To take but one telling example, if the hundreds of lobbyists and millions of dollars of campaign contributions were not sufficient to neuter all attempts at financial reform in the United States, such as the so-called Volcker Rule, then the banksters were not subtle in summoning their second line of defense, insisting that any such rule would violate NAFTA and other international “free trade agreements” instituted under prior transnational neoliberal regimes.

Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis …, loc. 903