A Cultural Problem, an Economic Crisis Essay -- Economics Finance

In the past two years, Western society has experient what many of its leaders have called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. At the very least, it has been the worst period of instability that our younger generations have of all time seen in their lifetimes. But unlike other financial crises that have mostly been triggered by external forces, such as the oil embargoes of the 1970s, this latest maven was a product of our own internal policies and practices even more so, of our heathen observation posts on the very notion of finance, credit, and debt itself. Specifically, the financial crisis that has just come to choke off was the result of the new culture of neo-liberalism and the hyper-individuality and debt-based consumption that it brought with it. Whats worse is that, without an entrance money of this new culture, or any effort to change it, our current economical system will be regularly plagued with such crises from here on into the future.Before any efforts can be made towards a cultural shift however, we must first understand, at least briefly, the current socio-political ideas that are creating such issues in the modern western market. As Kotz and McDonough put it, the opinion of global neo-liberalism best captures the contemporary social worldly concern. This new social reality was, as they put it, a return to older liberalism, and a seclude from the more government-controlled, Keynesian style of the post-war years. With this relaxing of government control or influence over the markets, we saw an emergence of a new individualistic, and privatized outlook on the market system. Neo-liberalism as doctrine, creed, or culture, or whatever you whitethorn call it, became almost something of a throwback to the early days of capitalism... ...olitical Economy. brand-new York Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.Dumenil, Gerard and Levy, Dominique. The economics of US imperialism at the turn of the 21st century, Review of multination al Political Economy, 114 (2004), pp. 657-676. Retrieved from EBSCO, 21 April 2010.Eichengreen, Barry. The Last Temptations of Risk, National Interest, ci (2009), pp. 8-14. Retrieved from EBSCO, 21 April 2010.McDonough, Terrence, Michael Reich and David M. Kotz, eds. Contemporary Capitalism and Its Crises Social Structure of Accumulation supposition for the 21st Century. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2010.Smart, Barry. Economy, Culture and Society A sociological critique of neo-liberalism. Buckingham opened University Press, 2003.Westra, Richard, ed. Confronting Global Neoliberalism Third World Resistance and Development Strategies. Atlanta pellucidity Press, 2010.