American Late Stage Capitalism
From New Deal to Neoliberalism (Pt 3)
In the 1930s–70s, the U.S. government grew to support the public good:
The New Deal created social security, labor protections, and public infrastructure.
Post-war America invested in education, housing, and science (including NOAA and NASA).
The economy was regulated to prevent monopolies and ensure fair wages.
But starting in the late 1970s–1980s, under leaders like Reagan and Thatcher, a new ideology took hold:
Government is the problem. Markets know best. Let the rich lead, and the rest will follow.
This was the birth of neoliberal capitalism, privatization, deregulation, and tax cuts for the wealthy.
The Heritage Foundation, which created Project 2025, gained prominence during the Reagan era.
In 1981, they published the first Mandate for Leadership, a playbook for dismantling federal programs.
It led directly to the firing of civil servants, deregulation of industry, and cuts to education, health, and housing.
They positioned the free market as morally superior and any government action as overreach.
Project 2025 is the culmination of that decades-long vision:
Shrink the state. Enrich the market. Control culture.
By the 2000s, wealth inequality had ballooned. Wages stagnated. Public services crumbled. Trust in institutions collapsed.
Late-stage capitalism describes this era:
Gig work replaces stable jobs
Climate collapse is profitable for fossil fuel companies
Debt is normalized for education, housing, and healthcare
Corporations fund politics, eroding democracy itself
Project 2025 doesn’t fix this; it accelerates it by:
Dismantling climate science
Privatizing forecasting and education
Undermining democratic agencies
Empowering corporations and religious nationalism
This isn’t new. History gives us examples of similar late-stage collapses:
Rome privatized its armies and outsourced its state functions before it fell.
Weimar Germany lost faith in its institutions, paving the way for authoritarian control masquerading as a moral order.
Chile under Pinochet used neoliberalism and military control to reshape society for corporate gain.
Each time, the combination of economic crisis, privatization, and authoritarian ideology produced devastating human consequences.
Project 2025 follows this pattern with eerie precision.
Historically, when elites:
Privatize public life
Consolidate power
Undermine democratic systems
…the result is not renewal. It’s collapse unless there’s resistance.
Project 2025 is not just a policy document. It’s a sign that the U.S. is deeply entrenched in late-stage capitalism. And, as history tells us, the choices we make now will echo for generations.
Next, America’s “Gilded Age”