Obama Uses Executive Order to Begin Neoliberal Assault on Regulation

(archived from January 18, 2011)

by Scott Creighton

The following definition of deregulation comes from John Williamson’s “Washington Consensus“, 

a list of policy proposals that appeared to have gained consensus approval among the Washington-based international economic organizations (like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank).”  The active definition of neoliberalism or “free trade” ideology.

 Deregulation – abolition of regulations that impede market entry or restrict competition, except for those justified on safety, environmental and consumer protection grounds, and prudent oversight of financial institutions;

President Obama took time out of his busy schedule to write an op-ed published today in the Wall Street Journal. Obama used this op-ed to signify his devotion to the free-market ideology that is the basis for the neoliberalization of countless countries over the past 5 decades, all of which had disastrous effects on the vast majority of the population of those nations.

Obama used the opportunity to announce that he was going to begin a process of even more deregulation here in the United States, in an effort to better serve the business interests of the country. All this he will do by decree of imperial executive order, no less.

“For two centuries, America’s free market has not only been the source of dazzling ideas and path-breaking products, it has also been the greatest force for prosperity the world has ever known. That vibrant entrepreneurialism is the key to our continued global leadership and the success of our people.

… Sometimes, those rules have gotten out of balance, placing unreasonable burdens on business—burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs.”  President Obama

Obama pays lip service to the fact that it was deregulation that put us in this 2nd Great Depression in the first place though he says nothing of the Deep Water Horizon BP spill and the corrupt/lax “regulators” that should have prevented that horrendous spill (which is still killing animals, fish, and poisoning the people of the Gulf).

But then he goes on to gloss over that fact and tries to exonerate the deregulated banking industry by claiming its the remaining regulations that are holding back our recovery. Here is the logic we are expected to be dumb enough to accept: since deregulation caused the crisis in the first place and since corporate profits are soaring while the people of the country are suffering, obviously the solution is more deregulation suggested by those same corporate interests.

So in order to fix this problem, Obama’s solution is to remake the regulatory process in such a way as that it requires all regulations, new and existing, to protect the interests of the people while also ensuring “growth”.

In short, if something just protects the interests of the people, either workers, customers, or the surrounding environment, at the cost of the almighty “growth”, then that regulation has to be changed or disposed of altogether.

“Over the past two years, the goal of my administration has been to strike the right balance. And today, I am signing an executive order that makes clear that this is the operating principle of our government.

This order requires that federal agencies ensure that regulations protect our safety, health and environment while promoting economic growth. And it orders a government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.”   Barack Obama

Remember, it was the Clinton administration and their neoliberal fake democrats who orchestrated the deregulation of the banking industry in the first place. They actually tried to destroy Brooksley Born when she attempted to regulate the very derivatives markets that would eventually serve as the economic weapon of mass destruction that destroyed our economy and others all across the world. You see, they had big plans for those derivatives, and regulation would have stopped them in their tracks.

Obama has staffed his office with nothing but Clinton administration retreads and here they are looking to make themselves the “deciders” on each and every single regulation this country has.  And what’s more, they expect they can do all of this by presidential decree… with an executive order.

If you think I am the only one who interprets Obama’s meaning in this way, just read Elizabeth Williamson’s Wall Street Journal written today as well. That’s an interesting article because she goes on to highlight many of the other neoliberal agenda items that Obama has been employing over the past two years.

“In an article published in the opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Obama said he intends to issue an executive order initiating a review to “make sure we avoid excessive, inconsistent and redundant regulation,” focusing on rules that “stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.” He also suggested future regulations must do their job “while promoting economic growth.”"  Elizabeth Williamson

The free market neoliberalization process is a unprecedented system for wealth creation, the greatest the world has ever seen. That is true.  But that wealth is enjoyed by a very small fraction of the population, the same small fraction that has President Obama’s ear these days.

“For close to a year, the White House has been asking leading business groups in the capital to identify regulations they believe are obstacles to job-creating private investment.

… The Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives of many of the largest U.S. corporations, last year compiled a 54-page report that includes proposals to streamline rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Communications Commission, among scores of others.

… Liberals were irked most recently when Mr. Obama tapped political veteran and J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. executive William Daley as his chief of staff.” Elizabeth Williamson

For the rest of us, well just look around.  This is neoliberalization. High unemployment, attacking public sector workers, attacking wage structures, attacking social services, open border policies, liberalization of markets, massive transference of wealth upward in the manner of seized pensions and record-breaking foreclosure rates, the privatization of everything including roadways, public assets, the public education system, and even the military, police, post office…. everything. This is neoliberalization 101 and it gets worse. Much worse.

This is what Obama is pushing for from the cover of the fake left and the would be “progressives”.  This is the same agenda that the leaders of the Tea Party movement are calling for when they parrot their “smaller government” talking points fed to them constantly by other neoliberals like Sarah Palin and Rand Paul.  This is the same policy of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Cheney.  This isn’t “change’ on the left or the right.  It’s a comprehensive marketing strategy.

How do you like it so far?

President Obama’s op-ed certainly steps it up a notch.  Here is a president, who by authority of his own decree, will be handing over to Bill Clinton’s deregulation gurus, the self-appointed power of rewriting the entire regulatory history of this country; all in order to better serve the business community.

Were this Reagan or Bush I or II, there would already be a hundred thousand people screaming outside the White House.

But instead, in the age of Obama… silence.