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The Forum > Article Comments > How did the attempt to abolish poverty become a war against the poor? > Comments

How did the attempt to abolish poverty become a war against the poor? : Comments

By John Tomlinson, published 11/6/2013

The 2012 annual report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development should have been the obituary for the neoliberal model.

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This article is so thoroughly confused its hard to really say anything about it except that the author has grabbed facts almost at random from the US, Australian and European scenes - all completely different - in different decades, to put together what is basically a propaganda tract.

One of the problems this "analysis" faces is that most of the European countries he criticises haven't adopt neo-liberalism at all. The UK under Thatcher definitely did swing towards neo-liberalism, as did Australia under Hawke-Keating. Then you have to start hunting. So were the economies of Aus and the UK better for dumping a host of protectionist and market controls? Many people would say yes.

The GFC was essentially due to the US finance market being under-regulated, but that has always been the case and isn't going to change. This time around, the shock of the banking collapse in the US had unexpected knock-on effects.
Posted by Curmudgeon, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 10:52:54 AM
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There are those people who are intelligently left of centre, those that are mildly left of centre, those that are very left of centre, and those that are absolutely barking mad left of centre. After analysing John Tomlinson's article, I would place him in the latter category.

It is impossible to refute his long list of extraordinary assumptions and misconceptions in 350 words, so it would be better to attack the ideology which is the foundation for his extraordinary worldview. John appears to be one of those people who is convinced that money falls from heaven, and that prosperity is a natural law of nature.

One would have thought that the complete destruction of avowedly socialist economies in the Soviet Union, China and eastern Europe, and the tottering economies of Western Europe groaning under the weight of welfareism, would have prompted John to re-examine his ideology and conclude that the rationale which supports his thinking needs a bit of work.

But no, all we need comrades, is another five year plan. Sooner or later, it has got to work.

John's excuses for the demonstrable, abject failure or socialism and the welfare state, blame the usual suspects. We have to find a way to make the rich pay, says John.

The only problem with that, is that the working class people who once might have supported this silly notion, now realise that when John talks about "the rich", he really means them. The working class people who are going to throw out Julia Gillard and her misnamed "Labor" Party in the next election, are the ones now having their wages gouged by "Labor" people who delight in thinking up creative new taxes to impose on them.

And then John drones on about how there would be plenty of money, if only the nasty capitalists stopped making war on peace loving Muslim and Socialist people, for the purpose of stealing their resources. Well, that might work with Emperor Julian, Marilyn Sheppard and Arjay, but such a premise will not make any headway with anyone capable of reasoned analysis
Posted by LEGO, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 11:52:55 AM
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Seems to me to be a reasonable enough analysis of the situation, not unlike the book Economia by Geoff Davies.

And completely within the situation described by Chris Hedges in his essay A Brave New Distopia-On Brave New World & 1984. And almost everything featured on the the TomDispatch website (introduced here http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1116), by Henry Giroux on his website. And the Canadian Global Research outfit, and featured on Counterpunch, Alternet, Reader Supported News, Information Clearing House etc etc etc.
Posted by Daffy Duck, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 12:13:38 PM
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Daffy - you did read the article, right? As LEGO says its just a hark back to political ideals of by-gone days, without the benefit of coherent argument. A major part of Europe's problems at the moment is that governments like Greece and Italy have burdened their economies with vast spending on public servants and on welfare, and are being told to kick the habit without the benefit of currencies that can adjust.. and now we are told its really due to neo-liberalism. Right! Actually its partially due to commentators like John who simply will not or cannot adjust their world view to reality, and are still employed in the media and/or academia..
Posted by Curmudgeon, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 1:23:01 PM
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One point the author has (deliberately) overlooked is that freeing up international trade, which has destroyed the featherbedding of protected industries and contributed to the increasing disparity of incomes in the West, is exactly what has enabled the grindingly poor economies of Asia to lift themselves out of the poverty trap.

Given the choice between sponsoring a Ford worker at Geelong whose take-home salary exceeds mine, and an impoverished Chinese labourer who can do three times as much work for a quarter of the pay, I know which I'm going to opt for. What a pity that Tomlinson and his fellow-travellers don't want to give us the choice!
Posted by Jon J, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 1:53:27 PM
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Yes I did read the essay. Having done so I would add most of the items to be found on the Commons Dreams website and all of the items featured on Democracy Now.
Plus the work of Naomi Klein and all of the authors to be found on this truth-telling website http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com
Also http://www.valenzuelasveritas.blogspot.com
Posted by Daffy Duck, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 1:59:00 PM
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