NEOLIBERAL SYMPTOMS: The Impasse Between Economics and Politics in Contemporary Political Theory

In the wake of the 2008 economic crisis, the increasing precarity of economic life in the United States has become something of a national obsession. Watching former billionaires go for hysterical shopping sprees at Walmart, as in the documentaryThe Queen of Versailles, lambasting the annual fiscal cliff and expressing outrage over weekly revelations of the depths of Wall Street corruption are now national pastimes that reflect the growing salience of economics in the contemporary political imaginary. On the heels of President Obama’s ascent to the Oval Office with his message of hope, the political climate, and specifically the emphasis