4 ms·

Exactly, there's nothing free-market about government run Health Care or Schools. This is another case of people using words they don't understand.

andybak 10y ago
(Disclaimer: I haven't read the article in depth) My interpretation: neo-liberals have tried to bring market forces to bear on the NHS and Universities - and this is the 'overreach' he is referring to. i.e. the fault isn't with the author - it's with those with overly expansive interpretations of market economics.
- elgabogringo 10y ago
  I'd say your right about the author of the study (which I am not going to waste time reading) and his NHS/Uni examples - but wrong about the author of the editorial - because it's definitely an editorial, not a piece of reporting.
URSpider94 10y ago
As a general rule, I'd be very cautious before assuming that a columnist for The Economist doesn't understand what he is talking about. You may disagree with his conclusions, but that's a different matter. What I believe he's talking about is the introduction of free market dynamics to schools and single-payer health care, two institutions that have been resolutely socialist (in the classical sense of the word) for a long, long time. His belief is that these "modernizations" are destroying the institutions.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- elgabogringo 10y ago
  The author of the editorial is from the guardian, not the Economist. The individual using the NHS/Schools as examples was the IMF author, not the editorial writer. I never said either didn't understand economics. I said he didn't understand some of the words he was using. I was referring to the use of "neoliberalism" & "laissez faire"
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > The author of the editorial is from the guardian, not the Economist. True. > The individual using the NHS/Schools as examples was the IMF author, not the editorial writer. False. The NHS/Schools example comes (as is explicitly stated in the Guardian piece) from Will Davies, author of The Limits of Neoliberalism, a completely separate work from the IMF report.
wfo 10y ago
Applying free market principles to government run services that should be government run like health care, schools -- where profit and efficiency are not goals is neoliberal. This is another case of people discussing articles they didn't read.

andybak 10y ago

(Disclaimer: I haven't read the article in depth) My interpretation: neo-liberals have tried to bring market forces to bear on the NHS and Universities - and this is the 'overreach' he is referring to. i.e. the fault isn't with the author - it's with those with overly expansive interpretations of market economics.

elgabogringo 10y ago
I'd say your right about the author of the study (which I am not going to waste time reading) and his NHS/Uni examples - but wrong about the author of the editorial - because it's definitely an editorial, not a piece of reporting.

URSpider94 10y ago

As a general rule, I'd be very cautious before assuming that a columnist for The Economist doesn't understand what he is talking about. You may disagree with his conclusions, but that's a different matter. What I believe he's talking about is the introduction of free market dynamics to schools and single-payer health care, two institutions that have been resolutely socialist (in the classical sense of the word) for a long, long time. His belief is that these "modernizations" are destroying the institutions.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
elgabogringo 10y ago
The author of the editorial is from the guardian, not the Economist. The individual using the NHS/Schools as examples was the IMF author, not the editorial writer. I never said either didn't understand economics. I said he didn't understand some of the words he was using. I was referring to the use of "neoliberalism" & "laissez faire"
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > The author of the editorial is from the guardian, not the Economist. True. > The individual using the NHS/Schools as examples was the IMF author, not the editorial writer. False. The NHS/Schools example comes (as is explicitly stated in the Guardian piece) from Will Davies, author of The Limits of Neoliberalism, a completely separate work from the IMF report.

wfo 10y ago

Applying free market principles to government run services that should be government run like health care, schools -- where profit and efficiency are not goals is neoliberal. This is another case of people discussing articles they didn't read.