We've Stared Down The Barrel of Neoliberalism's Economic Sawed Off Shotgun, For So Long, We Forgot How To Live.

During the last week of each month, insomnia visits my bedroom. Like all unwanted guests, it wears me out and leaves me exhausted. I have a stash of Ativan and it takes the edge off this recurrent sleeplessness. Without it, I’d lose my shit because my insomnia is anxiety driven. It’s a symptom of how my body is being thrown out of tune by neoliberalism.

The efforts taken to keep a roof over our heads produce an anxiety that would deafen the sound coming from Edvard Munch’s masterpiece, The Scream. It's all caused by the terror and shame of coming up short on the rent, and its not a unique sensation to me or to you.

Photo by Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash

Since Western society collapsed sometime after the first waves of the Covid pandemic struck humanity, the struggle to survive for the poor, disabled vulnerable, elderly and low-wage workers, existence has taken on a hunter-gatherer intensity to it. Millions have no financial cushion left and are a paycheque away from homelessness.

One in 5 renters in Britain and the UK spend 50% of their income on rent. And over half of renters are spending more than 30% of their income on rent. The Statistics in Canada and the USA are virtually the same. Food insecurity, job insecurity, and healthcare insecurity are at levels that historically were resolved through revolutions that either ushered in socialist or fascist governments. But look around because we already had a revolution and the Nazis won. It’s bleak outside-Darkness At Noon bleak. No wonder ordinary people were exulted, last week, at Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s Democratic Party primary race, which made him their pick to run in the upcoming election for mayor.

But I am not holding my breath that this will spark a thousand blooms for social democracy in the USA. I’ve seen this rodeo before with Corbyn in Britain. As long as fascism runs the American government, economy and news media, this has greater odds of ending badly for Mandami and the people of New York.

We only have ourselves to depend on because the top 10% of income earners, including much of the political class and the news media class, aren't going to give up any other of their precious assets to save democracy, society or the planet for that matter.

There was more positive press by the mainstream news media for Jeff Bezos’s Conspicuous Consumption Wedding in Venice than for Mamdani's social democratic demand that rent controls be introduced to diminish the cost of living crisis for ordinary New Yorkers.

It took the fascists over 40 years to steal democracy from us and return society to the Gilded Age. But they did and that is why we should view Jeff Bezos’ Nuptials more as a coronation of that fact rather than a wedding of a Billionaire.

I’ve stared down the barrel of neoliberalism’s sawed-off economic shotgun for so long, now, I forgot what living is like. I can’t remember it because from morning to night I am fighting or fleeing from the high cost of living. The economic crisis manufactured by the 1% and the governments who do their bidding was a sucker punch to the poor and ordinary workers. It wasn’t erroneous planning, bad luck or incompetence that caused it. This was deliberate because universal financial uncertainty during an era where socialism is equated with terrorism allowed fascism to embed into society.

Despite this, we must not give up or surrender to despair. Our times resemble the 19th century, albeit with ubiquitous state surveillance and quadcopters that are robotic assassins. Revolutionaries and workers struggled during that Industrial Revolution Era to build movements that would unseat the entitled, from that century, no matter the cost to them or the time it would take. In 2025 our fight is to disturb the present tense in politics and hope it alters the near or distant future for the better.

If you can, and only if you can, consider upgrading to a paid membership as these subscriptions keep me housed. It will get better for me once The Green & Pleasant Land is published along with some other projects in the works. However, time is not on my side.

A yearly subscription will cover much of next month’s rent. All I need is 6 subscriptions to make July’s payment. But with 36 hours to go, it is getting tight. I have also added a tip jar for those who feel inclined.

Your subscriptions are a lifeline for my personal survival. Without them, I'd be in a very sorry situation.

Like so many others who struggle to keep afloat, my survival is a precarious daily undertaking. The fight to keep going was made worse- thanks to getting cancer along with lung disease and other co-morbidities, which makes life more difficult to combat in these cost-of-living crisis times. If you can, please join, with a paid subscription, which is just 3.50 a month, or a yearly subscription for 30. I promise the content is good, relevant and thoughtful. If you can’t- it's all good, because we are in the same boat.