The neoliberal era is ending. What comes next?

The next era in American history can look entirely different. It's up to us to choose.

  • The timeline of America post-WWII can be divided into two eras, according to author and law professor Ganesh Sitaraman: the liberal era which ran through the 1970s, and the current neoliberal era which began in the early 1980s. The latter promised a "more free society," but what we got instead was more inequality, less opportunity, and greater market consolidation.
  • "We've lived through a neoliberal era for the last 40 years, and that era is coming to an end," Sitaraman says, adding that the ideas and policies that defined the period are being challenged on various levels.
  • What comes next depends on if we take a proactive and democratic approach to shaping the economy, or if we simply react to and "deal with" market outcomes.

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Why Amartya Sen remains the century’s great critic of capitalism

Societies aren't just engines of prosperity.

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Critiques of capitalism come in two varieties. First, there is the moral or spiritual critique.
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Personal finance: How to save, spend, and think rationally about money

Finances can be a stressor, regardless of tax bracket. Here are tips for making better money decisions.

  • Whether you have a lot of money or a lot of debt, it matters how you handle your personal finances. A crucial step when it comes to saving is to reassess your relationship with money and to learn to adopt a broader, more logical point of view.
  • In this video, social innovator and activist Vicki Robin, psychologist Daniel Kahneman, Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton, and author Bruce Feiler offer advice on achieving financial independence, learning to control your emotions, spending smarter, and teaching children about money.
  • It all starts with education and understanding. The more you know about how money works, the better you will be at avoiding mistakes and the easier it will be to take control of your financial circumstances.
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Is this the end of the myth of American exceptionalism?

In his new book, "American Rule," Jared Yates Sexton hopes to overturn a centuries-long myth.

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  • In "American Rule," Jared Yates Sexton wants to eradicate the myth of American exceptionalism.
  • Since its founding, Sexton writes that America has been constructed to protect the wealthy elite.
  • In this interview, the writer suggests that facing up to our tragic history affords us an opportunity to build something new.
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Is a capitalist-socialist economy inevitable?

The American economy may be locked into an unhealthy cycle that only benefits a select few. Is it too late to fix it?

  • What will the economy of the future look like? To answer that we must first consider the current trajectory and the ways in which modern capitalism operates, who it benefits, and if it is sustainable.
  • In this video, historians, economists, and authors discuss income and wealth inequality, how the American economy grew into the machine that it is today, the pillars of capitalism and how the concept has changed over time, and ways in which the status quo can, and maybe even should, change.
  • "It's not that hierarchy is bad," says John Fullerton, founder of Capital Institute, "it's that hierarchy where the top extracts from below is definitely bad and unsustainable." He says that the modern capitalist system works this way, and that it perpetuates the cycle of growing inequality.
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