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New pet peeve: I wish people would identify which specific aspect of "neoliberalism" is responsible for whatever problems they blame on it. For instance, I've s
by andrewfong 10y ago
New pet peeve: I wish people would identify which specific aspect of "neoliberalism" is responsible for whatever problems they blame on it. For instance, I've seen it used to refer to both free market policies and rent-seeking by dominant industries. Even though both policies conceivably benefit wealthy elites at the expense of others, they're not really ideologically consistent with each other. It'd be helpful to define our terms here. Otherwise, it's hard to distinguish from general angst about "the system" and "the man".
- kaonashi 10y agoThe 'free market' aspect is often purely ideological and used as an excuse for privatization and cutting spending/austerity, which leads to the rent-seeking and stagnation.
- mason240 10y agoIt's a meaningless buzzword, much like "neocon" was during the 2000s. Both have actual definitions, but are never used appropriately.
- socialist_coder 10y agoWhat I mean by neoliberalism is summarized here in this paper, "Neoliberalism: Oversold?" http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/06/pdf/ostry.pdf http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/06/pdf/ostry.... If you think neoliberalism means something different, please let me know. I would love to hear it. I agree that it has buzzword potential, but I believe it corresponds to a pretty specific set of government and economic policies, basically what the UK and US have right now. Germany and the Nordic countries are less neoliberal since they have stronger social safety nets, stronger workers rights, and less "free market" (imo, the good aspects of the free market while removing some of the bad).
- Turing_Machine 10y agoYes. See also "fascist", which has become a general term of abuse meaning "any politician I don't like".