Book Review: Freedom from the Market: America’s Fight to Liberate Itself from the Grip of the Invisible Hand by Mike Konczal
This book is the best explainer I’ve seen in telling how neoliberal dogma gained a dominant foothold in American economic and social thinking; and in so doing it provides critical pointers for regaining lost ground in refuting that dogma and making people economically whole. If you’ve been looking for an objective foundation for debunking the false assumptions behind the push to privatize everything, Mike Konczal provides it here. The content is persuasive enough by itself, and the list of peer reviewers in the credits additionally confirms that this is not just the subjective work of yet another progressive.
Konczal covers issues that in past decades have taken a back seat to rent seeking by the very wealthy. These issues include providing sufficient health care, education, and public infrastructure. Credit and ownership of one’s own labor is an essential element of a just economic system, including time for family, community involvement, and personal pursuits. History demonstrates that markets are far from being a panacea, and that the invisible hand has an agenda that is hardly natural—practicality shows a better way.
The history recounted is essential in providing relevance to 21st Century efforts toward restoring middle class prosperity—this time including all those left out of the original New Deal. In this book Konczal offers both hope and practical solutions from trails already blazed, essential tools in countering the well funded disinformation mechanisms that continue to be sustained in society by those who benefit inequitably from neoliberal policies. Mindful of the crucial battles won and lost throughout US history that are recounted in this book, we can achieve a strong and diverse middle class.
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