Michael Pugliese put up a link to a long review of David Harvey's ``A Brief History of Neoliberalism'' (Oxford UP, 2005)
Since I haven't read the book, I hope the review is accurate. I want to repost the review here in several parts, probably 1, 2, 3 of about 10k each.
The reason to repost it is I doubt most of the list read Pugliese's post (and followed the link), and more important, the review outlines a process that I suspect will be followed in rebuilding New Orleans-- most likely the next great neoliberal experiment.
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This was an excellent idea.
I read the review when Michael first posted it and although I haven't picked up a copy of `A Brief History of Neoliberalism' yet, my reading of Harvey's previous work, 'The New Imperialism', in which, as the reviewer states, many of the arguments fully fleshed in 'A Brief History...' are introduced, was such an illuminating experience there's no doubt I'll be buying it.
Of particular interest to me is Harvey's argument (as I understand it) that neo liberalism is partly a program of elite power restoration (to reverse the relative losses that followed the end of World War Two and the post colonial, anti-racist wave of change it spawned) and partly an effort to solve some of capitalism's inherent 'contradictions' that hit plain view again in the 1970s.
The irony appears to be that this maneuver, even when allowed free reign, creates its own contributions to the systemic problems of overproduction, deficits and un-invested super-profits all of which loom quite large; it's own subset of contradictions.
Bushevik hyper militarism may be seen as a response to this problem of success (i.e. the neo libs getting their way much of the time) failing to produce lasting solutions, even from the narrow point of view of profit driven elites, to structural challenges.
.d.