en: Picture of George Monbiot at the Make Povery History Rally, Stop the War stage de: George Monbiot bei der Make Povery History Kundgebung, auf der Stop the War-Bühne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In this Guardian article, George Monbiot, trying to  to promote his next book, shows how false news is triggered. He claims that financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. But he struggles to answer why has the left failed to come up with an alternative.

Source: Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems | Books | The Guardian

For me, Monbiot confuses evidence with personal bias and dogma. He muddles political and economic arguments. He fails to address why left-wing socialist governments promote inefficiency, squander public money and are now so deeply out of favor.

Personally, I’m old enough to remember the seventies with runaway inflation, the three-day week in the UK and how unions destroyed much of the UK’s manufacturing base. Neoliberalism has often been applied too harshly with disastrous consequences, especially by the IMF and Germany. Meanwhile, Keynesian policies like structured public investment have been rejected, prolonging periods of austerity.

It’s the left-wing, that Monbiot supports, that has squandered public finances and run up national debt. But Mobiot is correct to question why the left has not come up with alternatives. If we believe the populists, it’s because the liberal intelligentsia have been fat and happy with the status quo.

Thoughts?