Best explanation I have ever seen of what Neoliberalism is - is provided by Gérard Duménil in this v
Gérard Duménil is one of the authors of the recent best seller "the Crisis of Neoliberalism"
https://www.youtube.com/v/CTX5LfKef8M
"French economists Gérard Duménil and Dominique Lévy proceed from the somewhat heterodox proposition that ruling ideas arise not from their persuasive power or inner logic but from the interest of ruling groups
Duménil and Lévy move directly to the social and political history that led us to this turn, the underlying situation in which such intellectually bankrupt ideas could prevail. And what might become of a world that can no longer sustain such beliefs
Though elements of their analysis proceed (in their words) à la Marx, the book is scarcely what one might thereby expectthat is, the opposite of [an] unreflective apologia for capitalisms premises
The two argue
that neoliberalism is not a collection of theories meant to improve the economy. Instead, it should be understood as a class strategy designed to redistribute wealth upward toward an increasingly narrow fraction of folks. This transfer is undertaken, they argue, with near indifference to what happens below some platinum plateaueven as the failures and contradictions of the economic system inevitably drive the entire structure toward disaster. Duménil and Lévy offer two provocative and interlocking schemas. They decline the bluntest of Marxist oppositions, which supposes a world divided only between owners and workers. But they equally abjure the endless proliferation of categories and distinctions, the slippery slope of micro-differences that leads to the paradoxical homily of conventional American thought: that individuals are just that, and thereby classlessand that everybody is middle-class. One might well see in this the shadow of Thatchers other hyperbolic dictum of neoliberalism: There is no such thing as society. There are only individuals and families.Joshua Clover, The Nation
Amid the torrent of books on the 2008 financial meltdown and the North Atlantic great recession, this important new contribution from Paris stands out as an analytical beacon
Duménil and Lévy conclude with a comparison of the aftermaths of 1929 and 2008, an assessment of the significance of the crisis for U.S. hegemony and some sober prognoses on the social and economic order likely to emerge in its wake. The authors aspire to the kind of influence that Baran and Sweezy achieved with Monopoly Capital some forty years agoand on this reading, they deserve it. Like Monopoly Capital, the analytical framework of Crisis of Neoliberalism uses some Marxian categories and language, but leavened with (often implicit) elements of Veblen, Chandler, Galbraith, Keynes and Polanyi. The result is a highly distinctiveand compellingly radicalapproach, which demands serious attention
By any measure, The Crisis of Neoliberalism is a landmark intervention in the post-crisis debates
Young workers or students who have had the misfortune to enter the labor force during the Great Recession will require a far-reaching education in the history of capitalist crises if they are to begin to craft an alternative exit from the present one. This book should help.Thomas Michl, New Left Review
The Crisis of Neoliberalism is an insightful account of the factors that have led to the economic downturn. As Duménil and Lévy make clear, the economy cannot just return to its pre-crisis path.Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
This original and rigorous political-economic discussion of neoliberal global capitalism shows how deep the roots of the current crisis are and how stubbornly resistant it will be to conventional policy remedies.Duncan K. Foley, author of Adams Fallacy
An ambitious and original treatment of the ongoing global economic crisis. Duménil and Lévy provide both an in-depth statistical and historical narrative and an overarching analytical framework.Thomas R. Michl, author of Capitalists, Workers, and Fiscal Policy"
djean111
(14,255 posts)I really appreciate that! let me know if you see anything interesting - I am just learning more about these things. Look at the new link to Susan George's video- its also quite good
https://www.youtube.com/v/CTX5LfKef8M
She is part of http://TNI.org Good NGO for info on globalization - they have some good analyses of the BITs and multilateral trade agreements and how they are quite exploitative - one interesting example they have written up is what happened with Achmea v. Slovak Republic over single payer health care.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)for clarity on the coming purge of the 90% of civilian population struggling to make ends meet. I shall study this closely..