Contours of Descent: US Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity [Hardcover]

Robert Pollin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

How the policies of Clinton and Bush in the U.S., as well as those of the IMF with respect to developing countries, are variants of neoliberal economics…which lavishes favors on multinationals and capitalists while allowing living standards for ordinary people to fall. In the past twenty-five years the free-market neoliberal model has been hailed as a panacea for economic ills in both the advanced economies and the developing world. Pollin dissects this model as it has been implemented in the US during the Clinton and Bush administrations under Greenspan's Chairmanship of the Federal Reserve, and in developing countries under the auspices of the IMF.

Clinton's Third Way policies were hailed as combining a pro-business stance with social responsibility. This approach seemed to be vindicated by the extraordinary fall in both inflation and unemployment. In fact, the apparent successes of the Clinton years were based on anti-labor policies, the stagnation of real wages, deregulation of financial markets, and an historically unprecedented stock market boom. Even before 9/11 there were indications that the Clinton bubble would collapse into recession. Bush's response was to give big tax breaks to the rich, introduce more anti-labor measures, and cut social spending at both the federal and state levels.

Both Clinton and Bush have applied free-market policies only selectively within the US itself, when such policies have most benefited the interests of business. At the same time, through the IMF, the US has compelled developing countries to slash public spending, deregulate financial markets and dismantle trade barriers virtually across the board. Argentina's embrace of this policy package culminated in financial ruin. Throughout Asia and Africa, sweatshops and poverty are the testaments to a bankrupt economic model.

Pollin concludes by exploring concrete proposals that would promote full employment, economic growth and increased equality in the US and throughout the less developed countries, drawing ong the spreading movements for living wages, the Tobin Tax on financial speculation, and more generally workable alternatives to neoliberal globalization.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The economic boom of the 1990s-low unemployment and inflation, a soaring stock market, big government surpluses-was actually something of a bust, according to this incisive study. Pollin, an academic economist and co-author of The Living Wage, presents his own research on the period and ably synthesizes a comprehensive left critique of Clintonomics. He argues that the Clinton-era boom was mediocre compared with previous ones and based on an unsustainable stock market bubble, the result of financial deregulation that left households and companies carrying high levels of debt and the economy unstable. The benefits, moreover, accrued mainly to the rich, he says; workers' wages stagnated for most of the period, even as their productivity climbed, thanks to pervasive job insecurity caused by foreign competition and weak unions. Meanwhile, Clinton's "Third Way" policies of welfare and social spending cutbacks and shrinking the relative size of government squandered a historic opportunity to reduce poverty. Abroad, the neoliberal prescription of government austerity, privatization and free trade pressed on Third World countries by the Clinton Administration led to slow growth, financial crises and depression. Needless to say, Pollin doesn't view Clinton's successor as an improvement, and lambastes what he sees as Bush's single-minded fixation on undermining organized labor and showering tax cuts on the rich. Pollin's sophisticated but accessible treatment, free of jargon and unobtrusively supported by telling statistics and graphs, is a model of lucid argumentation that will appeal to wonks and laypeople alike. His call for a social democratic program of full employment, higher minimum wages, labor rights and reinvigorated government regulation presents a compelling challenge to the free-market, free-trade orthodoxies of neoliberalism.
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Review

Contours of Descent is lucid economics as if reality matters. Cutting through the myths, hype and diversionary corporate-side indicators, Professor Pollin lays out an agenda to turn around the economy that is increasingly disconnecting from millions of workers and their well-being. A laser-beam exposure of globalization as defined by the World Bank, the IMF, Alan Greenspan and the corporate supremacists. (Ralph Nader )

Robert Pollin's readable and sharply argued book is an excellent guide to the reality of recent US economic policy and its global implications. (Andrew Glyn, Oxford University )

This insightful book dissects the consequences of the neoliberal revolution of the 1990s, and offers valuable lessons for the neophyte and professional economist alike.
(Professor Dani Rodrik, Harvard University )

Professor Pollin is one of the leading heterodox economists in the US. His rigorous and insightful analysis convincingly demonstrates that Clinton and Bush as well as the IMF have each followed fundamentally similar neoliberal economic policies to the detriment of people in the US and the developing world. Importantly, the book also outlines an alternative policy program for building a prosperous US and world economy. It is a 'must read' for those who wish to understand recent developments in the US and the world economy.
(Professor Ajiit Singh, Cambridge University )

Contours of Descent does a great job in making current U.S. and global economic issues accessible to the average reader. Pollin presents a clear discussion of what he terms ‘the Marx Problem,’ ‘the Keynes Problem,’ and ‘the Polanyi Problem,’ as they apply both in the U.S. under Clinton and Bush, and in the developing countries. Most importantly, the book ends by demonstrating that ‘another path is possible’ — sketching a workable egalitarian policy agenda in both the U.S. and developing country context, focused on full employment, defending workers rights, and regulating financial markets. (Professor Lourdes Beneria, Cornell University )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Verso (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859846734
• ISBN-13: 978-1859846735
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Towards a more equitable, stable and prosperous world, January 17, 2004

By 

Malvin (Frederick, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Contours of Descent: US Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity (Hardcover)

Robert Pollin's "Contours of Descent" is a lucid and coherent dissection of neoliberal economic policies as practiced in the U.S. and around the world. The author very effectively cuts through the political doublespeak of recent U.S. administrations to show that neoliberalism has served as the guiding principle for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Following a careful and methodical critique of the Clinton/Bush record, Mr. Pollin advances an alternative set of policy proscriptions that might lead us towards a more equitable, stable and prosperous world.

Mr. Pollin is a Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The humanity and practicality that infuses this book is no doubt a reflection of Mr. Pollin's real world experiences, which includes work on developing living wage proposals in various U.S. cities, serving as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program in Bolivia, and as Economic Spokesperson to the 1992 Presidential campaign of Governor Jerry Brown.

Neoliberalism is defined by the "Washington consensus" of decreased government spending, free trade and deregulated markets. Mr. Pollin critiques the system for its three major defects: The "Marx problem" pertaining to the relative bargaining relationship between employers and workers; the "Keynes problem" of the tendency of financial markets to engage in speculation; and the "Polanyi problem" of the corrupting effect of corporate power.

The author builds a convincing case that all three problems have been exacerbated by neoliberalist policies, resulting in a host of deleterious effects. These include widening gaps between the rich and poor (Marx), speculative bubbles in the financial markets (Keynes), accounting scandals (Polanyi), and others. Moreover, the author provides research to show that the cumulative effect of these policies has been to slow world economic growth, thereby undoing years of progress and preventing many developing nations from significantly raising living standards for their citizens.

Mr. Pollin critiques the Clinton administration and Robert Rubin in particular for championing financial market deregulation as the linchpin for its "Eisenhower Republican" economic strategy. The author is presuasive in detailing how the stock market boom of the 1990s provided fuel for the economic boom; unfortunately, its demise quickly erased most of the gains attributed to the Clinton economy, such as a real decrease in the number of persons living in poverty. In fact, the author suggests that the single-minded pursuit of a balanced budget allowed Clinton to squander a historic opportunity to use surplus government dollars to invest in education, healthcare and the environment --programs that the author believes are critical to creating a more durable kind of prosperity for the American people.

Mr. Pollin launches a no less scathing critique of the Bush administration's policies, which the author believes have been designed to be little more than a "bonanza to the rich" at the expense of workers. The author explains that crisis has been used by Bush to justify giveaways to corporations and the wealthy; meanwhile, aggressively anti-labor and anti-environmental policies have further squeezed living standards for most. Furthermore, by highlighting the inconsistencies in Bush's budget proposals, Mr. Pollin suggests that the administration is intent on creating a fiscal crisis in order to force a dismantling of the populist social safety net.

One section that I found particularly interesting was Mr. Pollin's discussion of stimulating the economy by means of defense spending and the Iraq war. His analysis of the situation however suggests that the occupation of Iraq will further slow the U.S. economy as a whole but will benefit specific corporations engaged in the production and distribution of oil, thereby calling into question the real motives for the war.

Mr. Pollin dedicates a chapter examining the "landscape of global austerity" that has resulted from Washington's imposition of neoliberal policies onto the developing world. The analysis focuses on case studies in India, Argentina and elsewhere to highlight the human costs of the neoliberal experiment in specific countries. For example, the author shows how Asian sweatshop bosses have repressed their workers in order to gain competitive advantage for their export-oriented economies. The author argues that "policies to eliminate sweatshops and guarantee workers decent...minimum wages" are needed to narrow inequality, restore impoverished communities and develop new markets.

The final chapter explores the author's alternative economic policies more fully. The recommendations include full-employment policies, living wages and labor rights to solve the Marx problem, and financial system regulation, taxation, and increased banking reserve requirements to solve the Keynes problem. The issue is one of morality as well. Recalling Adam Smith, the author suggests that continuing with the failed neoliberal experiment of privileging the interests of capital over the rights of people amounts to "corruption of moral sentiments on a global scale" and should rightly yield to an economics dedicated to equity and social justice.

I strongly recommend this powerful, insightful and humane book to everyone.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, February 11, 2004

By 

David C N Swanson (Charlottesville VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Contours of Descent: US Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity (Hardcover)

Read "Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity" by Robert Pollin, the co-author of "Living Wage." Pollin is a brilliant economist interested in using economics for the good of our society. He's also ruthlessly honest, and you won't catch him bragging, a' la Dick Gephardt, about the glorious Clinton days. Pollin's critique of Clinton's economic program is harsh and that of W. Bush's devestating. The lessons are clear, and Pollin closes with useful recommendations.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time For A Real Change, November 12, 2003

By 

Brooklyn Snow (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Contours of Descent: US Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity (Hardcover)

This is not only one of the most readable, persuasive, and substantial books I have ever read on the US economy - it also probes well below the surface of much of the current media hype.

While Pollin takes on the shameless economic policies of Bush - rewarding the rich at the expense of everyone else - he also argues strongly against Paul Krugman or other apologists for Clinton. Arguing that essentially both Bush and Clinton (and Greenspan throughout) have operated under the same absolute Washington 'Consensus' ideas about the economy, he shows how these ideas have led to greater inequalities in US society and worse conditions for the average American. The fabulous decade (the late nineties) were really just a "hollow boom." He also explains how neoliberalism has been a disaster for the developing world.

But its not all gloom and doom. Pollin has a chapter on simple and proven economic changes that could be achieved and which would not only give every American a fairer chance, but would boost the economy at the same time. If you want great background reading to Democrats economic proposals for the 2004 elections - and any real and achievable change - read this book !!!