Hey, there...I'm not quite sure what to call this place but here is a scary post for Friday the 13th!
There are plenty of places online where one can get the official definition of what it is. Some of it is true, of course, but I'm going to offer my idiosyncratic analysis of what it is. But, first, millions of people over the past five to ten years have been outspoken critics of this economic ideology so the elites know for a fact the thoughts and feelings of the masses when it comes to their economic model. Some of us have also been targeted for speaking out against it and I rank among those who exist in that camp, but this post isn't about my suffering at the hands of the elites. I'm in no way arguing for the brutal sister of privatized corporate capitalism as espoused by Marx...So, let's get that critique off the table right up front as every blog I've written on these issues makes it clear that I don't support state-run capitalism either i.e. communism. I'm also skeptical of the mid-level gate-keepers of the machine who argue, "That's not true capitalism!" "That's not true communism!"
At its core, it's an ideology premised on the idea that only the most gifted in any particular field or endeavor is valued by the corporate machine. This accounts for about 1% of the population although there are different levels of skills, talents, etc. even within the top 1%...An example might be a comparison between Wayne Gretzky and Tim Horton-- both highly skilled but one far outshines the other. This top 1% under neoliberal ethics (and *metaphysics) now live the most incredible lifestyles imagined within the known universe! I should note also that surrounding this elite group is about 10% of the population who worship or are in a sycophantic relationship to the elite. Slightly lower on the pyramid is about another 10% (equaling about 20% of humanity's population) who through media, education, and cultural conditioning support the elites in a wide spectrum of ways even though their talents in no way compare to the 1%. Those of you who are aware of The Pareto Distribution might have a sense of what I'm talking about here.
So, what about the other 80% of humanity's population? Good question and the topic of the post. Under the neoliberal order, the masses have been reduced to a servant class within an economy and economic model that simply doesn't value them because they are not exceptionally skilled or talented. They have now been reduced to servants of the machine and will spend a lifetime living in various debt peonage. I should note right off the top that this 'neo-slavery' is entirely different from the physical brutality of slavery in antiquity but it's a subtle form of slavery nevertheless. Under neoliberalism ALL the cost of living is transferred solely to the individual: you got sick and couldn't work? Here is a credit card to cover the cost if one was lucky enough to have a credit profile that allowed them even that. Those below that threshold litter the streets in nearly every city on earth. You're fortunate to have a car and can drive? All the costs of maintaining a commercial vehicle are now downloaded onto the individual proprietor who will likely need to supplement his meager income from driving via credit-card debt. And I could list thousands of occupations that now suffer the same modalities or fate under the neoliberal machine. If one loves and espouses the neoliberal order I'd wager heavily on what demographic they exist in. If the neoliberal order has a slogan it is this: CORPORATE WELFARE FOR THE ELITE AND AUSTERITY FOR THE MASSES!
A consequence of this system is what's known as societal anomie--a system-wide depression and anxiety among the masses as a result of their devaluation by the machine. It creates, in part, a societal apathy and 'zombification' of large swaths of the population likely caused, in part, by the earlier iterations of economic liberalism wherein the masses were severed from their relationship to the land that existed over millennia--the enclosure of the commons for private interests. In those early days, the family unit was still more or less intact so people had at least that much but in neoliberalism, the nuclear family has been decimated and the economics of the system now makes it so even two-highly professional people can now barely own a home let alone raise a family (the lower part of that top 20%).
On to the *metaphysics of this and I'll say right up front that some of this is speculative. In late neoliberalism, Christianity and its culture have also been decimated so I can't see how it has much influence. Yes, in early economic liberalism it was Christian cultures that created the capitalist model; although I'd argue, most likely correctly, that it was the 'goats' of Christendom that created capitalism as no true Christian could accept the crass exploitation and coercion of the capitalist machine which is clearly described as anti-christ in scripture--at least by any coherent reading of the Bible. So what made it so those who are incredibly good at kicking balls around now make more in a week than some working people will make in a lifetime of hard labor? It wasn't the Veda's and Hinduism that created this because it didn't make inroads into the west until the 20th century; it wasn't Islam as privatized economic liberalism isn't compatible with the Islamic Caliphate. China? Communist for over half a century now! So where did this valuation come from in western cultures?
I'm doing a series on Investigating Kabbalism which I'll link here. I attempt to be fair and impartial in my critique of it and will only comment on what they believe. Firstly, though, one has to concede the fact that the Kabbalists came out of the middle east starting around the 14th century and now wield incredible influence over civilization via places like Hollywood and societies like The Freemasons who practice a type of esoteric Judaism derived from Kabbalism. In part three of the video, I'm critiquing, the author posits a stage-structured metaphysics that asserts that humans, at the basic needs level, are in a lowly evolved state of existence and some will rise and gain fame and fortune and even some will gain great wealth and riches. The point, though, is it's implied in this metaphysics that the elites are more highly evolved than the masses. I should note that these ideas are near entirely at odds with Christian metaphysics.
I'll only touch briefly on his assertion that at some point billionaires grow tired of the banality of wealth and power and turn to spiritual altruism. I see no evidence of this anywhere! To be fair I don't see any success in this regard in Buddism either when it comes to the Bodhisattva mythology; or in the New Age Hindu belief systems which posit Ascended Masters or whatnot who seem to me to be ignorant of economics and what it is that would make a healthy economic society. The point is that I see no evidence of the assertion in that regard and the possibility of self-delusion and the rationalization of bad behavior becomes exponential as far as I can see. I've also been commenting lately on the IDW (intellectual dark web) in this regard, who, it seems to me, to go on and on about complex intellectual abstractions while dismissing basic human dignity and what it would take to honor that on the systemic level: THE ENDING OF PREDITORIAL ECONOMICS! See the philosophy of equalism linked here in that regard. A side note here is that if anyone is wondering about the recent onslaught of identity politics please let me assure you that it's a manufactured distraction to take the focus off of economic fairness and decency.
At any rate, my point is that I don't think the current value system under the neoliberal order just wafted out of Darwinian chance and necessity but was rather the inevitable outcome of a metaphysical belief system that has garnered an enormous amount of traction in the past 600-years. I also state in this series that I think it was ethically wrong of the RCC church to make sanctions against the Jews over the millennia and that no one should cause violence to anyone (including the Jews) because it transgresses upon the NAP (nonaggression principle). But I do think ALL metaphysical claims should be open to investigation and scrutiny and I'll also note here that many atheist Jews have no issues whatsoever when it comes to dissecting and lambasting claims which THEY think are absurd--so, let's at least be good sports and have it go both ways!
What I'm suggesting here is that the present neoliberal order exists, in part, as the inevitable result of Kabbalistic metaphysics. I may need to do a part two of this focused on solutions but my site does have many posts in that regard. See my Four Pillars Of A New Earth Commons for a starter...I am NOT in favor of reactionary right-wing populist ethnonationalism--NO THANKS! I've suggested elsewhere that the crimes of Sept.11, 2001 were actually about a war between different factions of the elites where one group wants a secular order and one group wants a return to their religious orders which served them so well for millennia. I'm a Christian Gnostic and we have a tendency of ending up dead under theocracies so I'll pass on that one and continue to argue for a new and improved secular order and a reworking of the humanist manifesto wherein it concedes the possibility of God--although in all likelihood one not posited in the archon controlled religions of HIS-tory!
