186/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!since 1980 have indeed cut back on what they see as obstacles to the
free functioning of the market - for example, by diminishing the
strength of the trade union movement and rolling back social welfare.
But they have also strengthened other such 'obstacles': through the
greater concentration of companies, creating oligopolies in certain
sectors; through the privatisation of state-owned companies,
eliminating any form of democratic control; through maintaining
protectionism against foreign competitors (tariff barriers and other
constraints on the free market); through strengthening the power of
financial players, leading towards a 'tyranny of the markets'; and
through restricting the free circulation of labour.
Meanwhile, in the case of the US, inequalities have increased and
poverty affects a larger share of the population. A significant share of
new jobs are poorly paid and short-term. The prison population has
gone from 250,000 in 1975 to 744,000 in 1985 and 1.6 million in
1996: according to prison authorities, 'a black man is seven times
more likely than a white man to go to prison' (Le Monde, 13 August
1997). Never before have their been so many economic activities of
a criminal character by company heads and public officials -
encouraged by the deregulation of capital flows.
In defence of their record, neo-liberals always retort that resources
are not optimally allocated since there is nowhere that the market
functions unfettered. The task, therefore, is to struggle against
obstacles to the market in view of achieving universal prosperity at
some point in the distant future.
In fact, in the name of the quest for a free market (the neo-liberal
promised land), the objective is to destroy the gains of workers and
the oppressed generally - gains which are described as so many
reactionary 'rigidities'.
NEO-LIBERAL SLEIGHT OF HAND: PORTRAYING THE
OPPRESSED AS OPPRESSORS
In fact, there is nothing new about this line of argument. The idea is
to single out the trade union movement and legislation defending
workers as oppressive mechanisms. These mechanisms, the
argument goes, were established by the privileged sectors of the
population that have well-paid jobs, against those who merely want
to accept the jobs they are offered.
In 1944, Hayek wrote in The Road to Serfdom: