Sublime

Ce chapitre s’intéresse à un épisode particulier et peu connu, celui du rôle joué par les intellectuels néolibéraux pour faire échouer l’Organisation internationale du commerce, l’institution qui devait compléter le système de Bretton Woods, ainsi que dans la rédaction des premiers projets, après la guerre, d’une loi internationale sur les investis

Determined to unshackle market forces from the heavy hand of the state and the millstone of “tax and spend,” the classes that led this bloc aimed to liberalize and globalize the capitalist economy. What that meant, in reality, was financialization: dismantling barriers to, and protections from, the free movement of capital; deregulating banking and

These ideals were interpreted in a specific, limited way that was fully compatible with the Goldman Sachsification of the US economy: Protecting the environment meant carbon trading. Promoting home ownership meant bundling subprime loans together and reselling them as mortgage-backed securities. Equality meant meritocracy.

Maybe more important than knowing that for sure right now is knowing what the new rules of the road should be for a political economy that is both pro-working-class and globalized.