A Primer on 'Neoliberalism'

A primer on 'neoliberalism' for those curious or doubtful about the substance of concern for the Occupy Wall Street movement (which is, by the way, now international) ... Neoliberalism is the economic ideology which underpins our present capitalist economic system. It has gradually rose to ascendancy since the 1980's Reagan/Thatcher era (I'd be glad to explain why but let's save that for a later... post). In a nutshell, Neoliberalism is the economic practice of deregulating capital in favor of 'free markets' making a state's primary goal to be a market conduit (vs the protector of the public good). The flawed logic which believes the market's 'invisible hand' will by itself ensure social welfare and a just society is unfortunately a farce. Those in power have made conscious and accumulating political decisions to free markets and restrict societal protections. The outcropping of these policy decisions has been to privatize profits and socialize losses. Neoliberal economic policies are largely responsible for our society's present rumblings of economic inequality, withering ability of state power to prevent economic shocks, and general societal discontent. The 'great recession' was just a natural outcome of this system and unless we re-prioritize our structural fundamentals to protect society from the accumulation of capital at great social cost, these 'shocks', and the gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots', will undoubtedly persist. I won't go on more here, but would be glad to elaborate if that is desired. :) As one who's studied economics internationally and had the pleasure of getting my MA in political economy, I am most excited about our present time and the spaces bursting open for agency in the hemorrhagic ruptures of our morally and ethically flawed economic structures... :D

For a more thorough review see:
The Constitution of Global Capitalism, Stephen Gill
http://www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/press/010gill.htm

I'd be glad to share more resources or give more background as desired!! :D

Proud of you Occupy Wall Street!!!

Since my being back in the US for nearly two years, many of the dominating political debates in the public sphere have been stagnant, myopic and embittered. The narrowness of the mainstream US positions have been frustrating to observe. While small pockets of hopeful change agency spring up and do make positive progess to strengthen community and society, the mainstream meta narrative is one of political gridlock and narrow arguments oblivious to the structural foundations that have allowed such economic disparity and widespread discontent. The Occupy Wall Street movement has been the first stretching sign of hope I've witnessed since being home. Occupy Wall Street, I am proud of you!!! Let's capture this space and time to solidify these sentiments into a concrete movement for change. We must not let up until we face these structural economic issues of our times head on.



For these reasons I've sent the following message it to my senators, representatives and local newspapers, if you feel the same I recommend you do so too! :)



---

In the spirit of Tahrir, Benghazi, and our own Selma-to-Montgomery

marches, the Occupy Wall Street non-violent people's movement is giving

voice to millions of Americans who are fed up with economic 'freedom'

trumping human rights and political partisan gridlock that doesn't hear

our concerns or reflect our values.



Let us listen to this universal conversation about our societal

priorities. It's more than just jobs, budgets, wars, and congressional

and private sector accountability. It's about where we place our

values and how the outcomes of these decisions affect our society and

our world.



We as a nation make choices between providing $47 billion in energy

grants to help low-income families afford heat or giving away $44

billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies. It was also a choice

to spend $445 billion on the Afghanistan war instead of productively

investing in education, clean energy, jobs programs, feeding the

hungry, and building community and peace in our country and world.



The ever-widening gap between the top 1 percent -- who control more

wealth than the bottom 99 percent -- and the rest of us is a recipe for

disastrous social instability and unrest.



The lack of regulation in favor of economic 'freedom' has dastardly

worn away at the protective fabric of the public sphere, domestically

and internationally. Our political representatives bathe in the

donations of wealthy interest groups focusing on reelection rather than

representation.



It is morally apprehensible that in the richest country in the world,

we do not ensure each citizen has adequate food, shelter, equal access

to quality education and economic opportunities. We need to make some

hard choices about the type of society we want. Let us listen to the

cry of these voices, our voices, and choose to rebuild our society in

favor of the common good.



Sincerely,

Ms. Ruth Harbaugh

My motto these days...

I wrote this a few months back as I was making sense of where I was in my life. I'm still in the 'corporate' world but have been really fortunate to get into a much more engaging position than I was initially. I look to the below to be my guide as I chart the waters of the private sector...

After a few years of adventure, embracing, loving, and learning from this crazy world- I'm back in my little corner of the world, the Pacific Northwest.
I am LOVING the nature, the progressive community, and being near my incredible family, amazing lifelong friends, and most excellent partner in adventure and crime, my boyfriend, Ian. I learn so much from the people in my life and am so blessed to have a loving community, near and far.
My corporate job may leave something soulful to be desired BUT I probably would have never done a business job if it weren't for this economy. I'm trying to learn from the trenches so I can translate these lessons for future international development purposes. :D

My adventures and travels saturated me with such a beautiful patchwork muliplicity of cultures, lives, and ways of living. While loving my invitation to partake in these beautiful expressions, I felt myself a fortunate 'guest' but never an organic actor. My frustrations with injustice, power, and non-people centered political and economic structures grew more universal as did my conviction for social justice. We are all connected. These unique experiences, lessons, and adventures have allowed me to share in the abundance of the greater human experience.
My ever expanding hermeneutic invigorated but confused me as to my particular place in the world. My opportunity to share love, empowerment, and solidarity seemed stunted by my lack of rootedness.
While I love travel so very much, it was time to rediscover the good parts of my own culture- and to develop the connections and tools to provide a platform from which to project solidarity, social justice, love, cooperation, and empowerment both locally and globally.

And that is where I am at now... I hope I can do so, remaining globally connected, mindful of my goals, and always choosing the side of good, in spite of the oftentimes frustratingly distorted world system we live in. I thank the financial crisis for giving my culture and the world a forced reevaluation of the intrinsic greed which supports much of our prevailing political economy. I hope we can capture this space as a chance to connect with deeper and more lasting things like love, solidarity, relationships, social justice, and the preservation of nature- a positive reinvention of our world. Much love to you all!! :D xoxo