The gods that failed

A devastating assault on the delusional, faith-based thinking that markets can, unaided, create heaven on earth. Since the late Sixties, control of our economy has passed into the hands of a new elite of super-rich free-market operatives and their colleagues in national and international institutions. These New Olympians, so named because of their remoteness from everyday life and their lack of accountability, are unconcerned with — in fact, hostile to — job security, social tranquility and the traditional middle-class aspiration for both the good life and the quiet life. This group has sought to insulate itself from democratic challenge and to make "irreversible" the legal changes from which it has profited so enormously. Aside from the obnoxious principles involved, the rule of this financial elite has brought not prosperity but sluggish growth in living standards, a debt explosion, and now a major crisis of international proportions as a vast borrowing bubble starts to deflate. Elliott and Atkinson argue that the coming crisis will shatter all remaining faith in the empty dogmas of "shareholder value" and "labour flexibility".