Thom Hartmann presents The Hidden History of Neoliberalism

In his new book, The Hidden History of Neoliberalism: How Reaganism Gutted America and How to Restore Its Greatness (Berrett-Koehler), progressive radio host Thom Hartmann reveals how and why neoliberalism became so prevalent in the United States and why it's time for us to turn our backs to it. While America is at a crossroads regarding its economic future, many of us don't fully understand how we got here. In his powerful and accessible new book, Hartmann demystifies neoliberalism and explains how we can use this pivotal point in time to create a more positive future. The Hidden History of Neoliberalism traces the history of neoliberalism — which applies to a set of capitalistic philosophies favoring free trade, financial austerity, and deregulation — up to the present. Hartmann explains how neoliberalism was sold as a cure for wars and the Great Depression. He outlines the impact that it has had on America, looking at different sectors, including healthcare, unemployment, and education. Hartmann highlights how America can go one of two ways: continue going down the road to neoliberal oligarchy, as supported by the GOP, or choose to return to FDR's Keynesian economics, raise taxes on the rich, reverse free trade, and create a more pluralistic society.

[larryg]

Thom Hartmann is a national treasure . He speaks the Truth & knows his Song well before he sings a single note .
Much thx Thom & please whatever ya do - Don’t stop

[MaisyDaisy]

Really fantastic discussion! Thank you so much to Powell's for hosting this and sharing it. ❤️ I've been making a real effort to learn more about our history (especially in the US), and Thom has been instrumental in my education. I am so grateful to be able to hear him speak about his research. Just an incredible teacher. So thank you to both Powell's and Thom for doing this. ❤️❤️

[johnkruk]

Thom Hartmann thank you for this erudite presentation on neoliberalism, how can we get rid of this biased system which is destroying our society .

[marieweinstein]

Thanks Thom this is amazing history….I spent my academic life buried in anatomy, physiology, pathology, etc as a student doctor and training physician and somehow missed out on all these important happenings, theories and the explanation of why things are so messed up!!!

[TedApelt]

I actually used to be a libertarian, until 2007. I don't see how anyone can be one after that.

[nattyw]

I quite enjoy learning about the american governance system...glad you have this channel ..

[MrPrimoPR]

In Puerto Rico the neoliberal movement is bent on separating the puertoricans from their island and going so far as to denying the fact that it is a country that is a colony per se, and that the invasion of USA was the starting point of our existence. In other words a culture, history of a nation is being wiped out and all for the sake of free business. The PPA have wiped out the island infrastructure and even jails are in private hands. 60 percent of the population is on food stamps, unemployment is double digit. The governing party Is a sham of corruption and fantasies of statehood which they market as the panacea to all our problems. If ever there were a place in heavy jeopardy come a world war it would be PR with 3+ million population and NO agriculture!

[kit]

Reagan was an awful president and I knew it then and I know it now! Thank you for making it clear!

[kjmav]

This is a great summary of neoliberalism. Thanks.

[CaptPeon]

Trickle down economics really works if trickle down is supposed to feel like you're getting pissed on

[zachscully]

Neoliberalism Defined

4:51 “Neoliberalism is comprised of basically six or seven major points.”

4:57 1. Markets know best.
“The first is the idea that the marketplace is inherently more brilliant, competent, and well-informed than any bureaucrat or politician ever could be.”
Thom pushes back. Economics are just games that we play. Games need rules, and they have to work for the benefit of the people. Social Darwinism. It’s nuts. It’s like saying whichever NFL team has the most money can decide to give themselves more players than all the other teams.
7:32 “The rules of the game should be neutral.”

7:37 2. Deregulation.
“Second, they believed that any kind of interference in the marketplace distorted the marketplace and thus prevented the market from working its ‘magic’. Deregulation was at the top of their list. All government regulation should basically be disposed of. … That was the goal, and they are still working in that direction.”
Example contaminated drugs, quack doctors, no problem.

8:52 3. Labor Unions Can’t Have Real Power
“Another variable that distorts marketplace is labor unions. Interference in the normal functioning of and decision-making of a business by people who work for that business, who should be basically subordinate to the business.”
9:20 “We’ve certainly seen America move in that direction over the last 40 years since Ronald Reagan imposed neoliberalism on the United States in 1981.”

9:28 4. Free Trade.
“Another aspect of the labor consideration of theirs was that corporations should be able to seek the cheapest labor they can find anywhere they can find it. The national borders should not matter. That all corporations should have the ability to be transnational…”
ME - My question in a college honors economics seminar, starting the class session I taught with the question/prompt “Does America’s lifestyle as we know it require a permanent lower economic class of people?” landed to absolute silence from my fellow honor students and professor.
ME again - So neoliberalism (our capitalism) is anti-nationalistic - so it should be rejected in principle by both protectionist of jobs and welcoming of immigrants social democrats, and protection of borders conservatives.
10:34 “So free trade is the fourth aspect of neoliberalism.”

10:40 5. Destroy the Social Safety Net
“The idea that a social safety net should exist was, in their minds, another distortion of the marketplace. They believed that people wouldn’t work if they weren’t frightened.”

11:01 “So their idea was that Social Security should be gone, or it should be turned into a private insurance program…which is something Republicans have been trying to do since the 1930s. Medicare same deal. George Bush did this in 2003…”

13:00 6. Cutting Taxes [on the rich]
“Another provision was the belief that people who had risen to the top, and corporations that had risen to the top of the economy, were, as I said earlier, the darwinian .. clear winners. So they should be the least inhibited in what they do. And one of the great inhibitors of economic activity is taxes. Neoliberalism has created a situation now where the average income tax paid by America’s 700 billionaires is around 3%, whereas the rest of us pay 20-30% in income taxes. More than half of the Fortune 500 companies pay no taxes at all. …
Cutting taxes on the rich.
Raising taxes on the poor. …
Reagan doubled the social security taxes, Reagan increased taxes on working people 18 times.

14:12 7. Privatize Everything
“Privatizing public function. Neoliberals believe that it’s appropriate for government to run the army and the police, but that’s it. Fire departments should be privatized, roads should be privatized …”
14:33 “Anything that the government does should be handed off to somebody who can make a buck off it so that it inserts itself into the so-called free market.
We shouldn’t have government, for example, running electric companies. …Dozens of studies have proven over the years that those cities and counties and states that generate their own electricity by government, do so at a lower cost with better efficiency and greater reliability, but you know their [neoliberals’] theory was that if you put all this in the hands of for-profit corporations they they do it more efficiently and cheaper and therefore everything would be wonderful. IN fact, those corporations have to pay their CEOs multi-million dollar salaries, they gotta show a profit, they’ve got to distribute that profit to their shareholders as dividends, etc.”

15:29 8. Inequality
“Finally, they believed that the existence of great inequalities of wealth.
- For example, right now there are two American men who control more wealth than the bottom half of the entire American population -
And monopolies in business, were actually signs of a properly functioning economy. …
Charles Dickens wrote about unregulated capitalism. …
In unregulated Capitalism you have that kind of situation that Dickens described. You have the top 1% … the big landowners and factory owners.
…a very small middle class, typically 3-5%, which is what Scrooge was…and the middle class is made up of doctors and lawyers and merchants and things like that.
And then you’ve got the 95% who are the working poor who live their entire lives in debt.
That’s the resting state of capitalism. …”

[darkranger]

i want to send this to every single libertarian i know

[lutherp.smithjr.]

Don't forget the Hudson Institute which Deadeye Dick Cheney is a head member

[joenetoneable]

Being middle class is still possible with so many jobs that never get filled because of uneducated citizens. Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and steam fitters, welders, etc. An FDR type of program is needed to train the replacement of the retired baby boomers.

[zachscully]

Polices to End Neoliberalism

35:03 “What are the policies that we should do if we want to end neoliberalism?”

1. Rational Top Tax Rates.
“Number one, we need to go back to rational taxes.
Franklin Roosevelt raised the top tax rate on the morbidly rich to 91%. [1930s]
…Lyndon Johnson dropped that down to 74% (1960s]…
It prevented this massive explosion of inequality. …
36:30 “The average CEO only made thirty times what the average worker made.
Now you’ve got the average CEO making 400 500 in some industries 10, 000 times what the average worker makes.”
38:37 1. Top Tax Rate
“So number one, we need to go back to an over 50% top tax rate for the morbidly rich and at least an over 35% tax rate for corporations to incentivize good behavior.”

38:47 2. Return to Labor Unions
“Number two, we need to return labor unions … Elizabeth Warren proposed the National Right to Unionize Act … “

39:19 3. Break up Monopolies
“Number three, we need to start breaking up these monopolies that have formed …
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1891 [?] …
The Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1927 …
The Anti-Trust Act of 1957 …
But in 1983 Ronald Reagan instructed the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to stop enforcing the antitrust laws.”

41:16 4. College Cost Covered by State and Federal
“Reagan reversed that. 80% of the cost college was paid for by state and federal government when Reagan came into office in 1980[1]. Now, 80% of the cost of college is paid for by tuition, and only 20% is covered by state and federal.”

41:39 5. Healthcare Access
“We need to give Americans access to healthcare. … down to number 50 in the world in terms of life expectancy. Every single country that has a better life expectancy than us has a national healthcare system. Every single one of them.”

42:13 6. Increase the Minimum Wage
“Finally, we need to increase the minimum wage to something reasonable. At least $15 an hour, so that we no longer have people living in poverty.”

42:23 7. Strengthen the Social Safety Net
“We need to strengthen the social safety net with programs that support food and housing and things like that.”

Book has references and links to backup statements.

[theconversationalpainter]

Great discussion, neoliberalism has wormed its way into Australian politics through our conservative liberal / national party coalition.

[dawnyoung]

Thank you Tom ! I’ve been bitching and warning people about this for decades ! You did SUPERB . I’m not at the end yet . But, I want to make sure you educate people about Zero sum ! About how it creates desperate and opulence . How combined with the Breton woods 1, 2. The federal reserve act establishes zero sum that establishes the castes . Supply side gives power to the rich ( supply side) .

Keynes at Versailles wanted to balance it and end debt system . The real limiting factor is natural resources .

Explain it so people can understand please ! Because I’m failing ! You’re doing much better . Please let your next book be Keynes plan to Versailles 🙏🙏🙏❤️

[jimsliverootsculturemusic]

It was reported today that you now need a six-figure income to have a shot at owning a home. Hopefully, you've got a buttload of cash saved up and have no debt problems.

[Disconnectmyself]

Booyakasha! It's good to see Ali G back in the business of interviewing people.

[MrApplewine]

Imperialism, Oligarchism, Neo-Liberalism, British Free Trade, Liberal Imperialism, these are all terms for the same thing. We must return to the Republic of Washington and Hamilton!