A review by whoischels
Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order by Noam Chomsky

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

Definitely struggled with this. A full understanding of the events Chomsky describes would mean an historical understanding of the trade deals under consideration in the 1990s. One definitely would get more out of this with a foundation in understanding how dominant neoliberal forces viewed the specific deals and aid situations that Chomsky critiques.

Some high level takeaways:

• When the US engages with market capitalism, it is overwhelmingly "capitalism for thee and not for me". The US rose to power by using aggressive, protectivist strategies that it now condemns in developing countries.
• US and other developed countries have a running habit of obfuscating important legislation in the business and trade world so as not to engage "the ultimate weapon," that is, the backlash of actual constituents of these developed countries.
• The US is beholden to corporate legal entities which have been given the same rights as people and in some cases more. 
• There is no such thing as a socialist project in the real world, because the US has obliterated the ability of countries attempting to construct one to do so using social aid deals, trade deals, and the CIA.

Giving 3.5 rather than a 4.0 based solely on my ability to understand all this, which is based more on the context in which I am reading the book rather than the actual merits of it. I am not in college anymore, I am not reading this in class, and I'd prefer not to have to go digging on wikipedia to augment the books I read.