Michael Hudson: Millions Around the World Fleeing from Neoliberal Policy

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Yves Smith

On the Real News Network, Michael Hudson gives evidence of the economic and lifespan cost of neoliberal policies.

The Real News Network transcripts are rough, and I’ve cleaned it up but forgive any errors that remain.

SHARMINI PERIES, TRNN: It’s the Real News Network. I’m Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore.

After decades of sustained attacks on social programs and consistently high unemployment rates, it is no surprise that mortality rates in the country have increased. A research team from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York has estimated that 875,000 deaths in the United States in the year 2000 could be attributed to clusters of social factors bound up with poverty and income inequality. According to U.S. government statistics, some 2.45 million Americans died in the year 2000, thus the researchers' estimate means that social deprivation was responsible for some 36 percent of the total deaths that year. A staggering total.