There is no better example of who is supposed to benefit from globalisation that the clamour for free movement of goods and capital and the simultaneous clamour to prevent the free movement of workers.
Global capitalists get rich by exporting production to places with cheap labour. They have lobbied to remove barriers to moving capital away from, and the flow of cheap goods back to, wealthy countries. So making them wealthier.
The argument is that this also benefits local workers by providing them with jobs. But if we really wanted to benefit those workers we'd let them move freely to places with higher wages. Imagine if capital and goods faced the restrictions than people do!
The neoliberal economic program is not egalitarian. It aims to promote conditions under which the wealthy can exploit workers to get more wealth. Keeping workers trapped in low-income countries is essential to this program.
This was the impetus behind 20 years of bogus headlines about the EU in UK media. And the driving force behind the Brexit campaign.
Free movement of workers was a problem for the super-rich and so they stoked irrational fears and the ever-present English racism to drive a wedge between Europe and the UK.
Ironically, driving a wedge between the EU and the UK suited Putin, so he gave Brexit a helping hand for free. A divided Europe is in the best interests of Russia. Still, the driver of it all, even in Russia, was the super-rich defending their hoarded wealth.
