The Enduring Legacy of Neo-Liberalism

Sir Ted Thomas will discuss "The Enduring Legacy of Neo-Liberalism" on Wednesday 11 February at Connolly Hall, Guildford Street, Wellington at 5:30pm. Sir Edmund argues that the gross inequality in income and wealth which besets New Zealand is the outcome of the neo-liberal economic measures of the mid-1980s and early 1990s and the culture of liberal individualism and unfettered free market ideology which it spawned. A breakdown in social cohesion and a sense of community is the result. The first step towards achieving a more equal and just society, he contends, is to identify the enduring features of neo-liberalism which need to be arrested and reversed. But reforms to counter these features are confronted by a plethora of mantras and myths purveyed by the rich and powerful. The stimulus for change is deadened and the culture of the post-neoliberal free market ideology persists. Sir Edmund examines the ways in which a credible threat to the economic order could be mounted, such as to bring about the adjustment to capitalism necessary to achieve a more equal and just society.