On Not Allowing Economic Fundamentalists like Margaret Thatcher to Have the Last Word

Because I grew up in religious fundamentalism, I often heard, “There is only one way of salvation.” That is also the position of many devoted to MultiEarth economics. Most famously, Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of Britain 1979-1990, used the slogan, “There is no alternative,” as she advocated for free markets, free trade, and global capitalist economics. Her unswerving commitment to such neoliberal globalization was one of the reasons that Thatcher and her contemporary, U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, got along so famously well.

It was during the Thatcher-Reagan years, the 1980s, that I shared with a friend a couple of essays critiquing neoliberal global economics. I had heard Elsa Tamez, the essays’ author, deliver these in person. Tamez, a Mexican theologian and seminary president in Costa Rica, delivered her critique of neoliberalism speaking against both its theology and its economics. Since my friend carried a progressive view into his work as an investment portfolio manager, I hoped for some creative conversation. So, when he returned the essays, I asked, “Well, what thoughts do you have?” But he simply walked away smiling and quoted Thatcher’s slogan: “What’s the alternative?”

I stood speechless. I hadn’t expected to hear a fundamentalist quotation coming back to me. But I quietly resolved that someday I would have an answer. Without knowing it, he increased my desire to understand and live an alternative economy.

Many alternatives to economic fundamentalism are being lived out daily. The alternatives I’m finding get expressed regularly on another website I’m part of, www.jubilee-economics.org.

The Ugliness of Economic Fundamentalism

Last week Juanita and I saw the musical “Billy Elliot” on the stage of the Civic Center Auditorium here in San Diego. Great evening! Cashing in a Christmas gift from kids! They know we like musicals, so they got us tickets last December.

What I didn’t know was the political context for the story: Margaret Thatcher’s closing down of England’s coal mines to destroy the unions. No caution is spared toward Thatcher in the musical. She’s thoroughly lambasted, including a sarcastic song wishing her Merry Christmas. (All music composed by Elton John.) Experiencing the musical against that backdrop was all the more relevant given Maggie Thatcher’s death April 8, 2013. At the time of her death, I was not surprised that many praised her; but I was surprised that courtesies in the hour of death were cast aside by her critics who lambasted her.

I’m in agreement with her critics. Thatcher was a fundamentalist—an economic fundamentalist who believed there was no other way to economic salvation for countries than to privatize as much as possible, deregulate the financial sector, end labor unions and worker rights to organize, and to separate social obligations from business. She was a disciple of Frederick Hayek’s neoliberal economics (Britain’s Milton Friedman) as were those who surrounded Ronald Reagan in the U.S.

At the moment, the MultiEarth economic religion continues to be Thatcher-like. It is controlled by the global corporations and financial institutions. Its theological spectrum is narrowly fundamentalist. Ask the question, “Is there another way of salvation for Earth and her inhabitants other than the religion of The Market?”

Margaret Thatcher and the fundamentalists in charge of today’s austerity programs and global economy are firm: “No, there is no other way than the current global economy.” They insist that alternative religious paths are deceivers and not to be trusted. And so we see what happens as fundamentalist austerity is imposed in selected countries around the world.

Fundamentalism distorts whatever belief system it invades, be it a church or a government, a theology or an economy. The distortion ruthlessly puts some on the outside while others are privileged to be on the inside. That so many persons with economic power currently ascribe to it bodes ill for billions of poor people, other species, and also big numbers of us who thought it important to be in, or close to, the “middle class.”

There are, of course, many other economic voices that express flexibility in how The Market behaves. They see The Market tolerating variation and alternatives as long as The Market and its pantheon remain supreme. They, however, are not currently in charge.