The October 1979 interest rate shock initiated the shift to post-Fordism

Evidence

Christian dated the moment of the switch from Fordism to post-Fordism very precisely: 6 October 1979. It was on that date that the Federal Reserve increased interest rates by twenty points, preparing the way for the “supply-side economics” that would constitute the “economic reality” with which we are now so familiar. The rise in interest rates not only contained inflation, it made possible a new organisation of the means of production and distribution. The economy would no longer be organised by reference to production, but from the side of the point of sale. The “rigidity” of the Fordist production line gave way to a new “flexibility”, a word that will send chills of recognition down the spine of every worker today. This flexibility was defined by a deregulation of capital and labour, with the workforce being casualised (with an increasing number of workers employed on a temporary basis) and outsourced. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1402

Categorization

• QUESTION: This precise dating of post-Fordism’s start to a single Fed policy decision (6 Oct 1979) is worth verifying against other periodizations of the neoliberal/economic regime shift.
• XREF: connects to: The 1979 Fed rate hike began the post-Fordist era — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 71; The 1979 Federal Reserve rate hike launched post-Fordist flexible capitalism — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 71; The 1973 recession undermined Fordism and birthed a new accumulation regime — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 864 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The 1979 Fed rate hike began the post-Fordist era #corroborates (1.00) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 71
• The 1979 Federal Reserve rate hike launched post-Fordist flexible capitalism #corroborates (1.00) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 71
• The 1973 recession undermined Fordism and birthed a new accumulation regime #qualifies (0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 864
• The Fordist regime collapsed with the 1973 recession #qualifies (0.75) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 847
• The state’s crisis-management role grew in the post-Fordist era rather than shrinking #expands (0.75) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1034
• The core-periphery workforce split assumed by post-Fordism is implausible in intense international competition. #complicates (0.72) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 507