Neoliberalism has led to significant disparities in wealth accumulation, causing the poor of society to commit acts that are illegal. Neoliberalism has seen a resurgence since the 1970s, after a return to free market economics brought in by the Thatcher and Reagan administrations. The result of three decades of glutenous wealth pursuit was seen in the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, causing some economists and politicians to question the legitimacy of low taxes and minimal wealth redistribution. However, the philosophical roots of neoliberalism stretch back much further. Swiss economist Friedrich Hayek constructed the conceptual basis of neoliberalism, forming a political and psychological framework that saw human beings as efficient economic calculators that exist within an omniscient market. Within this framework, self-interested behaviour was all that is required of individuals, as the market would determine the true value of goods and services in the long run. This stoked the worst qualities within humanity, leading stock brokers and other financially powerful individuals to exploit the relatively less powerful. The essential flaw was that it did not recognise the dignity intrinsic to all human beings. Rather than seeing the social web in which we all exist, it promoted us to make us much money out of each other as possible. The result: those who understood the system made millions and those who did not (or could not participate) were left penniless. Under such circumstances, those without personal savings or assets were forced to procure the needs for survival by illegal means, stealing food and sleeping in restricted public areas. Western societies such as Australia and the United States responded by throwing these people in jail, perpetuating their disadvantage for simply trying to survive. On one hand, the selfish behaviour of those in power was rewarded with large profits, while selfish survival of the poor was punished with fines and jail time.