Austerity for Whom?

April 2011

Socialist Studies;Apr-Sep2011, Vol. 7 Issue 1/2, p42

Academic Journal

Article

In contrast to the recent multi-billion dollar bailouts offered to leading sectors of capital, fiscal austerity is poised to make a comeback worldwide. Labour will be forced to pay for the public debt accumulated in the aftermath of the recent global financial and economic crisis. Notwithstanding change and evolution in the neoliberal model over time, this return to austerity is consistent with overall policy in the neoliberal period which can be considered an era of permanent restraint in most areas of social spending. This article examines a variety of trends that have emerged over the past thirty years of neoliberal rule: the various facets of neoliberal policy and their temporal dimensions; as well as the results of market-reliance and spending reforms: growing affluence for a minority of Canadians while the majority lose ground and inequalities are further entrenched. Asking 'austerity for whom' directs attention at the interconnections between affluence and austerity that exist in Canada.

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