Market Populists Go to the 6th Circle of Hell
First, I’d better define exactly who a market populist is, before I get 1800 e-mails accusing me of Marxist sorcery.
Mar-ket Pop-u-list: noun
One who embraces the economic philosophy of the free market, globalisation, and free trade with a religious furvor. Market populists must show absolute loyalty to the whims of the almighty deity that is the free market at all times. Customs of the faith include: daily devotion and reflection on the sacred texts of the New York Times and the Wall Street Jounal, kneeling in prayer twice a day in the general direction of the NYSE at 9:30 AM EST, and at 4:30 PM EST, and denouncing heretics who do not share the faith whenever they are met.
Market populists may also exhibit symptoms of blindness, and have a tendency to experience bouts of tone-defness, especially when confronted with evidence that free trade may not be beneficial for 3rd world countries, the American middle class, or non CEOs.
The high priests of Market Populism can be found in editorial boards across the nation, as well as in all levels of state and national government. Their words are to be given the highest regard and at no point should any tone less than absolute reverence be shown towards them.
Heretics such as Thomas Frank, Dennis Kucinich, and Gore Vidal should be villified at the very least, and if possible, brought to justice dead or alive.
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Before we became obsessed with the idea that markets dictate the success of nations and people, we had a decent thing going. During the post World War 2 boom, the American people experienced an unprecedented success, and the middle class was created. This was not a natural phenomenon. Rather, the creation of the middle class was the result of progressive tax policies, strong labor unions, and heavy regulation from a state still wary from the Depression.
Somewhere along the line we decided that unions had become too powerful, corporations should have the same rights (and even more) than human beings, and that the very idea of regulating the economy was undemocratic and unnatural.
And now we stand where we are today. The gap between the rich and the poor is greater than it has been at any time since surfdom, our natural resources have been pushed to the limit, and any whisper that free trade may be responsible is stamped out by a chorus of a thousand angry new economists in less than an instant. As a whole, we have embraced the free market as more than an economic policy, but as a cultural movement, even as a religion. Proponents of free trade will often support policies that they know absolutely nothing about other than the fact that the title includes the words “free trade” in them.
The only consideration that matters for the market populist is profit.
Should you want a company to stop outsourcing its jobs to 3rd world countries that have sparing, if any labor laws to protect American jobs, they will cry foul because you will be interfering with that company’s unalienable right to profit.
Should you ask a corporation to pay its employees a living wage so that they don’t have to use credit to pay for gas and groceries, they will cry foul because the corporation will then be forced to cut jobs or raise prices.
Nothing can interfere with the will of the free market, and the free market has only one note to play. Freedom.
They have so twisted this notion that market populists believe deregulation is as essential to liberty as the right to vote.
They are so convinced that free trade is good for everyone involved that opponents are accused of wanting to keep the poor poorer.
Some market populists don’t understand what it is all about. They support the policy because it’s a vague, positive notion akin to bringing the world together through trade, while being woefully ignorant of the pain it causes to all but a handful of people.
Other market populists get it, and they just don’t care.
You would think that the housing crisis and the credit crunch would be enough to convince some of these true believers that letting the market regulate itself isn’t the greatest idea, but they’re simply not listening.
I have some very sad news to give to them. The market is not God. The market is not an equalizer. The market does not have a will or a consciousness or a soul. But if you insist on worshipping this economic policy with a zest that would put Jihadists to shame, then don’t be surprised if you find yourself in the 6th level of hell some day.
