[...] in the late 1960s, the rather slow fall in the profit rate accelerated markedly, and continued steadily until the Volcker coup of 1979-82. If you have to pick a birthday for neoliberalism, this is it. It had been gestating for a number of years, but more than any other single event, the Fed's interest rate shock (helpfully coupled with Reagan's assault on social services and unions) reasserted the doinance of capital in US political economic relations, and by extension throughout much of the developed north. It did so by restarting the profitability of very large corporations, the financial sector in particular. [...]

[...] with Volcker's interest rate hikes, which made investment too expensive for many businesses, everything slowed to a crawl. In combination with the political economic forces that caused problems for the welfare state (like increasing international competition and giving more power and voice to workers), these trends led firms to look for ways of making profit other than through Long Boom-style brick-and-mortar investment.