Neoliberalism's opt-out culture, charter shools & infrastructure.

[Democrats_win]

"Neoliberals differ on some issues, but one key notion most hold is the right to opt out of publically provided services or goods one does not need or want."

"The opt out culture has more widespread and destructive effects.... “Charter schools and voucher programs invite locals to opt out of public schools while drawing on public funds that might have improved the public education system rather than provide an alternative to it.” When these schools succeed, often by excluding special needs children, their success is taken as proof of the inadequacy of public education."

"Neoliberals generally resist or seek to limit the services that must be provided by public entities, but when these must be provided, the service should be privately owned and run like any other profit maximizing business. This requirement, however, exposes some of the tensions and contradiction within neoliberalism. What if, as is often the case, there are very few businesses that can provide the service. Won’t these be in position to charge monopoly prices for their services?
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What a great discussion of neoliberalism! Two of neoliberalism's ideas are: there is no commons or public good and privatization. The other three neoliberalism main ideas are: markets must rule no mater the social damage, regulations must be reduced to free up business (because all(?) great ideas come from the private sector--yeah right), and cutting public expenditures (for the OPT-Out Culture! Yeah!)

Check out the rest of this excellent article about Trump's possible infrastructure plan.

Is Trump’s Infrastructure Plan an Attack on Democracy?
by John Buell
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/05/17/trumps-infrastructure-plan-attack-democracy

[bettyellen]

1. Sad the word was so overused last year it means nothing. Policies matter-

But the media opted out on discussing them last year because DT had only the vaguest outlines.

[charlyvi]

2. This article is describing conservative Repubs.

I'm 66, been a liberal Democrat all my life, don't care much for Bernie Sanders, supported Clinton in 2016, so this guy would probably call me "neoliberal". I believe strongly in public education, don't agree with deregulation at the expense of people's health, safety, or economic well being, and am a firm opponent of privatization of the public sphere. I don't know any Dem who believes in any of the principles this guy lists as "neoliberal". I know plenty of conservatives (I live in Alabama) who do. So I suppose the point I'm trying to make here is that this guy is full of it. I think he's trying to move the Overton window so far left that he's leaving behind 99.9% of the American public. But that's just me.

On edit: I think I can understand now, though, how many on the far left felt there were no differences between the Dems and Repubs. If they bought into this type of thinking, the fact that we now have President Donald Trump makes sense. Some have substituted conservatism for liberalism. Wrongly.

[lovemydogs]

3. Neoliberalism has been the reason the past couple decades have seen

America in such a decline.

the idea of private sectors doing the job, usually without oversight, on public services is a failure.
It's because with Public Service, the people do the work for the people they serve without the profit motive interfering.
There is usually rules, regulations and oversight.
I use to work in the public sector years ago. We had books and binders that laid out the way to address things. We did our work to help the people. And, unlike the stereotype by the right, public servants worked very hard, you did not get rich working there, and most were quite dedicated to their jobs and the mission of the agency.
Neoliberalism took away the funding, the resources and the personnel needed to do the job right. The failure of the institutions is because of lack of money and supplies and man-power. All of it went to privatization and they don't care.
I dread my granddaughters ever having to go to a charter school. I am a backer of public schools. And public school were deliberately sabotaged and undermined in the politicians love of charter schools and the pay offs from the big money backers of it.
The politicians do not care about quality. They do not care about kids education. Their only goal is filling their pockets and the big money people's.
That is neoliberalism