From Polyani's point of view this follows from the fact that the control of the society has fallen to those who want to make the society serve the needs of the economy. They define the "needs of the economy" as 18% returns for the financial sector, which controls the economy and the society. They have already thrown high wage manufacturing in the USA and UK into the financialization machine to sustain their profit margin. This will continue until, like the Elbonians in Scott Adam's Dilbert, they have sold off the crust on which they live down to magma and have to emigrate, or they are removed from power.

The Neo-Liberal agenda really has no agenda other than return on investment for the elite. This, as Polanyi described, is inherently destructive of the society in which it operates. It has been operating longest in the UK and the USA, so the damage is greatest there.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."