Guardian UK: Monetarists claim way to boost growth is to abolish labour laws [View all]
from the Guardian UK:
You've got to hand it to the Chicago school of monetarists. From what seemed like almost certain defeat 30 years ago, they are back in business.
In the 1980s, there was the failure of Geoffrey Howe's first two budgets, only rescued by a jumble sale of under-invested state assets and ultra-low commodity prices. In the 1990s, they championed faster and purer markets, unencumbered by regulation. They claimed every area of economic life could be virtually self-regulating, especially exotic financial products.
After the financial crash, precipitated largely by this flawed theory, instead of slinking away, they had another solution. Now austerity has run into the ground two years after its adoption (largely by the rightwing governments of Europe). Again no apology, just a pitstop for refuelling and a new proposal.
......(snip)......
It is alarming how easily monetarist ideas have prevailed. Without much competition from left-leaning thinktanks and academics, monetarists have convinced working people they are the reformers and that social democrat parties are a conservative barrier to recovery. Social democrats only seek to preserve the privileges and outmoded practices that got us into trouble, they argue. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/13/economic-growth-abolish-labour-laws
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