An odd symmetry appears when reading Milton Friedman's canonical neoliberalism in tandem with Jacques Derrida's deconstructive techniques: both authors, it can be argued, are ensconced in a Heideggerian, capitalist hermeneutic. Both offer reactionary discourses for "justice" per their respective paradigms of a radical freedom of choice. This congruence marks a special opening — not just the standard invitation to deconstructive relativism — to re-read Friedman in a manner consistent with Derridean, subjective freedoms that Friedman would otherwise ascribe us in the marketplace. More importantly, this re-reading takes place following a ten-year period that saw global neoliberalism reach absurd heights of popularity among policymakers and in turn, spark a global financial crisis in 2008. Today, incredibly, we continue to hear calls from some corners to return to Friedman as we move forward and try to rebuild economically. Our purpose here, therefore, is to deconstruct Friedman's primary texts, and to do so in a manner that pushes back against the sort of destructive thinking he helped popularize worldwide.In doing so, we will reveal the inconsistencies one should expect from a still celebrated bourgeois economist who fancied himself a philosopher and Karl Marx's antithesis.
Key words
Derrida /
Friedman /
deconstruction /
neoliberal canon /
radical freedom of choice
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