Martijn Konings teaches political economy at the University of Sydney. He is the author of The Bailout State: Why Governments Rescue Banks, Not People (Polity, 2025).
Central bank independence has been a sacred cow for the last generation in the major capitalist economies. Donald Trump’s appointment of Kevin Warsh as Fed chair symbolizes the beginning of a new era based on overt politicization of monetary policy.
Supply-side progressivism is forging unexpected alliances between populist Democrats, business-friendly centrists, and MAGA Republicans around militarized growth. The result is a post-neoliberal politics that accommodates authoritarian populism.
Donald Trump’s second term won’t bring smaller government as promised. Instead, it will replace regulations with a system of executive grace and favor. The old bailout standard of “too big to fail” will be supplanted by a new one: only the loyal survive.
The past few years have seen widespread speculation about the death of neoliberalism and a restoration of the state to a larger role in society. But the evidence isn’t there. Instead, market-based approaches are redefining themselves for a new era.
The idea of an American empire in decline refuses to die.