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It's a bit disingenuous to criticize neoliberal policy without also criticizing the neoconservative policies that aggressively privatized and defunded the deliv

It's a bit disingenuous to criticize neoliberal policy without also criticizing the neoconservative policies that aggressively privatized and defunded the delivery of any social benefits -- thus ensuring a significant portion of the funding ended up on corporate balance sheets rather than to provide actual services to people. Neoliberal policy may have built a house out of dry wood, but neoconservative policy lit the match.

mistermann 7y ago
The media regularly points out neoconservative flaws, but neoliberal flaws are either dismissed or attributed to Republicans.
- bobwaycott 7y ago
  Neoliberalism and neoconservativism are not two sides of the same coin. They’re wholly different things. Neoliberal policies are not liberal policies. It’s a 20th-century refreshing of 19th-century philosophy of the state’s role in economic affairs—called liberalism—which is engaged with from the right and left, attempting to push ideas on what the right balance is, while few are actually questioning liberalism itself. Neoconservativism is a primarily US right-wing dominated foreign policy stance that focuses on active use of the military and intervention worldwide to protect US hegemony and world power. Neoliberalism is taken for granted within neoconservativism, and isn’t questioned or engaged by it. tl;dr — neoliberal and neoconservative are on totally different planes of existence in the world of political philosophy and policy; neoliberal doesn’t mean “new-style liberal (left-leaning) ideas”; neoconservativism is an American right-wing policy framework, it does not mean “conservative”, and it doesn’t engage the same arena of thought as neoliberalism does.
  - mistermann 7y ago
    I was using this meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism#Current_usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism#Current_usage My specific concerns are regarding deregulation & privatization, as well as a lack of attention related to the consequences of the (relative) free flow of trade, people, and capital across national borders - these (potential downsides) are not discussed in the mainstream. Rather, it is typically reported that "free trade" is an undisputed good, and implies that anyone that disagrees must believe that economics is a zero sum game. (See how the MSM initially reported on Trump's complaints about China's trade practices, until something seemed to change behind the scenes and they all simultaneously got on the anti-China bandwagon).
bobwaycott 7y ago
You misunderstand the term neoliberal—it has nothing to do with the partisan right/left, liberal/conservative divide. It has absolutely nothing to do with neoconservativism. They’re apples and oranges and shouldn’t ever be brought up as being related. If you think otherwise, you have an awful lot to explain how the American conservative outlook on foreign policy and intervention in international affairs has anything at all to do with the neoliberal policies that the article is pointing the finger at.

mistermann 7y ago

The media regularly points out neoconservative flaws, but neoliberal flaws are either dismissed or attributed to Republicans.

bobwaycott 7y ago
Neoliberalism and neoconservativism are not two sides of the same coin. They’re wholly different things. Neoliberal policies are not liberal policies. It’s a 20th-century refreshing of 19th-century philosophy of the state’s role in economic affairs—called liberalism—which is engaged with from the right and left, attempting to push ideas on what the right balance is, while few are actually questioning liberalism itself. Neoconservativism is a primarily US right-wing dominated foreign policy stance that focuses on active use of the military and intervention worldwide to protect US hegemony and world power. Neoliberalism is taken for granted within neoconservativism, and isn’t questioned or engaged by it. tl;dr — neoliberal and neoconservative are on totally different planes of existence in the world of political philosophy and policy; neoliberal doesn’t mean “new-style liberal (left-leaning) ideas”; neoconservativism is an American right-wing policy framework, it does not mean “conservative”, and it doesn’t engage the same arena of thought as neoliberalism does.
- mistermann 7y ago
  I was using this meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism#Current_usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism#Current_usage My specific concerns are regarding deregulation & privatization, as well as a lack of attention related to the consequences of the (relative) free flow of trade, people, and capital across national borders - these (potential downsides) are not discussed in the mainstream. Rather, it is typically reported that "free trade" is an undisputed good, and implies that anyone that disagrees must believe that economics is a zero sum game. (See how the MSM initially reported on Trump's complaints about China's trade practices, until something seemed to change behind the scenes and they all simultaneously got on the anti-China bandwagon).

bobwaycott 7y ago

You misunderstand the term neoliberal—it has nothing to do with the partisan right/left, liberal/conservative divide. It has absolutely nothing to do with neoconservativism. They’re apples and oranges and shouldn’t ever be brought up as being related. If you think otherwise, you have an awful lot to explain how the American conservative outlook on foreign policy and intervention in international affairs has anything at all to do with the neoliberal policies that the article is pointing the finger at.