The steady privatisation of public spending around the world was recently identified by the UN as the source of pervasive human rights abuses.29 The UN’s expert panel claimed that “[g]overnments trade short-term deficits for windfall profits and push financial liabilities on future generations”. Neoliberal governments have relied on privatised public spending in order to alleviate some of the inequality created by the finance-led growth regime, and to mute the ups and downs of the business cycle. They have, however, shied away from returning to the old Keynesian model of promoting full employment, given the implications this would have for power relations between workers and owners. Instead, they have sought to create a model of privatised Keynesianism, which allows executives and shareholders to profit from public spending through monopolistic corporations that pay executives huge sums whilst hiring workers on poorly-paid, precarious and insecure contracts. In other words, privatisation attempts to deal with some of the many contradictions of finance-led growth, whilst maintaining the power relations upon which it rests.
The steady privatisation of public spending around the world was recently identified by the UN as the source of pervasive human rights abuses.29 The UN’s expert panel claimed that “[g]overnments trade short-term deficits for windfall profits and push financial liabilities on future generations”. Neoliberal governments have relied on privatised public spending in order to alleviate some of the inequality created by the finance-led growth regime, and to mute the ups and downs of the business cycle. They have, however, shied away from returning to the old Keynesian model of promoting full employment, given the implications this would have for power relations between workers and owners. Instead, they have sought to create a model of privatised Keynesianism, which allows executives and shareholders to profit from public spending through monopolistic corporations that pay executives huge sums whilst hiring workers on poorly-paid, precarious and insecure contracts. In other words, privatisation attempts to deal with some of the many contradictions of finance-led growth, whilst maintaining the power relations upon which it rests.