Chomsky interview on the ravages of neoliberalism.

Economy, Health, Immigration, refugees, Media, Politics

Chomsky interview on the ravages of neoliberalism.

Jan 6, 2017

In this interview, reported in The Wire on 31 January 2016, Noam Chomsky talks about the ravages of neoliberalism. this is a repost from 21 February 2016.

He says

The impact of the neoliberal programs of the past generation almost everywhere has been to undermine democratic participation, to impose stagnation or sometimes decline on the majority of the population and to concentrate wealth very narrowly, which of course then in turn affects the political system and how it works.

He says there is

‘plenty of anger and good reasons for it if you look at what is happening to people … It is a reflection of depression, hopelessness, concern that everything is lost – nothing is in our lives, nothing is in our futures, then at least show your anger.

The propaganda system in the US, in England and in continental Europe is designed to focus that anger on people that are even more deprived and miserable – such as immigrants, welfare cheats, trade unions and all kinds of people who somehow you think are getting what you are not getting. … The anger then is not focused on those who are really responsible – the power hungry private sector or the huge financial institutions that are basically supported by taxpayers.

Chomsky also calls the US healthcare system ‘

‘an international scandal’ and an outcome of what he terms the neoliberal assault. This is happening in England too. The National Health Service in England is probably the best health system in the world. The [neoliberals] are now trying to dismantle it and turn it into something like the American system which is one of the worst in the world. The American healthcare system is about twice per capita cost of comparable countries and has some of the worst outcomes. The reason is straightforward. It is privatised, it is very inefficient. There is a huge bureaucracy and companies are interested in profit not health.

See link below to Chomsky interview:

http://thewire.in/2016/01/31/chomsky-interview-the-us-is-one-of-the-most-fundamentalist-countries-in-the-world-20491/