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I would go further than the article and say neoliberalism is optimizing for income inequality. I would also point out that the dichotomy you talk about: neolib

by mola 4y ago

I would go further than the article and say neoliberalism is optimizing for income inequality. I would also point out that the dichotomy you talk about: neoliberalism vs equal economy is false . Modern Social democracies don't optimize for perfect equality, they try to strike a balance between market forces and humane values. They reject the neoliberal idea that perfect markets are morally correct.

cameronh90 4y ago
I'm not sure any economy is fully behind what you describe as neoliberalism though? Even the USA has welfare, tax and many other not purely Laissez-faire institutions. You'll note that I never even actually argued for neoliberalism. I think social democracies are far better than unfettered neoliberal capitalism. However, I think the way that people answered those questions is completely compatible with social democracy too. They never asked do you want inequality and perfect markets above all else. Modern social democracy is much closer to neoliberalism than it is to communism or even 70s style socialism. One way or interpreting these poll results is that living under a neoliberal world order has increased support for inequality because people are, on the whole, happy with how it changed their lives. Sure, some rich people are absurdly, unfairly rich, but in many ways the average person's life drastically improved from the 70s to now at far quicker rate than ever before in history. Perhaps many people accept that increased inequality is a fair price to pay for the way they feel life has improved? Certainly speaking for myself, I don't particularly care that Elon Musk is so rich that he could buy every superyacht in the world, provided that I have all my basic needs met and the economic resources to try and achieve what makes me happy. I'm not jealous of the wealth of others. Looking at what happened to my family under the economic policies of the 70s in the UK, I am pretty glad to have grown up in the 90s. I'm aware that not everyone is as lucky as me to have all their basic needs met. I think that's a great shame and as far as inequality goes, I think it's fine if someone is 100000x as wealthy as someone else PROVIDED THAT person on the bottom has a house, food, heating, healthcare etc. which certainly is not the case right now. Ultimately, I'd prefer to be the poorest well fed person in Britain rather than starving in the same boat with everyone else.

by mola 4y ago

cameronh90 4y ago

I'm not sure any economy is fully behind what you describe as neoliberalism though? Even the USA has welfare, tax and many other not purely Laissez-faire institutions. You'll note that I never even actually argued for neoliberalism. I think social democracies are far better than unfettered neoliberal capitalism. However, I think the way that people answered those questions is completely compatible with social democracy too. They never asked do you want inequality and perfect markets above all else. Modern social democracy is much closer to neoliberalism than it is to communism or even 70s style socialism. One way or interpreting these poll results is that living under a neoliberal world order has increased support for inequality because people are, on the whole, happy with how it changed their lives. Sure, some rich people are absurdly, unfairly rich, but in many ways the average person's life drastically improved from the 70s to now at far quicker rate than ever before in history. Perhaps many people accept that increased inequality is a fair price to pay for the way they feel life has improved? Certainly speaking for myself, I don't particularly care that Elon Musk is so rich that he could buy every superyacht in the world, provided that I have all my basic needs met and the economic resources to try and achieve what makes me happy. I'm not jealous of the wealth of others. Looking at what happened to my family under the economic policies of the 70s in the UK, I am pretty glad to have grown up in the 90s. I'm aware that not everyone is as lucky as me to have all their basic needs met. I think that's a great shame and as far as inequality goes, I think it's fine if someone is 100000x as wealthy as someone else PROVIDED THAT person on the bottom has a house, food, heating, healthcare etc. which certainly is not the case right now. Ultimately, I'd prefer to be the poorest well fed person in Britain rather than starving in the same boat with everyone else.