Editing Neoliberalism (section)

=== United States ===
{{see also|Reaganomics|Reagan Era|New Democrats (United States)}}
While a number of recent histories of neoliberalism<ref>{{Cite web |last=themetropoleblog |date=June 5, 2019 |title=Neoliberalism: Kim Phillips-Fein and Tracy Neumann Unpack the Knotty Realities and History of the Ubiquitous Term |website=The Metropole |language=en |url=https://themetropole.blog/2019/06/05/neoliberalism-kim-phillips-fein-and-tracy-neumann-unpack-the-knotty-realities-and-history-of-the-ubiquitous-term/ |access-date=September 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Andrew |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520286498/chicago-on-the-make |title=Chicago on the Make |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780520286498 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Remaking the Rust Belt {{!}} Tracy Neumann |url=https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15517.html |access-date=September 4, 2020 |website=www.upenn.edu}}</ref> in the United States have traced its origins back to the urban renewal policies of the 1950s, [[Marxism|Marxist]] economic geographer [[David Harvey]] argues the rise of neoliberal policies in the United States occurred during the [[1970s energy crisis]],<ref name=Harvey-Jacobin/> and traces the origin of its political rise to [[Lewis F. Powell Jr.#Powell Memorandum, 1971|Lewis Powell's 1971 confidential memorandum]] to the [[United States Chamber of Commerce|Chamber of Commerce]] in particular.{{sfnp|Harvey|2005|p=43}} A call to arms to the business community to counter criticism of the free enterprise system, it was a significant factor in the rise of conservative and libertarian organizations and think-tanks which advocated for neoliberal policies, such as the [[Business Roundtable]], [[The Heritage Foundation]], the [[Cato Institute]], [[Citizens for a Sound Economy]], [[Accuracy in Academia]] and the [[Manhattan Institute for Policy Research]].{{sfnp|Gerstle|2022|pp=108–110}} For Powell, universities were becoming an ideological battleground, and he recommended the establishment of an intellectual infrastructure to serve as a counterweight to the increasingly popular ideas of [[Ralph Nader]] and other opponents of big business.<ref>Kevin Doogan (2009). ''New Capitalism.'' [[Polity (publisher)|Polity]]. {{ISBN|0745633250}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=YTsXHSMMndIC&pg=PA34 p. 34].</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Powell |first=Lewis F. Jr. |title=Attack of American Free Enterprise System |website=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/sources_document13.html |date=August 23, 1971 |access-date=March 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104052451/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/sources_document13.html |archive-date=January 4, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Harvey-Jacobin/> The original neoliberals included, among others, [[Michael Kinsley]], [[Charles Peters]], [[James Fallows]], [[Nicholas Lemann]], [[Bill Bradley]], [[Bruce Babbitt]], [[Gary Hart]], and [[Paul Tsongas]]. Sometimes called "[[Atari Democrat]]s", these were the men who helped to remake American liberalism into neoliberalism, culminating in the election of [[Bill Clinton]] in 1992. These new liberals disagreed with the policies and programs of mid-century figures like progressive labor organizer [[Walter Reuther]], economist [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] or even noted historian [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.|Arthur Schlesinger]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=The First Neoliberals |url=https://jacobinmag.com/2016/04/chait-neoliberal-new-inquiry-democrats-socialism/ |first=Corey |last=Robin |access-date=April 27, 2021 |magazine=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

Early roots of neoliberalism were laid in the 1970s during the Nixon administration, with appointment of associates of [[Milton Friedman]] to Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Justice, and the Council of Economic Advisors and encouraged funding of the [[American Enterprise Institute]] and defunding of the more centrist [[Brookings Institution]],<ref name="Gibbs, David N. 2024">Gibbs, David N. (2024) ''Revolt of the rich: How the politics of the 1970s widened America's class divide.'' Columbia University Press.</ref> and during the [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter administration]], with deregulation of the [[Motor Carrier Act of 1980|trucking]], banking and [[Airline Deregulation Act|airline industries]],<ref>{{cite web |first=William L. |last=Anderson |title=Rethinking Carter |date=October 25, 2000 |url=https://mises.org/library/rethinking-carter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Andrew |last=Leonard |date=June 4, 2009 |title=No, Jimmy Carter did it |url=http://www.salon.com/2009/06/04/jimmy_carter_did_it/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Firey |first=Thomas A. |date=February 20, 2011 |title=A salute to Carter, deregulation's hero |url=http://articles.herald-mail.com/2011-02-20/opinion/28614285_1_jimmy-carter-deregulation-peanut-farmer |access-date=January 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114225036/http://articles.herald-mail.com/2011-02-20/opinion/28614285_1_jimmy-carter-deregulation-peanut-farmer |archive-date=January 14, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the appointment of [[Paul Volcker]] to chairman of the [[Federal Reserve]]{{sfnp|Stedman Jones|2014|p=5}} as well as increased military spending at the end of his term leading to fiscal austerity in US nonmilitary budget diverting funds away from social programs.<ref name="Gibbs, David N. 2024"/> This trend continued into the 1980s under the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]], which included [[Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981|tax cuts]], increased defense spending, financial deregulation and [[trade deficit]] expansion.<ref name="Karagiannis"/> Likewise, concepts of [[supply-side economics]], discussed by the Democrats in the 1970s, culminated in the 1980 [[Joint Economic Committee]] report "Plugging in the Supply Side". This was picked up and advanced by the Reagan administration, with Congress following Reagan's basic proposal and cutting federal income taxes across the board by 25% in 1981.<ref>{{cite book |first=Darrell M. |last=West |title=Congress and Economic Policy Making |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h64et3mOxH8C&pg=PA71 |year=1987 |page=71 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre |isbn=978-0822974352 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

The [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]] embraced neoliberalism<ref name="Handbook144"/> by supporting the passage of the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA), continuing the deregulation of the financial sector through passage of the [[Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000|Commodity Futures Modernization Act]] and the repeal of the [[Glass–Steagall Act]] and implementing cuts to the [[Welfare state#United States|welfare state]] through passage of the [[Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act]].<ref name="Karagiannis">{{cite book |editor1-first=Nikolaos |editor1-last=Karagiannis |editor2-first=Zagros |editor2-last=Madjd-Sadjadi |editor3-first=Swapan |editor3-last=Sen |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-US-Economy-and-Neoliberalism-Alternative-Strategies-and-Policies/Karagiannis-Madjd-Sadjadi-Sen/p/book/9780415645058 |title=The US Economy and Neoliberalism: Alternative Strategies and Policies |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2013 |isbn=978-1138904910 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aYKfai1RlPYC&pg=PA58 58]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.democracynow.org/1997/8/25/food_stamps |title=Food Stamps |work=[[Democracy Now]]! |date=August 25, 1997 |access-date=August 16, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first=Alan S. |last=Blinder |title=Alan Blinder: Five Years Later, Financial Lessons Not Learned |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323623304579059070153371410?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_opinion |work=[[Wall Street Journal]] |date=September 10, 2013 |quote=(Blinder summarizing causes of the "Great Recession": "Disgracefully bad mortgages created a problem. But wild and woolly customized derivatives—totally unregulated due to the odious Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000—blew the problem up into a catastrophe. Derivatives based on mortgages were a principal source of the reckless leverage that backfired so badly during the crisis, imposing huge losses on investors and many financial firms.")}}</ref> The American historian [[Gary Gerstle]] writes that while Reagan was the ideological architect of the neoliberal order which was formulated in the 1970s and 1980s, it was Clinton who was its key facilitator, and as such this order achieved dominance in the 1990s and early 2000s.{{sfnp|Gerstle|2022|p=1}} The neoliberalism of the Clinton administration differs from that of Reagan as the Clinton administration purged neoliberalism of [[neoconservative]] positions on [[militarism]], family values, opposition to [[multiculturalism]] and neglect of ecological issues.{{sfnp|Steger|Roy|2010|pp=50–51}}{{Disputed inline|Clinton does not neglect ecological issues?|date=August 2016}} Writing in ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'', journalist [[Jonathan Chait]] disputed accusations that the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] had been hijacked by neoliberals, saying that its policies have largely stayed the same since the New Deal. Instead, Chait suggested these accusations arose from arguments that presented a [[false dichotomy]] between free-market economics and socialism, ignoring mixed economies.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chait |first=Jonathan |date=July 16, 2017 |url=https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/how-neoliberalism-became-the-lefts-favorite-insult.html |title=How 'Neoliberalism' Became the Left's Favorite Insult of Liberals |work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |access-date=January 18, 2018}}</ref> American feminist philosopher [[Nancy Fraser]] says the modern Democratic Party has embraced a "progressive neoliberalism", which she describes as a "progressive-neoliberal alliance of financialization plus emancipation".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/nancy-fraser-against-progressive-neoliberalism-progressive-populism |title=Against Progressive Neoliberalism, A New Progressive Populism |last=Fraser |first=Nancy |date=February 28, 2017 |website=[[Dissent (American magazine)|Dissent]] |access-date=June 13, 2019}}</ref> Historian [[Walter Scheidel]] says that both parties shifted to promote free-market capitalism in the 1970s, with the Democratic Party being "instrumental in implementing financial deregulation in the 1990s".<ref>{{cite book |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Scheidel |title=The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0691165028 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NgZpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA416 416] |url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10921.html |quote=In the United States, both of the dominant parties have shifted toward free-market capitalism. Even though analysis of roll call votes show that since the 1970s, Republicans have drifted farther to the right than Democrats have moved to the left, the latter were instrumental in implementing financial deregulation in the 1990s and focused increasingly on cultural issues such as gender, race, and sexual identity rather than traditional social welfare policies.}}</ref> Historians [[Andrew Diamond (professor)|Andrew Diamond]] and [[Thomas Sugrue]] argue that neoliberalism became a "'dominant rationality' precisely because it could not be confined to a single partisan identity."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Neoliberal Cities |url=https://nyupress.org/9781479832378/neoliberal-cities |access-date=September 4, 2020 |website=[[NYU Press]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Economic and political inequalities in schools, universities, and libraries and an undermining of democratic and civil society institutions influenced by neoliberalism has been explored by Buschman.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Buschman |first=John |date=2020 |title=Education, the Public Sphere, and Neoliberalism: Libraries' Contexts. |journal=[[Library Quarterly]] |volume=90 |number=2 |pages=154–61 |doi=10.1086/707671 |s2cid=216334602}}</ref>