A Case for Dr Freud?

In my last posting I suggested that there’s a case for investigating the lack of vision, ruinous, mean and unjust policies of the government (I decline to use a capital ‘g’). But more than good detective work is needed – there will have to be therapy too. So perhaps we need the insights of the renowned Dr. Sigmund Freud as well as Detective Superintendent Foyle.
There has been much discussion by politicians, economists and financial analysts of the economic and financial woes of the country, which seem to make a suitable case for treatment. But the debate amongst the elite and privileged and all that is taken for granted in it, doesn’t seem to have made much, if any, difference at least so far as positive changes to government policy are concerned. So perhaps it’s time for a different sort of analysis.
Some time on the psychoanalyst’s couch would be well spent if we got to understand the reasons for the government’s obsession with punitive austerity for the less well off and the continuing money-grasping neurosis in banks and markets. All this of course supported by wealthy right wing acolytes.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer should be the first patient and this neurotic Government as a whole could do with treatment to ease their addiction to misery and their fantasies with the not-so-dynamic private sector, various abilities to ‘self regulate’ and so-called ‘free’ trade.
The psychoanalytic metaphor is revealing, as neurosis involves hiding things from yourself (such as miserably failing policies) and often springs from unstable relationships - with partners for example. There’s way too much fretting about disloyal ‘wealth creators’ or companies threatening to take away their bat and ball and change countries.
The cure involves finding out the truth about yourself, changing your behaviour and valuing others – the poor for example – instead of exploiting or haranguing them and thinking beyond the impact of your actions merely on yourself and your rich friends.
It also involves permanently removing the deeply ingrained habit of self-deception and the culture of greed and deceit that is so evident in marketing driven business and parts of society today. I like the description I saw recently – the ‘feral rich’.
Many neurotics also exhibit a high level of dependency. Business executives should be less driven by avarice, and depend less on big bonuses, lavish entry and exit payments and pay rises way above inflation. We consumers are already seeing the need to depend less on the ‘must-have now’ mentality. The financial dependency cultivated by banks and grasping, usurious moneylenders has taken its toll and if not locked up they should be eased onto the analytical sofa.
Neurosis also involves anxiety - for example the fear of having to admit that government policy is ineffective, illogical, divisive and cruelly unfair, not meeting ludicrous and arbitrary targets and the impulsive lurches and outbursts of aggression that such anxiety breeds.
Lack of self-restraint - greed in particular - is an infantile trait that is found in many neurotics, banks and boardrooms. Corporate owners should mature to moderation and patience in a culture of commonality that also includes their customers, locality and country. Qualities such as fairness, trust, commitment and loyalty define a healthy frame of mind for businesses as well as individuals.
There is a need for neurosis-free government and business psychology - as well as an effective industrial strategy to curb the prodigal coarseness of the culture of greed and disloyalty that has brought the country low.
And it could even be worse if the aggressive selfishness and hierarchical tendencies so much to the fore in certain quarters are, in a neurophysiological sense latent in the primitive parts of our brains that have come down to us from our ancient reptilian predecessors. But tempting though it is to see particular politicians and bankers in this way, I do not believe that this defines ‘human nature’. Human society, and our economy are what we make them and we must accept full, conscious responsibility for this and not deceive ourselves - so back to neurosis.
All the therapy needed would be a lot to ask even of Dr. Freud. But the gains from having a virtuous and neurosis-free economy as against the mean and socially barren version of capitalism with which we are now afflicted go well beyond an improved economic performance and extend to rebuilt national morale, social justice and the furtherance of the common good. Rewards well worth the effort of self-analysis.