Is this an academic paper? Telling a story the way the author sees it, causal relationships established as if they are obvious, no need to actually show they exist. This is indoctrination, not analysis.
Here is a list of the author's work. This is very consistent with "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" and numerous bodies of work that highlight the tactics used. This
essay (if not an academic article) was interesting for providing more context and subtext around the drivers for the movement. It's honestly a political and economic masterclass regardless of your ethical position. https://www.jasonhickel.org/#/academic-work/
The author is a contributor to Jacobin Magazine which according to Wikipedia "has been variously described as democratic socialist, socialist and Marxist" so it would seem you're spot on.
As far as a critique of the actual paper, it seems to be predicated on the idea that democracy and freedom are synonymous when in fact they're orthogonal concepts. You can have tyrannical democratic structures, in fact that's what the founding fathers sought to combat in the original system they laid out which was less democratic than it is now (e.g. only land owners, people who have skin in the game, can vote).
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic." – Benjamin Franklin
Why is it necessary to dig so far to understand the decay of American democracy? Today's problems are impossible without simple gerrymandering and the idiosyncrasies of the electoral college. It's not a deep problem.
What exactly are you saying is the problem? Even if it’s as simple as you claim, those “simple” problems are apparently not subject to repair. So long as that is the case, I recommend considering that the problem does in-fact have a bit more depth to it.
Neoliberalism as practiced in the United States isn't a good idea. In other countries it's had much more success. For instance, Denmark doesn't have a minimum wage, and has very high labour mobility. A generous social safety net and strong trade unions enables this.
Then is it really neoliberalism in Denmark? It seems strong social safety net and trade unions are somehow anathema to neoliberalism.
Sure they could participate in the global economies and reap rewards from the globalization but they're also a smaller player w/ less power on the world stage.
American neoliberalism has been a bad idea not just for us, but maybe for the whole world. It's all gonna come to a head though if they really do evict 40 million people this year.
chanakya|5 years ago
grdeken|5 years ago
quercusgrisea|5 years ago
googthrowaway42|5 years ago
As far as a critique of the actual paper, it seems to be predicated on the idea that democracy and freedom are synonymous when in fact they're orthogonal concepts. You can have tyrannical democratic structures, in fact that's what the founding fathers sought to combat in the original system they laid out which was less democratic than it is now (e.g. only land owners, people who have skin in the game, can vote).
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic." – Benjamin Franklin
alpineidyll3|5 years ago
extradesgo|5 years ago
bryanlarsen|5 years ago
gremlinsinc|5 years ago
Sure they could participate in the global economies and reap rewards from the globalization but they're also a smaller player w/ less power on the world stage.
American neoliberalism has been a bad idea not just for us, but maybe for the whole world. It's all gonna come to a head though if they really do evict 40 million people this year.