formation of a natural hierarchy of winners and losers. Inequality is recast as virtuous: a reward for utility and a generator of wealth, which trickles down to enrich everyone. Efforts to create a more equal society are both counterproductive and morally corrosive. The market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve. Freedom from trade unions and collective bargaining means the freedom to suppress wages. Freedom from regulation means the freedom to poison rivers, endanger workers, charge iniquitous rates of interest and design exotic financial instruments. Freedom from tax means freedom from the distribution of wealth that lifts people out of poverty. We internalise and reproduce neoliberalism’s creeds. The rich persuade themselves that they acquired their wealth through merit, ignoring the advantages – such as education, inheritance, and class – that may have helped to secure it. The poor begin to blame themselves for their failures, even when they can do little to change their circumstances. It seems strange that a doctrine promising choice should have been promoted with the slogan ‘there is no alternative.’ after Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan took power. More remarkable was its adoption among parties that once belonged to the left: Labour and the Democrats, for example. As Stedman Jones notes, “it is hard to think of another utopia to have been as fully realized.” But as Hayek remarked on a visit to Pinochet’s Chile – one of the first nations in which the program was comprehensively applied – “my personal preference leans toward a liberal dictatorship rather than toward a democratic government devoid of liberalism.” The freedom that neoliberalism offers, which sounds so beguiling when expressed in general terms, turns out to mean freedom for the predators, not for their prey.

maybe instead of having five decades of tory govenments we can actually have an actual labour government for once but i guess thats harder than just blaming immigrants and trans people for all problems

Maybe the economy does indeed need fixing. I wonder how many Brits agree with the Lib Dems’ suggested fix, which is to rejoin the EU single market and customs union:

We need to fix our trading relationship with Europe to tackle the cost of living crisis and grow our economy.

Liberal Democrats are calling for the UK to join the single market and customs union, to fix the damage done by Brexit and get our country back on track.

I can respect the fact that they’re more certain about what they want to do. I think Burnham is alright, but his position on Europe seems to be “I don’t know yet; we’ll try to get closer to Europe, but we don’t know what that looks like yet”.