A Crisis of Crises: How Neoliberalism 1.0 Became Neoliberalism 3.0 and What We Need to Do About It

1. A Crisis of Crises: How Neoliberalism 1.0 Became Neoliberalism 3.0 and What We Need to Do About It Ronald Labonté University of Ottawa

3. The truth is that there is as yet no credible, socially just, ecologically sustainable scenario of continually growing incomes for a world of nine billion people. UK Sustainable Development Commission, Prosperity without Growth? 2009

4. Redistribution, regulation and rights “Policies should provide for: • systematic resource redistribution between countries and within regions and countries to enable poorer countries to meet human needs, • effective supranational regulation to ensure that there is a social purpose in the global economy, and • enforceable social rights that enable citizens and residents to seek legal redress.” Deacon, B., Ilva, M., Koivusalo, M., Ollila, E., & Stubbs, P. (2005). Copenhagen Social Summit ten years on: The need for effective social policies nationally, regionally and globally (GASPP Policy Brief No. 6). Helsinki: Globalism and Social Policy Programme, STAKES. Available: http://gaspp.stakes.fi/NR/rdonlyres/4F9C6B91-94FD-4042-B781-3DB7BB9D7496/0/policybrief6.pdf.

5. Neoliberalism 1.0 Washington Consensus: • privatization of state assets • deregulation of economic markets • lower corporate and individual taxes • more user pay for public services • government deficit reduction • trade and financial liberalization

6. Number of financial crises by year, 1971 - 2002

7. Costs of the Financial Crisis • Direct public subsidy to banks: over USD 100 billion dollars annually by the US and UK governments • Knock-on recessionary effects and lost global economic income: around USD 4 trillion dollars annually, expected to persist for many years, and likely ranging between USD 60 and 200 trillion dollars Source: Andrew Haldane, Executive Director, Financial Stability, Bank of England: The $100 Billion Question. Institute of Regulation and Risk, Hong Kong, 30 March 2010

8. Health Consequences of the Crisis: Low-Income Countries • Increase in those living below the abject ($1.25/day) poverty level: 50 – 200 million by 2009/2010 • For 390 million poorest Africans, a 20% drop in income • Increase in global unemployment: 55 - 100 million • Increase in child mortality: 200,000 to 400,000 excess deaths • Increase in child labour and domestic violence • Decrease in remittances • Decrease ($300 billion, or 25%) in financial flows to developing countries World Bank. The Global Economic Crisis: Assessing Vulnerability with a Poverty Lens, 2009; Marmot M, Bell R. How will the financial crisis affect health? BMJ 2009;338:858-60; International Labour Organization. Global employment trends 2009. Geneva: ILO, 2009; Overseas Development Institute. Children in times of economic crisis: Past lessons, future policies. Background Note. March 2009.

9. “Poor social policies, unfair economics and bad politics are killing people on a grand scale.”

10. Those who support fiscal tightening argue that it is indispensable for restoring the confidence of financial markets, which is perceived as key to economic recovery. This is despite the almost universal recognition that the crisis was the result of financial market failure in the first place… (p.V)

11. Ethiopia has sold leases to 3.4 million hectares of its best farmland to foreign companies yet relies on 700,000 tonnes of emergency food aid each year Karmjeet Sekhon, project manager for Indian food company Karuturi Global, with crops in Ethiopia's Gambella province. Photograph: John Vidal for the Guardian

13. UN Social Protection Floor Initiativehttp://www.socialsecurityextension.org/gimi/gess/ShowTheme.do?tid=2485

14. Low-income countries High-income countries

15. The way forward is: ‘tough, sustained bilateral negotiations’ (WTO/TRIPS++) US Trade Representative Ron Kirk 7th WTO Ministerial

16. A Way Forward • A life that is secure • Opportunities that are fair • A planet that is livable • Governance that is just