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A Brief History Of Neoliberalism By David Harvey

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Of the many obstacles facing greater economic equality, none on the federal level is more important than the homogeneity of Congress. Specifically, the incredibly high percentage of legislators with a professional history. Their legislation reflects their background, and as such, tends to neglect the need of those in other classes. Coupled with business interests that change the policy-making process, governing has become increasingly unrepresentative of what a majority of Americans want out of their congressman. A shift to publicly funded elections will not only reduce the influence of big business in political campaigns and consequently limit their influence in pushing policy. More importantly, the transition would allow people of …show more content…

Virtually all of the representatives had professional careers before getting elected. He notes four dangerous trends of government. First, there is a strong connection between a legislator’s socioeconomic status and how they vote on economic bills. Second, their background is a great predictor in their “legislative entrepreneurship,” which means the kinds of bills they introduce and how hard they fight to get that bill signed into law. The result is a government that focuses on the problems of the upper class more than other people because of the sheer amount of people from that lifestyle. He puts it simply, “lawmakers from different classes have different opinions about economic issues.” Third, Carnes recognizes that legislators are aware of the problems afflicting blue-collar people but through a skewed perspective of a white-collar worker. Fourth, he details how these inequalities lead to very clear outcomes for economic policy, one where the losers are usually working-class in areas such as social spending and thus higher inequality in places with more white-collar legislators. (23) The consequences for these issues are clear. The working-class legislators spend more time on economic issues than other members of the Congress, work twice as hard, but have a success rate below that of their colleagues in getting drafts out of committee. (74-76, 83) Their policies often preferred by are drowned out by the amount of

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