Neo-Liberalism has overtaken liberal thought in Washington [View All]

[Go2Peace]

If you are confused about what is going on in Washington, and how it is that the Democratic Party could be adopting policies that seem a close relative to the opposition parties' philosophies, it will help you to understand what "Neo-Liberalism" is.

This philosophy is what is joining the Republican and Democratic Parties and merging many of their policies. The major difference is, Democrats believe in more social programs than Republicans do, but leaders in *both* parties now indulge a core belief that almost all social programs are best left to Private industry to maintain. That is why we saw HCR become, not the European model, but "outsourced" to private interests. That is why we are seeing our educational system being sold to the highest bidder.

There is a difference between the way the two parties imagine their Neo-Liberal systems, with the Democratic party imagining that we can protect a kind of "social net", while giving it all into private hands to take care of. The trouble with this idea is that same problem with the Republican "version"... "HISTORY". We know from history that private interests will *never* protect the public interests. They are not Democratic institutions, and thus they can never really respond to the will of the people, no matter how many regulations we may think we can saddle them with.

Even worse, our trajectory is more toward the "libertarian" model, and we will end up with a psuedo-libertarian state.

Learn to recognize this philosophy and call it out, because if you are a traditional "progressive" or "liberal", this is what you are seeing destroy the values that have worked and we have held so dear for many years.

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

Broadly speaking, neoliberalism seeks to transfer part of the control of the economy from public to the private sector, under the belief that it will produce a more efficient government and improve the economic health of the nation.

The definitive statement of the concrete policies advocated by neoliberalism is often taken to be John Williamson's "Washington Consensus," a list of policy proposals that appeared to have gained consensus approval among the Washington-based international economic organizations (like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank).

Williamson's list included ten points:

Fiscal policy Governments should not run large deficits that have to be paid back by future citizens, and such deficits can only have a short term effect on the level of employment in the economy. Constant deficits will lead to higher inflation and lower productivity, and should be avoided. Deficits should only be used for occasional stabilization purposes.

Redirection of public spending from subsidies ("especially indiscriminate subsidies") and other wasteful spending toward broad-based provision of key pro-growth, pro-poor services like primary education, primary health care and infrastructure investment;
Tax reform– broadening the tax base and adopting moderate marginal tax rates to encourage innovation and efficiency;

Interest rates that are market determined and positive (but moderate) in real terms;
Floating exchange rates;

Trade liberalization – liberalization of imports, with particular emphasis on elimination of quantitative restrictions (licensing, etc.); any trade protection to be provided by law and relatively uniform tariffs; thus encouraging competition and long term growth

Liberalization of the "capital account" of the balance of payments, that is, allowing people the opportunity to invest funds overseas and allowing foreign funds to be invested in the home country
Privatization of state enterprises; Promoting market provision of goods and services which the government can not provide as effectively or efficeintly, such as telecommunications, where having many service providers promotes choice and competition.

Deregulation – abolition of regulations that impede market entry or restrict competition, except for those justified on safety, environmental and consumer protection grounds, and prudent oversight of financial institutions;

Legal security for property rights; and,
Financialization of capital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism