Neoliberalism: The Struggle

David Harvey described in his book, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, that neoliberalism is “a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can be best advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.” (Harvey, 2). Free trade and free market is certainly a debatable topic. How far can the government and private enterprises go before being critized by the public and then demanding the government to step in to regulate. There is really no win-win situation. There will also be an opposition to every argument made that concerns government and economy. Does “economy” really exisit? Religion is supposedly separate from government. Perhaps government should be separate from market. Marketing and economy is essentially a business. The government is and should not be reflected as a government establishment created to make profit. It should follow "Robocop"’s three directives: “1) Serve the Public Trust 2) Protect the Innocent 3) Uphold the law”. There is a directive 4 “Never oppose an OCP officer”, or in this case, never oppose the government. Greed for power is a corruption that will forever be struggled between sides to gain the upper-hand over the other. Pride is an enjoyable feeling, but at what cost?
I am reminded of several films that deal with such plots. "Escape to Witch Mountain" (1975) has the villain expressing his desire that the rich wants to stay richer. He intends to do so with the help of psychics. "You’ve Got Mail" (1998) has Meg Ryan’s character doing battle with Tom Hanks’ big business. Ryan can’t complete her small retail store with a corruption able to afford deep discounts and arrange author appearances. From my understanding, mega bookstores don’t even loose money on unsold books, they’re able to sell them back to the publishers. Speaking of Tom Hanks, "Big" (1988) has his character grow into an adult and must face the work force to earn a living. He ends up working for a company that serves his interests: toys. Somehow his lack of experience won him over. Which begs the question, how is an unemployed individual supposed to earn a job if the work force always seeks out people with certain amounts of experience? Where does the experience come from? Perhaps people should start working as early as possible to put something on their resume. Volunteer work doesn’t cut it much because you are not earning pay. "Broadcast News" (1987) has Jack Nicholason’s character refusing to cut back a million or two from his salary to make layoffs less brutal. An interesting fact, the actor requested no payment for his role. Although he was paid a percentage of the "Batman" (1989) film gross that rewarded him handsomely. The Alien film series has the Weyland-Yutani Corporation express interest in studying and using the Necronom alien for military purposes… ala profit even when it risks human lives. "The Running Man" (1987) had the government-owned media portray an event as “true” even though it was very altered. "The Island" (2005) had hints of "THX-1138" (1971) and "Logan’s Run" (1976) in which a higher authority over the citizens inform them that their specific way of life is superior and should be followed without question even when there is a hidden agenda. Where does the boundary and responsibility fall into between man and business?
What morality should be followed to prevent such incidents as hostile takeovers, monopolies, mechanical dystopia under artificial intelligence. Free trade and market should be monitored in some way. But the government takeover that is currently upon us is perhaps not the best solution. A more free but lightly regulated enterprise may reflect and breath in less stressful conflicts. There is a fear of being consumed by control that we must in turn have control before others to emphasize a positive sense of balance under freedom and regulation.


Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Aliens. DVD. Dir. James Cameron. 20th Century, 1986.
Batman. DVD. Dir. Tim Burton. Warner Bros, 1989.
Big. DVD. Dir. Penny Marshall. 20th Century, 1988.
Broadcast News. DVD. Dir. James L. Brooks. 20th Century, 1987.
Escape to Witch Mountain. DVD. Dir. John Hough. Disney, 1975.
The Island. DVD. Dir. Michael Bay. Dreamworks, 2005.
Jurassic Park. DVD. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Universal, 1993.
Logan's Run. DVD. Dir. Michael Anderson. MGM, 1976.
RoboCop. DVD. Dir. Paul Verhoeven. Orion, 1987.
The Running Man. DVD. Dir. Paul Michael Glaser. TriStar Pictures, 1987.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Dir. James Cameron. Carolco Pictures, 1991.
THX-1138. Dir. George Lucas. Warner Bros, 1971.
V for Vendetta. DVD. Dir. James McTeigue. Warner Bros, 2005.
WALL-E. DVD. Dir. Andrew Stanton. Disney/Pixar, 2008.
You've Got Mail. DVD. Dir. Nora Ephron. Warner Bros, 1998.