Unregulated finance, the ideology of unfettered free markets, and state capture by corporate interests are what ended up undermining democracy both in North America and in Europe. All industrialized countries are at risk, but it’s the eurozone – with its vulnerable structures – that points most clearly to our potentially unpleasant collective futures.
As a result of the continuing euro crisis, European Central Bank (ECB) now finds itself buying up the debt of all the weaker eurozone governments, making it the – perhaps unwittingly – feudal boss of Europe. In the coming years, it will be the ECB and the European Union who dictate policy. The policy elite who run these structures – along with their allies in the private sector – are the new overlords.
We can argue about who exactly are the peasants, the vassals, and the lords under this model – and what services exactly will end up being exchanged. But there is no question we are seeing a sea change in the post-war system of property, power, and prosperity across Western Europe, just as Hayek feared. An overwhelming debt burden will bring down even the proudest people.
Simon Johnson The European Road to Economic Serfdom
Our own red-tory Philip Blond’s Respublica publishes The Venture Society – A small state, big (civil) society, please. It’s a mess of pottage but you have got to wish them luck. Curious how the Front Porch Republicans, of whom the excellent Patrick Deneen is the latest, have taken him to heart. Meanwhile my own account of these matters is nearly presentable enough to be shown to good friends.
