Neoliberalism Has Met Its Match In China

http://dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/neoliberalism-has-met-its-match-in-china/
Date Written:  2019-08-08
Publisher:  Dissident Voice
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23785

Unless China starts playing by neoliberal rules Trump's economic war with them will lead the US to a race to the bottom or isolation from international markets.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

When the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week, commentators were asking why. According to official data, the economy was rebounding, unemployment was below 4% and gross domestic product growth was above 3%. If anything, by the Fed’s own reasoning, it should have been raising rates.

Market pundits explained that we're in a trade war and a currency war. Other central banks were cutting their rates, and the Fed had to follow suit in order to prevent the dollar from becoming overvalued relative to other currencies. The theory is that a cheaper dollar will make American products more attractive in foreign markets, helping our manufacturing and labor bases....

As economist Michael Hudson observed in a June interview with journalist Bonnie Faulkner, making American products cheaper abroad will do little for the American economy, because we no longer have a competitive manufacturing base or products to sell. Today’s workers are largely in the service industries—cab drivers, hospital workers, insurance agents and the like. A cheaper dollar abroad just makes consumer goods at Walmart and imported raw materials for U.S. businesses more expensive.