The shocking level of global wealth inequality is a direct result-and intention-of neoliberal capitalism
Today, it was recently reported by Oxfam, and quoted by the Guardian and the Independent , that the richest 85 people in the world have wealth equivalent to half of the worlds' population-that is 3.5 billion people.
There is a simple explanation for how this appalling level of wealth inequality has happened- the greed of neoliberalism.
During the period of the post-war consensus of 1945-1980, wealth inequality was decreasing in many developed nations at least, and after former African and Asian colonies gained independence, a few were initially able to make significant economic growth.
After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1972 and the oil crisis of 1973, all that changed.
One of the first key steps to reverse the Keynesian consensus, as I call it, was for the CIA to help army officials overthrow socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende on 11 September 1973 and install Augusto Pinochet, whose dictatorial regime was the first instance of neoliberal economics being imposed on a nation. In fact, for several decades, the USA used its wealth to pressure Central and South American nations to conform to its free-market model and thus ease exploitation of these nations by US-based companies, in line with the infamous Monroe Doctrine.
Then, over the course of a few years, the imperialist International Monetary Fund changed its rules to tip the economic balance more in favour of developed nations and also cause growing African and South American economies to spiral downwards. Many of these nations are still paying debts to the IMF they cannot hope to pay off completely for the foreseeable future.
After the growth of neoliberalism starting from the early 1980s following the elections of Thatcher, Reagan and Kohl, which spread across the developed world, income inequality started to rise rapidly , especially in Britain and the USA, and so far, it is still rising.
This Oxfam statement , and other examples of what neoliberalism has done, makes it clear how much we need to support a green and socialist alternative, in Britain and elsewhere, and help people supporting such an alternative get elected. We all need to work together to bring an end to the neoliberal consensus across the world, as soon as possible, before its greed and recklessness ends up destroying human society as we know it.
Alan.
There is a simple explanation for how this appalling level of wealth inequality has happened- the greed of neoliberalism.
During the period of the post-war consensus of 1945-1980, wealth inequality was decreasing in many developed nations at least, and after former African and Asian colonies gained independence, a few were initially able to make significant economic growth.
After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1972 and the oil crisis of 1973, all that changed.
One of the first key steps to reverse the Keynesian consensus, as I call it, was for the CIA to help army officials overthrow socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende on 11 September 1973 and install Augusto Pinochet, whose dictatorial regime was the first instance of neoliberal economics being imposed on a nation. In fact, for several decades, the USA used its wealth to pressure Central and South American nations to conform to its free-market model and thus ease exploitation of these nations by US-based companies, in line with the infamous Monroe Doctrine.
Then, over the course of a few years, the imperialist International Monetary Fund changed its rules to tip the economic balance more in favour of developed nations and also cause growing African and South American economies to spiral downwards. Many of these nations are still paying debts to the IMF they cannot hope to pay off completely for the foreseeable future.
After the growth of neoliberalism starting from the early 1980s following the elections of Thatcher, Reagan and Kohl, which spread across the developed world, income inequality started to rise rapidly , especially in Britain and the USA, and so far, it is still rising.
This Oxfam statement , and other examples of what neoliberalism has done, makes it clear how much we need to support a green and socialist alternative, in Britain and elsewhere, and help people supporting such an alternative get elected. We all need to work together to bring an end to the neoliberal consensus across the world, as soon as possible, before its greed and recklessness ends up destroying human society as we know it.
Alan.
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