12-30-2016, 02:32 PM
Notwithstanding his campaign rhetoric against unfair trade deals (in stark contrast to Bill Clinton's support for both NAFTA and China's inclusion in the World Trade Organization, as well as Obama's advocacy for the Trans-Pacific Partnership), the gist of Trump's economic proposals is very much in keeping with the neoliberalism first championed by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
In fact, given the appointees to the Trump cabinet and other key administrative posts, I think it's fair to say that his term in office could well deliver at least four years of "neoliberalism on steroids." This despite the ever-worsening inequality and the global financial crash of 2008, to which the governing philosophy of neoliberalism largely contributed.
Privatization is just one plank in the insidious ideology of neoliberalism and, as the article cited below points out, Trump's transition team promises even further incursion on the public domain by private interests:
"Trump’s Transition Team Is Stacked With Privatization Enthusiasts"
If these officials get their way, America’s schools, roads, prisons, immigrant-detention centers, and critical social-insurance programs will soon fall into private hands.
https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-transition-team-is-stacked-with-privatization-enthusiasts/
The ideological support for privatization rests largely on the specious premise that the "market knows best." But we now have much evidence to the contrary when it comes to introducing a profit motive into the delivery of common goods: education, utilities, national defense, and so on. Think of the bankruptcies of not a few for-profit charter schools and universities; think of the tainted water (lead)scandal in Flint, MI. Or the criminality of the military contractor Blackwater to which the Defense Department outsourced security services during the Iraq War, services traditionally performed by our armed services personnel.
Capitalism is in crisis, here and abroad. "Secular stagnation" some economic experts have called it. And one easy way to resuscitate it is to deliver the monies that fund the public welfare into private hands. We've already gone part way down that perilous road. Wall Street, especially, must be licking its chops at the vague possibility of privatizing Social Security. George W. Bush made an abortive attempt to do just that during his second term. Donald Trump, with the backing of Paul Ryan, may well resurrect that dread prospect.
Privatization is just one element of neoliberalism. Deregulation, free trade, tax cuts, and fiscal austerity are also part of the equation. Trump's economic team promises more deregulation and tax cuts, that's almost certain. As for free trade deals and austerity, we will have to wait and see...
In fact, given the appointees to the Trump cabinet and other key administrative posts, I think it's fair to say that his term in office could well deliver at least four years of "neoliberalism on steroids." This despite the ever-worsening inequality and the global financial crash of 2008, to which the governing philosophy of neoliberalism largely contributed.
Privatization is just one plank in the insidious ideology of neoliberalism and, as the article cited below points out, Trump's transition team promises even further incursion on the public domain by private interests:
"Trump’s Transition Team Is Stacked With Privatization Enthusiasts"
If these officials get their way, America’s schools, roads, prisons, immigrant-detention centers, and critical social-insurance programs will soon fall into private hands.
https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-transition-team-is-stacked-with-privatization-enthusiasts/
The ideological support for privatization rests largely on the specious premise that the "market knows best." But we now have much evidence to the contrary when it comes to introducing a profit motive into the delivery of common goods: education, utilities, national defense, and so on. Think of the bankruptcies of not a few for-profit charter schools and universities; think of the tainted water (lead)scandal in Flint, MI. Or the criminality of the military contractor Blackwater to which the Defense Department outsourced security services during the Iraq War, services traditionally performed by our armed services personnel.
Capitalism is in crisis, here and abroad. "Secular stagnation" some economic experts have called it. And one easy way to resuscitate it is to deliver the monies that fund the public welfare into private hands. We've already gone part way down that perilous road. Wall Street, especially, must be licking its chops at the vague possibility of privatizing Social Security. George W. Bush made an abortive attempt to do just that during his second term. Donald Trump, with the backing of Paul Ryan, may well resurrect that dread prospect.
Privatization is just one element of neoliberalism. Deregulation, free trade, tax cuts, and fiscal austerity are also part of the equation. Trump's economic team promises more deregulation and tax cuts, that's almost certain. As for free trade deals and austerity, we will have to wait and see...