Hello lovelies, let's talk about Neoliberalism.

There isn't a strict definition, but it can be thought as policies relating to free market capitalism.

It's associated with opposing unions, increasing the role of the private sector, liberalizing finance, markets setting prices,
deregulation, privatization, free trade, globalization, reduction in government spending, sharp increase in debt, & austerity.

You know all the leftist stuff.

It was introduced by Thatcher in the UK, & by Reagan in the US, & is called the Third way that reconciles left & right.
It's also concerned with freedom, & by freedom it means the free market.

Which means the freedom to buy products, & government simply exists to facilitate the market.

But freedom ain't free - under capitalism, freedom is money.

Huge corporations rule international economics
& dominate policy formation, not to mention the structuring of opinion by buying & selling ads.

Noam Chomsky argues that even their daddy Adam Smith, criticized free markets.

He even said that there's no conflict between liberty & equality, & spoke about equality of outcome &
& not of opportunity.

They work thanks to the invisible hand, but to Smith they're social constructs, & free markets are a myth anyway.

Private enterprise is usually a “conspiracy against the public,” in one of Smith’s better-known phrases.

There's also a linkage between
neoliberal capitalism & Imperialism.

Neoliberalism's repeated endangerments of democracy, workers’ rights, & sovereign nations right to self determination, are unquestionable at this point.

Lenin in "Imperialism the highest form of capitalism" heavily emphasises this, & now
this link is more prevalent than ever.

Free trade isn't free. The majority of monetary transactions globally are mediated through banks, so capital moves freely from one location to another, to maximize profits & minimize costs.

Through concentration, & capital mobility at the
global level, oligopolies now control networks of clusters of smaller companies around the globe, adding to their monopolistic status.

In order to attract corporations, governments of the developing world offer many concessions to them, like lower taxes, & "labour-union-free"
environments, see labour conditions in China.

Saeed Rahnema argues that almost every part of the world is dominated by neoliberal capitalism, & it continues to expand, & with it, so does imperialism.

Not to mention the new genre of giant global corporations, like Google, Uber,
Facebook, Airbnb, & others, which have a similarly aggressive character.

Modern neoliberal economics are no less dogmatic than its 19th century predecessors.

They rest on simplistic & unrealistic ideas about the character if the market, & the behaviour of rational actors.
However, to just argue that it's unrealistic is to miss the point, we should better argue if it's on the left or not.

According to wikipedia, Left-wing means supporting social equality, & egalitarianism, & opposition to social hierarchy.

Really vague right?

The terms "Left" &
"Right" referred to the seating arrangementduring the French revolution.

That's like not reductive, or essentialist, or anything at all..

Not to mention extremely eurocentric.

Language evolves but neoliberalism isn't there yet, it's still associated with Thatcher/Clinton, &
it doesn't actually support social equality.

From a linguistic approach, the genealogical line back to the term’s origin, is a trail strewn with inconsistencies.

So the problem with neoliberalism is neither that it has no meaning, nor that it has an infinite number.

It's
that the term stands for the late capitalist economy of our times, for globally circulating policy measures, & for the culture that surrounds & entraps us.

It outlines the saddest scenario of all, in which the horizons of all meanings shrink, & submit to market capitalism.
This isn't freedom.

It's not that neoliberalism isn't leftism because of the descriptivist-prescriptivist debate.

Of course words matter, but it's incorrect from a historical pov.

In US, neoliberalism reached back to progressivism, but it tapped into conservativism early on.
Neoliberalism owes as much to the CEOs, financiers, & consultants, as it does to the academics.

The argument that free markets expand prosperity, & globalism, is incorrect, because in the 70s, neoliberal policies dismantled institutions that promoted equality after the WW2.
These included welfare & other social benefits, organized labor, public education, pro-labor wage policies, trade protections, capital & currency controls, & progressive taxation.

Neolibs don't want to regulate the free market, & create safety nets & distribution of profits,
because neoliberal policies & institutions give priority to investment & investors.

Neoliberal projects privatized public goods, eliminated & transformed regulations, & created markets (think school vouchers or carbon trading).

In order to protect the value of investments,
neoliberal monetary policy targeted inflation, & abandoned the goal of full employment.

The left’s problem is with ideas, not words.

Neoliberalism is against social equality - just look at its stance towards income inequality.

I'd also like to debunk yet another argument here.
The one that states since market socialism is on the left, & it has you know the word market in it, then neoliberalism can too be a left wing ideology, because you know it likes market.

This is absurd.

As David Lane writes, by market socialism
The thread continues here.. https://twitter.com/MaryJoannaP/status/1263940421861937165?s=19
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