All major social, environmental, and economic issues have their roots in the economy. We have to appreciate how central the economy is to our lives if we are going to address these issues. 

Our economy is dysfunctional. By that, I mean it does not serve its intended purpose. Hence, this dysfunction causes major social, environmental, and economic problems. 

The extent of dysfunction is vast, covering every facet of the economy, resulting in major problems for all. 

While economic issues and their interrelationship with society and the environment are complex, the solution to the problem is remarkably simple. 

The economy is run following a broad set of rules or policies (known as economic policy.) If these rules are wrong, and by wrong, I mean they don’t serve the intended purpose of the economy, then, understandably, the economy will be dysfunctional.  

So, what is the intended purpose of the economy?  To serve majority needs. By inference, to be able to serve majority needs, we also have to serve environmental needs, upon which our existence is predicated. However, this is only part of the picture. To pay for improved social standards (or quality of life), we need a vibrant business sector (or market.) A social market economic policy serves both markets and society equally. Hence, we need social market economic policies to provide crucial balance. 

Our current economic policies are based on a mixture of free market (or neoliberal ideas) and social market ideas, with a strong and ever-increasing bias towards free markets. We have lived predominately under the yoke of free markets for over four decades. This imbalanced approach lies at the heart of our problems, which is the simple truth of the matter. 

If the basics are wrong, then everything goes wrong. It’s as simple as that. 

If the problem is easy to identify, the solution is equally so. 

The next part of this article describes how bad free market policies are – just how diabolically bad they are. You don’t have to read this part because the point has already been made that free market policies don’t, and cannot, meet our requirements of a balanced economic policy and must be replaced urgently. 

The problems we face today are huge. I don’t need to elaborate; they are all around for you to see. While the problems are obvious to us all, most are unfamiliar with how bad our economy is because it’s purposely hidden from us, but here’s a quick guide. 

I start with our economic policy as it sets the overall rules governing our economy. As already stated, it’s predominantly a free market policy.  This policy embodies three basic precepts: 1) Low taxes (particularly on the rich and corporations), 2) Fewer business regulations and 3) Smaller governments. All this is intended to favour financial capital, the owners of which are the rich.

Hence, it has justifiably earned itself the alternate names of Economic Apartheid and Neofeudalism. All three precepts are bad for everybody apart from the rich, but two are particularly bad: fewer regulations and small government. With fewer regulations and poorer government oversight (which is typical of small governments), power shifts to the rich to do whatever they wish – to exploit the weak and vulnerable. With lower taxes, they have been able to push their exploitation further and faster into every nook and cranny of the economy. 

In its own right, free markets are bad enough, leading to Economic Apartheid, but it has also led to these additional adverse effects.

• The growth of the Rentier Economy (also known as the Blood Sucker economy as it’s the non-productive economy, earning its income from rent and expanding the Vacuum Up Vacuum Up systems enable the rich to exploit the weakest and most vulnerable in society, vacuuming up every morsel from their meagre table.
• The growth in Globalisation (also known as Gobbelisation as it gobbles up most domestic manufacturing, vital to a thriving economy. It unduly increases corporations' negotiating powers and leaves countries politically vulnerable.)
• The corruption of the Banking sector. Fewer regulations and oversight led to the 2008 financial crisis. It’s now a dysfunctional money-making sector for the rich.
• The corruption of the Investment sector. Our investment sector bears little resemblance to a true investment culture; instead, it’s a short-term trading farce with innumerable disadvantages to society. Again, thanks to limited effective regulation and oversight.
• The growth in rampant Consumerism. Without a balanced approach to economic development, little regard has been given to environmental and sustainability issues, but rather the importance of driving higher profits through greater consumption.
• The maintenance of inadequate and misleading measurement standards. Free market policies only focus on financial success, so ensure only financial measures govern business and the economy when we need more balanced and inclusive measures. They don’t want these inclusive measures as they would highlight how badly we are really doing against almost meaningless financial results. 

Post World War II, many countries followed a social market policy, but since the 1980s, the cancer of free markets has spread, leaving the majority and their economies weaker. Following the collapse of Germany in 1945, Chancellor Adenauer implemented a social market economic policy which oversaw a “Wirtschaftswunder” – an “economic miracle” that transformed it from post-war devastation into a leading developed nation. The Nordic model has seen the Scandinavian countries enjoy a high quality of life and strong economic growth, but unfortunately, it, too is coming under increasing pressure from free markets. Soon, they too will lose this high quality of life and endure poor economic prospects – for what? So the rich can become richer. 

This is what we need – an economic miracle that will snatch us from the crushing stupidity of free markets. 

Free market policies, with only the most cursory investigation, show they cannot meet the needs of our economy and never will, but governments keep replicating their mistake in following it year after year.

You may read other articles by Adrian Dore on Medium at

https://medium.com/@adrianmarkdore/