The Global Class War

Jeff Faux

Description

Acclaim for The Global Class War

"You will never think about 'free trade' the same way after reading Jeff Faux's superb book. As Faux makes clear, the globalization debate is really about whose interests are served by global elites, and how we need to go about reclaiming a democracy that serves ordinary people. This book should transform public discourse in America."
-Robert Kuttner, founding coeditor of the American Prospect and a contributing columnist to BusinessWeek

"Jeff Faux's astonishing story of how class works will scandalize the best names in Wall Street and Washington-especially the much admired Robert Rubin, who along with other elites colluded behind the backs of ordinary citizens in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. The most cynical Americans will be shocked by the sordid details. This really is an important book."
-William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism and Secrets of the Temple

"Globalization is a cover for American imperialism, but the beneficiaries are not the American people at the expense of foreigners but corporate executives at the expense of working-class and poor people wherever they may be. Jeff Faux offers a comprehensive and devastating analysis."
-Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire
Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

Chapter 1. NAFTA: Class Reunion.

Chapter 2. "Good Jobs" and Other Global Deceptions.

Chapter 3. The Governing Class: America's Worst-Kept Secret.

Chapter 4. How Reagan and Thatcher Stole Globalization.

Chapter 5. A Bipartisan Empire.

Chapter 6. Allan, Larry, and Bob Save the Privileged.

Chapter 7. NAFTA: Who Got What?

Chapter 8. The Constitution According to Davos.

Chapter 9. America Abandoned.

Chapter 10. After the Fall.

Chapter 11. Imagining North America.

Chapter 12. Toward, and Beyond, a Continental Democracy.

Notes.

Index.

Sujets

• Political Science
• Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte
• Globalization
• North American Free Trade Agreement
• Accord de libre-échange nord-américain

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781118040331
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents
 
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Introduction
 
Chapter 1 - NAFTA: Class Reunion
 
Bill Clinton’s Party
Trade, But Not Free
The GOP Fast Track to Mexico
Clinton Hops Aboard
The High Price
Follow the Money
 
Chapter 2 - “Good Jobs” and Other Global Deceptions
 
Tomatoes or Tomato Pickers?
Globalization’s Poster Boy
You’re on Your Own
 
Chapter 3 - The Governing Class: America’s Worst-Kept Secret
 
Who Rules?
The Governing Class
Class Unconsciousness
Class as Style
The Top Fifty Thousand
Breaking into the Ruling Class Is Getting Harder, Not Easier
Gaps between Classes
Things Change, the Corporation Remains
Loyalty to Whom?
 
Chapter 4 - How Reagan and Thatcher Stole Globalization
 
When Both High Wages and High Profits Were in the National Interest
The Ruling Class Rebels
Reagan’s Intellectual Legacy
“There Is No Mindset That Puts This Country First”
The Counterrevolution in Mexico and Canada
 
Chapter 5 - A Bipartisan Empire
 
Wall Street Relieves the Sixth Fleet
Emerging Markets, Sinking Societies
Iraq: Sixth Fleet Politics, Wall Street Economics
 
Chapter 6 - Alan, Larry, and Bob Save the Privileged
 
Class before Country
The Committee to Save the World’s Rich and Powerful
Socialism for the Rich
NAFTA’s “High Yield” Club
 
Chapter 7 - NAFTA: Who Got What?
 
View from the Top
Low-Wage Sucking Sound
Rural Poverty in Mexico: NAFTA’s Intended Consequence
Few Jobs in the City
Models of Unreality
Voting with Their Feet
NAFTA’s Penalty for Mistreating Workers: Nothing
Abuse the Environment and Face Publication of a “Factual Record”
Democracy Shortchanged
 
Chapter 8 - The Constitution According to Davos
 
We Are the World . . . Wide Investor Class
“Anyone Who Thinks the WTO Agreement Expands Free Trade Hasn’t Read It”
The Party of Davos
American, Global, and Beyond
Networking around the Kantian “Catch-22”
The Party of Porto Alegre
Workers of the World
 
Chapter 9 - America Abandoned
 
The China Price
The Outsourcing Canary
Abandoning America to the Competition
Payback Time
 
Chapter 10 - After the Fall
 
Democratizing the Debate
The Continental “We”
Continental Politics, Post-September 11, 2001
NAFTA II: By Stealth and Panic
The NAFTA Trap
 
Chapter 11 - Imagining North America
 
The European Model
Newlanders?
Who “We” Are
 
Chapter 12 - Toward, and Beyond, a Continental Democracy
 
A North American Model?
1. A Continental Economic Bill of Rights
2. “Cohesion” Funds for Mexico
3. A Common Competitiveness Agenda
4. A Citizens’ Continental Congress
Continental Class Politics
 
Notes
Index

Copyright © 2006 by Jeff Faux. All rights reserved
 
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
 
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .
 
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
 
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data :
Faux, Geoffrey P.
The global class war : how America’s bipartisan elite lost our future—and what it will take to win it back / Jeff Faux.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-69761-9 (cloth) ISBN-10: 0-471-69761-3 (cloth)
1. Social classes. 2. Elite (Social sciences) 3. Elite (Social sciences)—United States. 4. International economic relations. 5. Globalization. 6. Canada. Treaties, etc. 1992 Oct. 7. 7. North America—Economic policy. 8. United States—Economic conditions—21st century. I. Title.
HT609.F28 2006
305.5—dc22
2005010215
For Shelby, Malcolm, Celia, and Stella, who will define the future
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.
—Thomas Jefferson

 
  In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.
—John Kenneth Galbraith

 
  Whether we like it or not, a new era has begun, and a new economic and cultural topography has been designed for us. We must now find our new place and role within this bizarre Federation of U.S. Republics.
—Guillermo Gomez-Peña
Acknowledgments
Many people helped me work through and distill the ideas in this book. My debts are large and diverse, and I apologize to any I may have inadvertently overlooked.
I am particularly indebted to the direct assistance of Adam Hersh, who gathered, analyzed, and culled an immense amount of research materials and data; Gabriela Prudencio, who located and organized the final references; Mary Rolle, who assisted with both administration and research; and Colleen Lawrie, who did the many editorial and organizing tasks needed to produce the manuscript.
Many thanks to my editor, Eric Nelson, for his belief in the book, his sharp pencil, and his good advice. Also to Gail Ross, my agent, who persevered.
Thanks to the Board of Directors of EPI and my successor as president, Larry Mishel, for their help and encouragement. Financial support from the Carnegie Corporation Scholars Program was also critical for the early stages of this work.
The staff of the EPI was, as always, supportive in many different ways. Particularly helpful were Rob Scott, David Rattner, and Christian Weller.
A number of others directly or indirectly contributed ideas, insights, advice, and/or special information: Mariclaire Acosta, Arturo Alcalde, Mark Anderson, Dean Baker, Tim Beatty, Jared Bernstein, Josh Bivens, Ron Blackwell, Robert Blecker, David Bonior, David Brooks, John Burstein, Duncan Cameron, Bruce Campbell, Jorge Castañeda, Stephen Clarkson, Ben Davis, Elizabeth Drake, Tom Faux, Leo Gerard, Tony Giles, Bill Greider, Susan Gzesh, Elizabeth Haight, Jeff Hermanson, Carlos Herredia, Andrew Jackson, Robert Kuttner, Thea Lee, Antonio Lettieri, Jerry Levinson, Mark Levinson, Ifigenia Martinez, Antonio Ortiz Mena, George Natzsikas, Vicente Navarro, Ricardo Pascoe, Sandra Polaski, Ronald Rapoport, Robert Rubin, Carlos Salas, John Schmitt, David Smith, and Michael Zweig.
Most of all, I owe more than I can express to Marjorie Allen, without whose personal support, intellectual engagement, and help in many other ways, this book would not have been written.
Any errors, omissions, and uncomfortable ideas the reader may encounter herein are of course the full responsibility of the author.
Introduction
The seed of this book was planted in a conversation I had with a corporate lobbyist in the main corridor of the U.S. Capitol in 1993. She was exasperated that I couldn’t see the virtues of the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which her company was promoting.
“Don’t you understand?” she finally said. “We have to help Salinas. He’s been to Harvard. He’s one of us.”
“Salinas” was Carlos Salinas de Gortari, then president of Mexico.
The reference to “us” seemed odd. She and I were not in the same political party, and a one-year fellowship at the Kennedy Institute of Politics hardly qualified me as a “Harvard man.” She, as it turned out, hadn’t gone there at all. It took me a little while to understand her point: we internationally mobile professionals had a shared self-interest in freeing transnational corporations from the constraints imposed by governments on behalf of people who were, well, “not really like us.” Despite the considerable political and social distance between Carlos Salinas and me, she was appealing to class solidarity.
At that moment, I realized that globalization was producing not just a borderless market, but a borderless class system to go with it.
Once the point was made it seemed obvious. Markets within nations inevitably produce groups of people who have more money and power than others. So, it would be odd if global markets were not creating an international upper class of people whose economic interests have more in common with each other than wi