Volume 37, Issue 4: Terrorism, Neo-Liberalism and Political Rhetoric

It would seem that 2011 is going to be a pivotal year. Conservative Republicans, many under the banner of the Tea Party, have captured the US House of Representatives and promise to correct the course this country has taken. Echoing the actions of the coalition government in the UK, these members of Congress announced an intention to cut $100 billion from the annual budget (the actual proposal was less than a third of that amount), mostly in areas we have come to call the social safety net. We need not repeat the oft stated refrain that capitalism is doing just fine, profits are back to pre-debacle level in many sectors, and unemployment remains high (figures showing a small drop at the start of this decade has more to do with discouraged workers leaving the work- force rather than any meaningful job creation). Our ‘weak’ economy, so the argument being pro- moted goes, is because of a burdensome government supporting all the largesse and entitlements bestowed on the undeserving masses. In truth, we are witnessing a wholesale assault on the cost of social reproduction, and facts have little to do with reality or rhetoric (the endlessly repeated mantra that taxes are too high is not given pause by the fact that personal income taxes are the lowest they have been in half a century!)…

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