There are many ways to understand the political chaos of our time. Many of those recall the famous folktale of the blind men and the elephant, while a handful offer more comprehensive takes. With its focus on the problem of information overload, Dan Davies' book “The Unaccountability Machine” provides an unexpected example of the latter, with a distinctive twist: Davies is a former banking regulator with a clear sense of what needs to be done to restore a sense of order on more equitable foundations.
I referenced “The Unaccountability Machine” in a recent article asking what a progressive alternative to Elon Musk’s DOGE might look like. That hardly did justice to the value and complexity of Davies’ analysis of how our world has come unstuck since the 2008 financial crisis, and how the triumph of neoliberal economics led to what he calls a “brutal class war” and global chaos.
