Comments on: Looting the public/2014/08/25/looting-the-public/Andrew Curry's blog on futures, trends, emerging issues and scenariosFri, 02 Jan 2015 23:06:24 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: Opinion – UK Local Authorities and Shared Services: Cost-Cutting – Myth or Reality? – John Gelmini « Dr Alf's Blog/2014/08/25/looting-the-public/#comment-5611Tue, 16 Sep 2014 15:35:01 +0000/?p=4159#comment-5611[…] Looting the public […]

]]>By: thenextwavefutures/2014/08/25/looting-the-public/#comment-5595Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:40:46 +0000/?p=4159#comment-5595In reply to Ian Christie.

More on Andrew Gamble and Crisis Without End here: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blogs/jonathan-derbyshire/crisis-without-end-a-conversation-with-andrew-gamble

]]>By: Ian Christie/2014/08/25/looting-the-public/#comment-5594Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:22:23 +0000/?p=4159#comment-5594Thanks Andrew. I agree completely with this analysis. The response of neoliberal elite members to the idea of ‘looting’ by financiers, PFI chiefs et al (in my experience of levelling the charge to any of them I can get to) is that a few rotten crooks have indeed been able to get away with looting but that everyone else is ‘getting the going rate for the job’ and self-evidently producing a higher level of efficiency and innovation than could ever be achieved by the public sector. The self-image of a lot of elite people depends on seeing extreme rewards and rents as eminently deserved, fair and justifiable. And 35 years of political surrender to neoliberalism and entrenchment of neoliberal ideas as fundamental common sense make it easy for them to continue to do this.
Whether this can carry on is the key issue for the next phase of the rolling post-2007 crisis. There are some signs of elite members breaking ranks, but not in sufficient numbers or with enough determination to make trouble and put real resources into alternative policies. An interesting recent hint of apostasy came from the chair of Goldman Sachs, lamenting the rise of inequality in the West and the stagnation or decline of real wages for the masses.
Andrew Gamble has some scenarios for the development of the post-Crunch period in his new book, Crisis without End? (2014, Macmillan). (I love the question mark…)

]]>By: Looting the public | thenextwave | Olduvaiblog/2014/08/25/looting-the-public/#comment-5588Mon, 25 Aug 2014 14:34:21 +0000/?p=4159#comment-5588[…] Looting the public | thenextwave. […]

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