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I like to think Iām a fairly smart, curious person whoās pretty decent at learning new concepts and ideas. But the word āneoliberalismā turns me off. The word āliberalā itself slightly annoys me to begin with, and neoliberalism to me is just compounded confusion and messiness
Like, this is *not* a reasonable introduction to an idea that you want to spread. Iām open to learning but Iām getting nothing here. How is the common layperson going to figure it out? https://t.co/pRd9Dx13It
What? This is all so sloppy and tedious https://t.co/WNjzYZ7J4d
I scanned through this once and I didnāt get anything out of it the last time - but maybe I was being lazy. letās do a close, proper reading https://t.co/yxHBo4LmuM
Ok so for starters, the neoliberal agenda seeks to deregulate economies and open markets...? https://t.co/i8a6xwt9de
I imagine Marx and Engels would say, āwell... thatās capitalismā https://t.co/FXaKXN4kcO
āan establishment that had conceded its authority to the marketā still sounds like capitalism https://t.co/DrLeGCzpKx
Weāre talking about the idea that prices are the primary mechanism that we should use to organise our lives, right? Still sounds like capitalism to me https://t.co/rLibyFOdvG
"The B, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations [...] it has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation."
āA way of reordering social reality and rethinking our status as individualsā Still sounds like capitalism! https://t.co/BLY7RLN6nE
Equivalent bit from the Communist Manifesto: https://t.co/ksKBCsanW9
Still sounds like capitalism https://t.co/JnhouEY9qE
Capitalism Hayekās insight about prices IMO is that they allow people to operate as part of a larger collective computer than any individual. the problem seems to be that preexisting wealth distribution(s) means that some peopleās wants are worth more than others https://t.co/pKgdAI0TFd
1. The market IS a mind - a selfish one 2. The anxiety was valid 3. Originators of thought are never as reductive as their followers 4. Keynesians seem to me either naive or self-interested https://t.co/oWCLVR6a1Y
The possibility didnāt just exist, on retrospect it was inevitable. The distinction seems chronological to me: given enough time, capitalism manifests as what is described as neoliberalism. You could call it late-stage capitalism. Itās still following capitalist directives https://t.co/K6LzIQwBXv
āAssumption that markets provide protection against totalitarianismā - lol Asking to be left alone is reasonable in a souk-style marketplace of many small actors. Talking about this re: big govt and megacorps is like conflating physics for ants and elephants https://t.co/2RxcmFQzW7
The naive worship of the āautomatic mechanism of adjustmentā strikes me as somewhat similar to naive techno-optimism Abstract economics is so... high-modernist https://t.co/Bg5HAUHKew
Sounds to me like Hayek and friends were so in awe of the realization that the market-mind is bigger, smarter and more powerful than the human mind that they forgot to consider that it might also be a selfish asshole https://t.co/ETS5FufYhd
Marx and Engels observed + anticipated this IMO. Like a sorcerer summoning demons beyond his own control https://t.co/vLaS1wQHL9
āWhat if we reconcieve all of society as a market?ā That šš¾ was šš¾ always šš¾ going šš¾ to šš¾ be šš¾ the šš¾ end šš¾ goal šš¾ of šš¾ capitalism How else could the story have gone? Itās a paperclip maximising game https://t.co/hVuYG4vrqT
All this tells us is that the most right wing economists lacked imagination Imagination which capitalism incentivizes You demon-summoning idiots āI didnāt think the demon would come for *me*!ā https://t.co/XNP58uFfJ6
Literally what Marx and Engels warned about https://t.co/Pv2gMn83kD
This was written a few years before Hayek was born https://t.co/rLibyFOdvG
"The B, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations [...] it has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation."
There is no such thing as an apolitical worldview https://t.co/ZSxRkwz8aF
VVās definition: A neoliberal is a capitalist who, like, is *really* capitalist. Like, heās serious, you guys. Heās not nice. He doesnāt play fair. He doesnāt play by the rules. He wants to put a price on *everything*. And he doesnāt care about ideals like āle free marketā. š¢
A neoliberal is just the inevitable final form of a capitalist. āBut capitalists are supposed to be against government intervention!ā Lol, cute. They donāt give a fuck. They have no values. Theyāll do whatever it takes to win. Throw entire nations under the bus, who cares
A liberal-turned-neoliberal is just a capitalist who *pretended* to be interested in āfree marketsā long enough for governments and regulations and taxes to leave him alone until his mega-empire becomes ātoo big to failā
I went looking up "neoliberalism" on Facebook to revisit what my friends had shared about it. Donald is a clear thinker and writer, and his perspective resonates with mine: neoliberalism is "capitalism with the shackles taken off" https://t.co/4ygtR9ybB4
this looks like reasonably clear writing so let's give it a read https://t.co/BCyj9E045Y
- too insular, not adopted by those it describes - too many possible interpretations (this is bloat-death for most word) I agree https://t.co/1Bs3wddtPO
this is quite singaporean, actually https://t.co/brfIlLk3S0
this too https://t.co/Ti3X5uOefj
this is such a poetic description of how capitalism works, and again, the sentence makes more intuitive sense if you replace the word "neoliberals" with "capitalists" https://t.co/ZqJZJzFpxo
ok I need to know Hayek's personal definition of liberalism and...? limiting the coercive power of governments...? but it's possible for a "dictator to govern in a liberal way"? something's not adding up here either. sigh. i'd have to go digging into primary sources https://t.co/zOOLgZISFO
literally describing a phenomenon where capitalists have gotten the upper hand you need a better word maybe use mega-capitalism or ultra-capitalism or hell, neocapitalism neoliberalism is a weak, shifty word that confuses and obscures https://t.co/3ja8dmAKmS
Another phrase that comes to mind is āmarket cultistā. It cuts through the complication of āwell they say markets are natural and inexorable but they seek state protections and interventions...ā thatās because they donāt give a fuck, cultists will say anything. Theyāre addicts
I didnāt catch this on my first read 1. Adam Smith was anxious that the market could be justified only in light of individual virtue 2. Neoliberalism is Adam Smith without the anxiety 1 + 2 = neoliberalism is markets without individual virtue Neoliberalism is market cultism https://t.co/jVx2GXNIML
@visakanv incredibly confusing bc all the descriptions are just "classical liberalism" outta nowhere BAM!! "without the liberalism" https://t.co/qHVuDMlQL9
A neoliberal is just the inevitable final form of a capitalist. āBut capitalists are supposed to be against government intervention!ā Lol, cute. They donāt give a fuck. They have no values. Theyāll do whatever it takes to win. Throw entire nations under the bus, who cares
@visakanv but then i guess when they talk about "the market" they mean "the market fettered by regulation we've weaponized" and not "the free market" https://t.co/ceC7ngiUlz
@goblinodds as a singaporean I never quite knew what liberalism was in the first place lol so I don't really have that particular brainworm btw I think you're also in the right headspace/mood to read some graeber, a thread: https://t.co/BGaV47eqXQ
