[photochemsyn]

The neoliberal program initiated in the 1970s is to blame, and the conditions for that program were set by the gross expenditures of the Vietnam War, whose origins date back to Truman's decision to support French recolonization of Indochina after WWII.

The fundamental goal of neoliberalism is to place all capital in private hands and eliminate any governmental control over capital - and that means eliminating the middle class and creating a two-tiered society of serfs and aristocrats, as existed in 19th century Russia, Britain and Germany.

The methodology is roughly threefold - (1) destroy domestic unions by exporting all well-paid unionized manufacturing jobs in the USA to sweatshop zones in offshore client states, and (2) import as much cheap labor as possible to fill jobs that cannot be exported (construction, services, agribusiness etc), ideally undocumented so that any unionization efforts can be resisted by deporting union leaders and organizers at will. This ensures starvation wages for the serf class. (3) Establish large homeless and prison populations as a constant threat to the serf class - no matter how bad your situation is, it could be worse!

[endo_bunker]

> The fundamental goal of neoliberalism is to place all capital in private hands and eliminate any governmental control over capital

Okay

> and that means eliminating the middle class and creating a two-tiered society of serfs and aristocrats, as existed in 19th century Russia, Britain and Germany.

No, that simply does not follow.

[aguaviva]

A better reading is that neoliberalism is simply indifferent to the welfare of the middle class, and in any case radically opposed to any proactive ("socialist") efforts to protect it. If serfdom and aristocracy are what follow, then so be it.