FIGHTING NEOLIBERALISM, GROWING INEQUALITIES, POVERTY AND LACK OF JOB SECURITY

Abstract

The fight against neoliberalism, growing inequality, poverty, and precarious workplaces are just some of the topics of current concern in the world. Contemporary developments are modern. harmful social, political and economic consequences of all sharpened and deepened differences between the incomes of the upper and lower social classes. Contrary to the neo-liberal view, Europe's economic system is not competitive due to its high wages and social assistance benefits. In its White Paper, the Commission makes even more perplexing assessments: it considers that a low-wage strategy is being implemented in the European Union, as in the US, and notes that labor is by no means the only determinant of international competitiveness and that sudden price fluctuations in the consequences of large exchange rate fluctuations in the bilateral ECU, dollar, and yen exchange rate. Also, the Commission argues that wage differentials in newly industrialized countries are so large that they can hardly be overcome by a wage cut and a low wage strategy, to achieve some kind of competitive advantage. It also proposes a "second" path to the "spirit of the European Social Model". According to this model, real wage growth should be 1% below labor productivity growth. This path is in stark contrast to the neoliberal illusion that higher employment is "automatically" the result of higher economic profits, thus neglecting the fact that investment profitability across Europe has been steadily increasing since 1982 and not only that wages are 1% below productivity growth, but, workers already had to agree to a gradual reduction in real wages.