2008 to 2020, an establishment in panic.

In 2008 the world woke from a slumber of convenience and placidity. The post 80’s neo-liberal powerhouse ideology faced its first major challenger, itself. The 2008 financial crash brought an end to the idea of endless growth through neo-liberalism. It shook people belief in the establishment as million lost their homes (10 million in America alone) and jobs on dodgy deals and poor management, while banker walked free and were bailed out. Throughout the 90’s and 2000’s there was a sense that boom and bust economics had been beaten, as then prime minster Gordon Brown actually said. There was nowhere to go but up. Yet, due to corruption of individual’s and banks becoming so engrossed with gaining profit, they began trading debt and setting up subprime mortgages of 80 or 90 percent so that people who cannot afford property can now afford all for the price of debt. This created a problem where people couldn’t pay off their mortgagees due to a slowing economy and then the banks started collapsing, first came Northern rock in 2007 and then much more importantly the Lehman brothers one of the biggest banks in America. It wasn’t only a U.K and U.S thing it had knock on effects across the entire world. The economies of Europe were shattered resulting the far more locally damaging eurozone crisis. Places like Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland were ruined by the finical crash of 2008 and subsequent eurozone crisis. Many of these nations’ only recently escaped poverty in the 80’s, now they were plunged back into it by the greed of Bankers. If it wasn’t for Gordon Brown leading an international effort to bailout the banks and Barrack Obama going to great lengths as a newly elected president to stabilise the U.S in the wake of its collapse far worse would have happened, and the financial sector would have been decimated having far wider implications. But the relatively limited collapse still had massive implications, most notably it shook the faith of many in the system and caused voices previously on the fringe to come to more prominence, explaining the rise of the far right across Europe and America and the increased profile of the far left in turn. 2008 caused more people to question and challenge the system, even though neo-liberal cheerleaders do still persist the power is a lot more tenuous especially with the case of centre left parties. 2008 marked a new era in politics and society, history was not over as Francis Fukuyama claimed in 1992 but modernity was merely coming to its peak.

In the aftermath of 2008 national economic changed as austerity came barrelling into ruin lives and cause further damage the economy. In the U.K the Tory crusade of austerity saw the U.K languish in recession while other European nations bounced back faster. The cuts had huge implications for people lives, as secondary medical facilities and charities were being closed down or having to reduce their outreach due to a lack of funds. Many of those suffering with issues such as autism and epilepsy were left on their own, their parents or guardians having to juggle multiple jobs and look after them all at once. Child poverty went up due to a lack of familial support. Homelessness went up. ‘Sure start’ centres, one of the crowning achievements of the Blair government, closed down. Crime went up. Youth services in general went down. The N.H.S a British icon is struggling to survive with the corporate pressure. The successes of the previous government wiped away in 3 short years. 2008 allowed a far harsher version of Neo-liberalism to return and it threatened to fundamental nature of the U.K. It simply did not get better, while other nations bounced back and saw some change the U.K decided to punish its citizens for the crimes of bankers. Even though many saw 2008 as a watershed moment, a point where change starts this isn’t too accurate as the true effects of 2008 politically took a few years to take hold. The immediate aftermath is defined by the neo-liberal establishment doubling down on what it wants. It wants cuts. It wants corporations. It wants you to shut up. Nowhere is this clearer than with the N.H.S under the flimsy economic ideas of austerity the Tories reduced the funding of the N.H.S and encouraged the selling of contracts to corporations like the Richard Branson owned Virgin health. These mass selling of contracts did not see the N.H.S improve in fact it got worse and struggled more as on top of the lack of government funding these private companies were acting like vampire, sucking out the life out of the greatest achievement of the second world war. Longer waiting times. Increased drug prices. Overworked and underpaid staff. A general resentment of publicly funded healthcare. In the U.S despite the lofty ideas and promises Obama came in with they were all largely thrown into the wind. He bottled it in a sense. When given the opportunity to be the new F.D.R and embark on one of the biggest restructures of America Obama did very little. He did help elevate the problem of unemployment, but it took a long time to do so, and in doing so he didn’t shift the economy. In the wake of the failure of corporatism Obama didn’t really challenge the establishment enough, he still allowed them to dictate American policy. The hope and the change he promised resulted in nothing. People’s lives weren’t fundamentally changed for the better. Obama care failed but in large part due to republicans in the house, its largely watered-down state and a failed rollout. The U.S military outspend the next 10 countries combined and instead of redirecting some of that money he increased their budget. Obama was given an opportunity to fundamental reshape America and bring more in line with Europe and he didn’t. He didn’t spend enough. He didn’t fulfil the promise of change. Now part of this is due to decades of propaganda infecting America making them loyal Guinea pigs to corporate interest. If you want to improve the life of the average American with some commonly used socialist policies, they would reject it and start crying about freedom from tyranny or whatever. In the quest to reduce public spending to allow corporation to increase their wealth at the expense of the poor. The opportunity for change and a culture shift was wasted due to timidity and a lack of real ideological challenge. In the quest to try and continue on with policies in line with the 90’s and not change anything, the neo-liberal establishment overplayed its hand and would soon be bitten back.

2016–2018 one of the most seminal years in modern political history. These years were the result of 2008 and a lack of change in its aftermath. Corbyn, Sanders, AOC, The socialists in Spain, Brexit, Le Pen, Trump, Salvini. All have either come to power or great significance since 2015 but mainly in 2016 due to 2008. In the year of 2016 alone, the establishment saw two of the biggest shake ups in history; the election of Trump and the Referendum on Brexit. While both of these events were spear headed by the wealthy and those who can be considered part of the establishment; Trump being a billionaire, Farage being a stockbroker, Aaron Banks being a millionaire. The bulk of support for these two movements largely originated from the white working classes in each nation, blaming immigration for their woes and not the wealthy who are trying to present themselves as their saviours. Some would argue that these people who vote for these two are idiots, now while they may make up a subsection, it is not really true for the majority. In both cases sensualist rhetoric has been targeted at immigration, a major point in both these votes, for decades at this point with organisation such as, The Sun, The Daily Mail, Fox etc… and every now again this rhetoric would break into other publication for the purpose of ‘debate’, but more likely views. These narratives when constantly presented slip into the public conscious. Ideas of welfare scrounging, taking jobs, lowering wages and so, become common place in the front of people’s minds. This leads to people seeing immigration as a bad thing when in reality it often benefits the economy, and most of the negative impacts of immigration stems from the wealthy causing the problem then pointing the angry mob at a shadow on the wall. While these narratives and tactics have been common tools for the establishment to engineer a population to not look at the true cause of the problem, it bit them on the arse. As in 2008 when the economy crashed and the subsequent leaders failed to address the problem that angry mob began chasing those shadows, and the opportunistic member of the establishment dove in to take leadership roles. You can see this in the way U.K.I.P went from less than 2% in every election then suddenly getting 15% in 2015 and sweeping European election and having a significant presence in local elections. In the U.S a similar thing occurred, the corporate nature of both parties in America and their marriage to the establishment meant that they were blindsided when Trump not only won the republican nomination but the presidency. The prime reason for his winning was blaming economic issues and social problems on immigration and easy to score political points. The infamous way he referred to Mexicans “Rapist, murders, drug dealers”, was effective not among the racists and xenophobes but those who want someone to blame for nations problems. It easier to create an ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ dynamic then one that looks at systematic problems especially, with in the context of a failing economy, or one that hadn’t recovered enough since 2008. In the case of Le Penn and Salvini their sweep to power or influence also originated from this economic calamity and the failure of the centrist parties to truly address the problems that emerged. Further, with the European far right the euro crisis and refugee crisis both problems originating in the failure of the establishment helped increase their popularity. As there were two major economic problems originating from two do different places, one can be blamed on greedy bankers and the other European reluctance to centralise their one currency and maintain a hybrid system. Yet, the far right seized the opportunity to blame refugees and immigrant for the countries woes an old tactic that’s been used for centuries. Instead of confronting systemic problems with one’s own nation they point at those who are different. Much like the treatment of barbarian migrants in Rome, or the Jewish population throughout medial Europe. The emergence of the modern far right can be traced back to this moment in 2008 when the economy crashed and people searched for answers and radical solutions, it just happened to lead them into racist and xenophobic rhetoric. Historically this can see with the Nazi party and Mussolini in the thirties whose quick sweep to power originated from the great depression and the failure of those in charge to help the situation for a range of reasons. When shits hit the fan blame the immigrant.

However, on a more positive note, and yes this me showing bias, the 2008 financial crash also saw the emergence of left-wing politics which has largely been in the woods since the 70’s. Corbyn and Sanders despite not winning their respective elections did still cause something monumental. The Youth drift from the establishment to the left. This can be seen very clearly in U.K election stats in 2017 and 2019 where labour captured the youth vote by the largest margin in U.K electoral history. In 2017 Corbyn almost pulled off the upset of the century and came within 2,000 votes of being prime minster. However, his loss in 2019 was crushing but can be explained by years of intense media coverage/ criticism (more than the government got) and Brexit. In the U.S Sanders, who is often presented as the kooky dreamer almost won the Democratic nomination for president twice only being defeated by the full weight of the Democratic establishment. The impact of Sanders is equally large, AOC the firebrand congress women from New York heavily inspired by Sanders is one of the most high-profile politicians in the U.S and even the world. Ilhan Omar, the congress women from Minnesota, becoming the true symbol of the American dream for many, a refugee turned high profile politician. Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principle won a primary against an establishment democratic of nearly 30 years, using the playbook devised by AOC and Sanders. Despite losing his primary Charles Booker captured the feelings of many in Kentucky, upset with the system. Turning what should have been a blow out to one of the fiercest primaries in the U.S. The left did have huge success in Spain with Pedro Sanchez becoming prime minster, seeing off both the centre parties and right-wing Vox party. The left in 21st century came so close to winning it all and changing the world. They did however, stumble and fall but their ideas are now commonplace in people’s minds. Conversations the establishment wished to avoid are now up for public debate. The left has returned in force and will not be quickly silenced. Why then? Why and how have the left returned to such prominence? Well, for a similar reason as the right, economic collapse. Again, to reiterate 2008 sent cracks spiralling up the establishment and now their experiencing its reckoning. The left has surged as people are angry and they point the blame at the wealthy and establishment itself unlike the right who point at immigrants while being led by the establishment. When faced with joblessness or unfulfilling work. When faced with the prospect of never owning a home. When faced with the problems of the system being exposed. The youth of the world have turned red. They turned to the left for answers and those answers were provided. It is now a matter of demographic shift. All across Europe the story is the same, in Germany the centre left party the SDP saw a huge drop-in voter support while the parties further to the left and right have grown. Italy and France the same story can be seen. The centre right is holding while the centre left are falling down. Ideas of eternal growth and stability are gone and 2008 proved that.

Modern political discourse is defined by discontent and anger. The question is who in the end will face the true consequence of that anger, as while the right surge now they don’t capture the rising youth in large enough numbers to make it sustainable. Regardless, the old establishment is failing and struggling to survive much like what happened in 1979 and 1930 a new establishment and new ideas are emerging. The world saw the problems with the modern global economic system and its only a matter of time until it is substantially reformed. Modernity is a fractured beast and one of the great originators of this factionalism is 2008 and the failure of the establishment to abandon its ideas and shore its self-up. Homelessness. Poverty. Precarious work. Unemployment. Slums. All concepts thought gone yet were hiding under the surface of an economy booming for those at the top. Now those realities have returned to prominence and people are angry and expressing that rage through protest and the electoral system, sending shockwaves up the spine of the Neo-Liberal establishment the dynamic duo helped form in the 80’s. In the coming decades the establishment panic will be its reckoning and a new order will take over, and the evidence points to it being the left. Modernity owes a lot to 2008 and the way it woke people up and made them political. Politics is in escapable in modernity as so much is on the line. The modernity we live in today was truly birthed in 2008 and the finical crash.