Is there anyway to prevent ideologues from taking over the economy again? On the next Your Call we speak with Larry Elliott, Economics Editor for the Guardian and co-author of The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith In Markets Has Cost Us Our Future. His book is a survey of the devastation left behind by the economic theorists who laid the foundation for unfettered corporate capitalism: Milton Friedman, Frederic Von Mises and Ayn Rand, whom he calls the New Olympians. With a religious faith in the ability of the market to provide heaven on earth, control of our economy was given over in return for three magic beans. The result was not prosperity but sluggish growth in living standards, a debt explosion, and now a major crisis of international proportions as a vast borrowing bubble starts to deflate. How do we replace the fundamentalists and build a pragmatic, resilient and sustainable economy? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.
Guest:
Larry Elliott in London
Economics Editor of the Guardian and co-author of The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith In Markets Has Cost Us Our Future with Dan Atkinson.
Click to Listen: Media Roundtable