The Effects of Neoliberal Globalization on the US http://links.org.au/node/1056

This paper specifically addresses this question by looking at the impact of neoliberal economic policies on working people in the United States. Following Frances Fox Piven, “neoliberal economic policies” refers to the set of policies carried out, in the name of individualism and unfettered markets, for “the deregulation of corporations, and particularly of financial institutions; the rollback of public services and benefit programs; curbing labor unions; ‘free trade’ policies that would pry open foreign markets; and wherever possible the replacement of public programs with private markets” (Piven, 2007: 13).

The case of the United States is particularly useful to examine because its elites have projected themselves as “first among equals” of the globalization project (Bello, 2006), and it is the place of the Global North where the neoliberal project has been pursued most resolutely and has advanced the farthest. In other words, the experiences of American workers illuminate the affects of the neoliberal project in the Global North to the greatest extent, and suggest what will happen to working people in other northern countries should they accept their respective government’s adoption of such policies.