The Good Ol' Boy Club

But do not suppose for a moment that the world
trading order as it actually exists is liberal or
more than incidentally connected with free
markets. A free market is a place where
individuals and groups of individuals come
together to transact voluntary exchanges without
any backing of government force. To call the
actually existing order liberal – or "neo-
liberal" – is as taxonomically accurate as
calling the old Soviet Communist Party
syndicalist. That order is based on tariffs,
subsidies and a web of other often invisible
regulations. The international institutions are a
projection of Western states. The multinational
corporations are creatures of these states. They
shelter behind the privilege of limited
liability. They get their political friends to
cartelise markets, and do favours in return.

This is not market liberalism. It is a fraud
played on us all by our ruling classes – these
being those politicians, bureaucrats, educators,
lawyers and media and business people who derive
wealth, power and status from an enlarged and
activist state.

...all kissing each others' asses in this giant
daisy chain.

Those that have never read a good book on
economics don't have a clue what's going on.

Read Sean Gabb's whole speech with comments.

Via mutualist