The most extensive and exacting look at Friedman's and The Chicago School of Economics' approach has been presented by Naomi Klein in her eminently readable book The Shock Doctrine. She traces the path of influence and implementation of Friedman's and neoliberalism's activities over the past 40+ years, starting withe Chile, moving on to Argentina, Bolivia, Poland (post Solidarity Movement), Russia (and Yeltsin), South Africa, the Asian "tiger economies", through Thatcherism, Reaganism, up to the financial crash of 2008. I'm not saying that this isn't a controversial book. It is. But, it's well documented, well argued, and, in the end, pretty much on target.
Practically every principle or precept that neoliberalism holds to be true fails to hold up in reality. Free markets don't exist, but it's not that they haven't been free enough. Instead, we see that without massive government intervention (for example, as in Iraq), markets are not capable of organizing themselves. Without regulation, businesses, left to their own devices, will seek protected markets, government subsidies, and monopoly status to protect their interests, not the greater good. It turns out, in practice, that self-interest is anything but enlightened, rather Gecko's maxim, "Greed is good", prevails. Yes, a few benefit -- greatly, even outrageously -- but most of us are left by the wayside.
Yes, the neoliberal program has been forced through again and again, and the result is always the same: unfree markets, dictatorial governments, the widespread abuse of human and other rights, oppression, destruction, and, if necessary (or not), war to provide the shock that is needed to ... well, it is not clear what the real goal is. The non-violent, non-military, non-CIA-induced regime-change applications of the theory, say, in the UK or USA, has produced nothing more than rising unemployment, demonization of the poor, and a wealth inequality unparalleled in the history of the world. If there has ever been a failed mode of thought, this is it, yet it lives, thrives and is perpetuated, in particular in organizations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The (now discredited) policy of austerity is their non-military application of their principles. The Greeks are the latest victims, but, I can assure you, they will not be the last.
If so many lives were not at stake, we could afford ourselves the luxury of intellectual refutation, as Sheldrake's case against science demonstrates. These principles of neoliberalism, however, are not mere intellectual postulates. It is possible, rather easily, I might add, to demonstrate clearly how incredibly inapplicable any one of these "dogmas" are. Not a single one holds true. Not a single one is supported by any real-life evidence. Not a single one is defensible on realistic or real-life ethical grounds, but they are the New Gospel of Salvation.
Those who believe, however, are those who benefit from such ideas. Those who believe have access to the power brokers and law makers worldwide. Those who believe are responsible for the pain, suffering and even death of so many innocent human beings. If there has ever been a system of faith, a system of belief, a "religion" that broaches no other, neoliberalism is it.
References
Klein, Naomi (2007) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Picador, New York.
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