Neoliberalism: The Economy, Banking & Asset Markets

[Grr-owl 1,171]

45 minutes ago, dieter said:

Thanks for your reply. Most of all, I respect the tone and gist of what you and AF have brought to the table. 

I think you have perhaps exaggerated some of my views, maybe even misrepresented them. That's okay, because I get the feeling that your position is one of respect as well.

For the record, I was born in 1950, I'm the son of a refugee mother and a father who was conscripted into the German Army in February 1941 when he turned seventeen. My mother spent from October 1944 until April 1947 in a bauxite mine in the Ukraine where she worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week. She and her fellow slave laborers were given one day off a month when they could walk to town and spend the pittance they were paid by the Soviet Authorities. She never forgot the generosity of many Ukrainian peasants families who got to know and feed her during those occasions. She was an Ethnic German, had just graduated as a Kindergarten Teacher. Most of  her fellow inmates died from malnutrition and exhaustion and lice-ridden diseases.

We came to Australia in 1956 where I learned the Anglo/US version of history. I was also sent to Catholic schools, hence my hatred of Catholicism.

I never finished a BA majoring in Creative Writing, but I am a well-read man and most of all, a humanist who has a keen ear and eye for bulldust in all its many forms - a little like the man Hannah Arendt took up with when she lived in the US.

So, just for the record, whilst I acknowledge your first hand experience of living in Non-Western countries and cultures, I simply point to the savagery and continual need for war and conquest which our 'civilisation' almost needs as a prerequisite for its existence. I simply point to the Colonial wars, some of which are ongoing. This proclivity for war and slaughter is not the hallmark for great civilisations, in my view.

So, I hear you say, what about Genghis Kahn and Pol Pot and all the other heathen monsters you seem to know so much about. So, sure, they were bad. But, and this is where I disagree with you wholeheartedly, to simply point at the thuggery of these events is total bulldust simply because the West coins bulldust notions like Bernard Lewis's 'The Clash of Civilisation' to justify its own continual and wanton carnage.

That China, India, Pakistan, various African tribes are just as brutal should not stop us from facing our very large catalogue of havoc and mayhem - Hiroshima, the Nazi Persecution of Jews, Slavs and others, the death toll in INdia/Pakistan under British rule, the nigh-complete extinction of god only knows how many million native American tribes, the rape of Iraq, Libya, the continued Colonial war in Afghanistan etc etc.

So, in summary, no, I've not said or ever said all Western Politicians are bad. 

Yes, to throw stones at houses made of glass when your house is fragile is the height of casuistry/chutzpah, call it what you like. 

I have never said or considered or thought  other civilisations are essentially different from and better than the West. I have said, we have much to learn from them, however.

With regard to billionaires, the dude they called Jesus hit the nail on the head when he talked about the eye of the needle and camels with regard to these people who basically derive their wealth at the expense of most of the world. I wouldn't give a toss if they were excluded from the 'Brotherhood'.

And,  ask Julian Assange and the dudes who Mccarthy and his looney gang of J Edgar Hoovers Woke  up in the middle of the night about the illusion of freedom we live under.  Not to mention the countries the US and Britain took over via their Shahs and Pinochet's.

You may also need to become aware of what the Peter Duttons have in storage for you. We won't talk about the refugees Australia still incarcerate, or the way our Governments have and still treat our Aboriginal population.

I first entered this discussion because I believe that Neo- Liberalism is just one symptom of the sickness which is consuming our world. I stand by my view that we need to address our real history first. It's not an academic game anymore, it's not about intellectual paradigms, our whole way of life is sick. Things are very crook in Talarook.

 

 

 

 

 

Try Coleman Hughes's podcast of December 17 with Douglas Murray.

[dieter 3,325]

1 hour ago, Grr-owl said:

Try Coleman Hughes's podcast of December 17 with Douglas Murray.

Just watched most of the 2020 podcast on you tube, same dudes. I love Murray's thoughts about Rilke.

The bottom line is that I don't connect with the Left, the Right, or any other (in)doctrinaire philosophy or weltanschauung.

I have never studied Politics, failed Matric Economics, and have never been interested in any Political or Economic Theory in my life. My observations are my own, I have never conformed and if you knew the details of my post-Australian arrival as a six year old, you would hardly even consider that my observations conform to any school or religion, apart from the firm belief that, as I have stated, you and I are all the same, all of us are. Yet somehow our history is one of division and the art of the conqueror. 

In the end, both Coleman and Murray, have developed their own concept of ways of looking at the world and while I agree with some, I still don't get that they don't get that the most essential part of the development of any entity entails not gazing at their own navels, but, most importantly, examining and accepting that their position of privilege is descended from rape, a concept which - judging by the so-called threats to world peace today, are centred on their definition of 'The enemy'. The enemy according to the [censored] called Trump is China. To Obama and Bush and Co, it was North Korea, China, Russia and Iran. Before that, the axis included Libya, Syria and Iraq.

All I'm trying to say is that the peril the world faces is not to do with definitions of ideologies, it's to do with total refutation of sense and reason and compassion.

. 

[Grr-owl 1,171]

Read this one?

The Wake-Up Call: Why the pandemic has exposed the weakness of the West - and how to fix it

John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge

[Grr-owl 1,171]

Short discussion that raises some pertinent ideas re the pandemic and neoliberalism with Iain Martin and Niall You-know-who from 40:43 here:

I can give some informed opinion re certain Asian countries.... ?

Edited January 5, 2021 by Grr-owl

[dpositive 1,651]

I have just read this thread having somehow being deflected to it but very happy I was.

i started liking nearly every post, appreciating the considered and in depth ananlysis everyone was contributing.

i cant say I am any more knowledgeable than all contributing.

i scraped through matrices economics, lucky to get employment in health industry as computers were invented and progress , social and economic, charged ahead.

Worked in local rural  community, regional programs , state wide providers and regulators, private business, large and small, as senior administrator and owner operator. 

I completed a tertiary qualification as a mature age student which reinforced my economic, political and general knowledge and experience.

i have made some comments on other threads which probably evidenced both my confusions and ignorances, but I do enjoy the stimulation of debate. 

I did recently reflect that some amazing outcomes of our current society is that the bushfires and Covid have with much brutality shown that as individuals we are powerless but as communities we are strong.

This reinforces to me why we need governments even with their obvious failings. Western, Eastern, Liberal, Fascist ,Comminism have all had some successful measures mixed with their obvious deplorable failures. It is a pity we cannot construct an amalgam of the best.

Religion of all faiths has also much to be criticised for. Some of their underlying principles are fantastic only to be destroyed by their own operatives actions.

i could despair but being a demons supporter has entrenched a resilience that I hardly thought to define.

i am still positive and hope that your respective alternative views continue. I would love to take the conversations to the MCG and interrupt any ideological discussion with the distraction of the Dees premiership thrust

[dpositive 1,651]

Oh I meant to ask if any of you had opinions on emotional economics as a practical approach to merge what can appear as conflicting theories.

[dieter 3,325]

18 hours ago, Grr-owl said:

Short discussion that raises some pertinent ideas re the pandemic and neoliberalism with Iain Martin and Niall You-know-who from 40:43 here:

I can give some informed opinion re certain Asian countries.... ?

Yes, Grr, pull out another ace from a"a fully paid-up member of the neo-imperialist gang", a supporter of the Iraq War.

I don't buy anything he says. He is as smug as a bug in a rug.

More to the point, when he rails against so-called Big Government getting more money to handle Covid, he doesn't seem to have a problem with the unlimited and ballistically insane amount of money US governments spend on weapons of mass destruction. 

I am beginning to get a full grip on where you are coming from.

Edited January 6, 2021 by dieter

[Grr-owl 1,171]

1 hour ago, dieter said:

Yes, Grr, pull out another ace from a"a fully paid-up member of the neo-imperialist gang", a supporter of the Iraq War.

I don't buy anything he says. He is as smug as a bug in a rug.

More to the point, when he rails against so-called Big Government getting more money to handle Covid, he doesn't seem to have a problem with the unlimited and ballistically insane amount of money US governments spend on weapons of mass destruction. 

I am beginning to get a full grip on where you are coming from.

I'm beginning to suspect I'm being trolled.... 

Quoting Ferguson or linking to him does not mean I agree with him, though I am often interested to hear what he has to say. His learning and experience give him insight that allows him to make predictions that often turn out to be prescient. His China angle is particularly interesting to me, as I have skin in the game re human rights and the CCP. You might have picked up on that about me, and twigged to that as the pivot of my interest, rather than lumping me in with "the neo-imperialist gang."

Apparently, "it is the mark of en educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it," a quote wrongly attributed to Aristotle, thus proving its value. Aristotle did say, however, that women had less teeth than men. Proof, again, of the value of the quote, and that it's not wise to throw the baby out with the bathwater. In other words, you don't have to agree with everything a person says to find value in something they say. 

Personal insults don't make you look good, D. Considering Ferguson's academic achievements and credibility, calling him smug and railing against his failure to mention govt spending on weapons of mass destruction in a discussion on the pandemic makes you look limited, as if he is supposed to bring that subject into every conversation as you do. And then implying that this reflects on me is simplistic and small-minded. Should I insult you back? Perhaps I should say, "You haven't got a full grip on anything; certainly not your mind, though possibly your c@*k."

As for support for the Iraq War, Christopher Hitchens, who disagreed with Ferguson in public and more so in private, so I hear, agreed with him on that. Seems people can have intelligent discussions about complicated subjects without taking one political line or another. Insert fake Aristotle quote here, again.

You might like to reflect on the behavior of Uday Hussein, who would go to Iraqi weddings and rape the bride. Sometimes he would torture and kill her too. Is that the kind of person who should be running a country? Do you think Iraqi's thought he should be running the country? What kind of father would produce a psychopath such as Uday? 

I think the war was an ill-considered fiasco myself - eh, if people want to live in a mafia state run by a nepotistic cadre of genocidal psychopaths, let 'em, I say; it's nobody's business but their own - but I can understand why some people with their hands on the levers of power might have thought it was a good idea to turf 'em out on their ear. 

Okay, cue your reply: A litany of 'what about' historical examples of deplorable western behavior. 

 

  

[dieter 3,325]

1 hour ago, Grr-owl said:

 

 

  

1 hour ago, Grr-owl said:

 

 

Personal insults don't make you look good, D. Considering Ferguson's academic achievements and credibility, calling him smug and railing against his failure to mention govt spending on weapons of mass destruction in a discussion on the pandemic makes you look limited, as if he is supposed to bring that subject into every conversation as you do. And then implying that this reflects on me is simplistic and small-minded. Should I insult you back? Perhaps I should say, "You haven't got a full grip on anything; certainly not your mind, though possibly your c@*k."

As for support for the Iraq War, Christopher Hitchens, who disagreed with Ferguson in public and more so in private, so I hear, agreed with him on that. Seems people can have intelligent discussions about complicated subjects without taking one political line or another. Insert fake Aristotle quote here, again.

You might like to reflect on the behavior of Uday Hussein, who would go to Iraqi weddings and rape the bride. Sometimes he would torture and kill her too. Is that the kind of person who should be running a country? Do you think Iraqi's thought he should be running the country? What kind of father would produce a psychopath such as Uday? 

 

 

  

Mister Grr, A, I am not a troll. B, if anyone is hurling it might well be you. 

 

Can you please explain what Uday's behaviour has to do with the rape of Iraq, a rape based on total lies and propaganda?

Edited January 6, 2021 by dieter

[Grr-owl 1,171]

57 minutes ago, dieter said:

Mister Grr, A, I am not a troll. B, if anyone is hurling it might well be you. 

 

Can you please explain what Uday's behaviour has to do with the rape of Iraq, a rape based on total lies and propaganda?

You don't post in good faith, D. Your post was insulting. If you were joking, it would have been a good idea to clarify that with an emoji.

I wrote that the war was an ill-conceived fiasco. As for Uday, I can't see how it is possible for anyone to miss the point.

You are at least somewhat mistaken about the lies and the propaganda. Try reading this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bomb-My-Garden-Secrets-Mastermind/dp/0471741272

As the story unfolds, the author deals with why the US and allies remained convinced that WMD were still in development. It was Saddam's responsibility. For Dr Mahdi and his family, it was a matter of life and death.

I remain confident that the form of government that provides the best hope for humanity is liberal democracy. You're not convinced of that. That's okay with me. Otherwise, I'm pretty much done here, Deiter. 

[dieter 3,325]

59 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

You don't post in good faith, D. Your post was insulting. If you were joking, it would have been a good idea to clarify that with an emoji.

I wrote that the war was an ill-conceived fiasco. As for Uday, I can't see how it is possible for anyone to miss the point.

You are at least somewhat mistaken about the lies and the propaganda. Try reading this:

https://www.amazon.com/Bomb-My-Garden-Secrets-Mastermind/dp/0471741272

As the story unfolds, the author deals with why the US and allies remained convinced that WMD were still in development. It was Saddam's responsibility. For Dr Mahdi and his family, it was a matter of life and death.

I remain confident that the form of government that provides the best hope for humanity is liberal democracy. You're not convinced of that. That's okay with me. Otherwise, I'm pretty much done here, Deiter. 

If you read my posts, all have been in good faith. 

If you still wish to uphold the US line about WMD's you are free to do so. If you believe that what Saddam's son is accused of doing  was even vaguely relevant to this War Crime, that's up to you. ( For the record, you might wish to look into the sexual crimes of one D.TRump, the so-called President of the most farcical nation in history. Not to mention Dangerous.) 

At least we agree about what you call liberal democracy. Where we differ is that I don't believe the US is or ever has been a liberal democracy. Ask any Black person about the depth of your description, go on, read some James Baldwin, listen to some Mohamed Ali instead of fake americans like Hitchens and Fergussson.

By the way, my name is Dieter. It's my real name. If I was the troll you make me out to be, I'd call myself TRR-owll or something.

[Adam The God 29,418]

10 hours ago, dpositive said:

Oh I meant to ask if any of you had opinions on emotional economics as a practical approach to merge what can appear as conflicting theories.

Emotional economics as in behavioural economics? Yeah, behavioural is much more real than the fantasyland that the mainstream presents. I much prefer hard economics rather than soft economics.

[dpositive 1,651]

10 hours ago, A F said:

Emotional economics as in behavioural economics? Yeah, behavioural is much more real than the fantasyland that the mainstream presents. I much prefer hard economics rather than soft economics.

Emotional or behavioural. Not sure what is hard or soft. As I understand it e or b takes into account a more comprehensive model of economic factors and reactions than the old "all things being equal" model . This is a consequence of having more sophisticated technology that can analyse more than one factor. Ultimately it is all still conjecture.

 

[Grr-owl 1,171]

On 1/6/2021 at 12:22 PM, dieter said:

If you believe that what Saddam's son is accused of doing  was even vaguely relevant to this War Crime, that's up to you. ( For the record, you might wish to look into the sexual crimes of one D.TRump, the so-called President of the most farcical nation in history. Not to mention Dangerous.)

Again, as I have tried to make my position clear before, the crime of one person does not cancel out the crime of another. It's the crime that matters, not the identity of the criminal. In this case, Trump is a criminal and so is Uday. From my point of view, it isn't a competition between one side and another to see which is the worst. Once again, you demonstrate the binary thinking that you otherwise rail against. 

So, to be clear: I absolutely agree with you that the US has done and does deplorable things. It is, indeed, a farcical nation. But that in no way means that the deplorable actions of other countries are in some way mitigated.

No comment re Mahdi Obeidi's book? On re-reading my comment, I can see I wasn't quite clear: Dr Mahdi Obeidi was the guy who ran the Iraqi nuclear weapons program. He buried the critical equipment and info under a tree in his back yard. If he and the stuff under his tree had been handed to the inspectors, the situation may have been avoided. Don't take my word for it, read the book.

On 1/6/2021 at 12:22 PM, dieter said:

Ask any Black person about the depth of your description, go on, read some James Baldwin, listen to some Mohamed Ali instead of fake americans like Hitchens and Fergussson

Any black person? No problem. Here are some you might like to listen to:

Thomas Chatterton Williams

Coleman Hughes

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Glenn Loury

John McWhorter. John and Glenn appear together regularly on the Glenn Show, Glenn's podcast. Here's an example:

And then, if you want to make a leap that very few are yet to make but which must eventually be made if we are to have a post-racial society, ask yourself why you and so many others think race is important. 

On 1/6/2021 at 12:22 PM, dieter said:

If I was the troll you make me out to be, I'd call myself TRR-owll or something.

Another insult? Why not make an argument? Calling people names in place of an argument went out after primary school... There's a good reason I don't use my name, and you should be able to guess what that is, given my sensitivities to totalitarianism.

[dieter 3,325]

34 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

Again, as I have tried to make my position clear before, the crime of one person does not cancel out the crime of another. It's the crime that matters, not the identity of the criminal. In this case, Trump is a criminal and so is Uday. From my point of view, it isn't a competition between one side and another to see which is the worst. Once again, you demonstrate the binary thinking that you otherwise rail against. 

So, to be clear: I absolutely agree with you that the US has done and does deplorable things. It is, indeed, a farcical nation. But that in no way means that the deplorable actions of other countries are in some way mitigated.

No comment re Mahdi Obeidi's book? On re-reading my comment, I can see I wasn't quite clear: Dr Mahdi Obeidi was the guy who ran the Iraqi nuclear weapons program. He buried the critical equipment and info under a tree in his back yard. If he and the stuff under his tree had been handed to the inspectors, the situation may have been avoided. Don't take my word for it, read the book.

Any black person? No problem. Here are some you might like to listen to:

Thomas Chatterton Williams

Coleman Hughes

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Glenn Loury

John McWhorter. John and Glenn appear together regularly on the Glenn Show, Glenn's podcast. Here's an example:

And then, if you want to make a leap that very few are yet to make but which must eventually be made if we are to have a post-racial society, ask yourself why you and so many others think race is important. 

Another insult? Why not make an argument? Calling people names in place of an argument went out after primary school... There's a good reason I don't use my name, and you should be able to guess what that is, given my sensitivities to totalitarianism.

Keep wheeling out the Uncle Toms. Have you heard of BLM?

[dieter 3,325]

2 hours ago, Grr-owl said:

Again, as I have tried to make my position clear before, the crime of one person does not cancel out the crime of another. It's the crime that matters, not the identity of the criminal. In this case, Trump is a criminal and so is Uday. From my point of view, it isn't a competition between one side and another to see which is the worst. Once again, you demonstrate the binary thinking that you otherwise rail against. 

So, to be clear: I absolutely agree with you that the US has done and does deplorable things. It is, indeed, a farcical nation. But that in no way means that the deplorable actions of other countries are in some way mitigated.

No comment re Mahdi Obeidi's book? On re-reading my comment, I can see I wasn't quite clear: Dr Mahdi Obeidi was the guy who ran the Iraqi nuclear weapons program. He buried the critical equipment and info under a tree in his back yard. If he and the stuff under his tree had been handed to the inspectors, the situation may have been avoided. Don't take my word for it, read the book.

Any black person? No problem. Here are some you might like to listen to:

Thomas Chatterton Williams

Coleman Hughes

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Glenn Loury

John McWhorter. John and Glenn appear together regularly on the Glenn Show, Glenn's podcast. Here's an example:

And then, if you want to make a leap that very few are yet to make but which must eventually be made if we are to have a post-racial society, ask yourself why you and so many others think race is important. 

Another insult? Why not make an argument? Calling people names in place of an argument went out after primary school... There's a good reason I don't use my name, and you should be able to guess what that is, given my sensitivities to totalitarianism.

You also imply that while its okay for the US to have enough WMD's to blow up the Universe five times, it's a crime for Iraq to be able to defend itself. It's the same reason North Korea armed itself to the hilt because otherwise the US would have destroyed it again. So I now fully understand where you are coming from: you believe in White Supremacy, you believe only White people should be able to have arsenals etc etc.

[Grr-owl 1,171]

Yeah, man, you're right. And every day I hate my own wife and kids for not being White, and all my students for the last twenty years and almost everyone I'm surrounded by on a daily basis, the guys I play sport with and everyone in my neighbourhood, most of my colleagues, all because they aren't White. Yeah, man, you got me pinned.

Your thinking is very limited, Deiter. 

[Grr-owl 1,171]

On 1/10/2021 at 9:22 AM, dieter said:

Keep wheeling out the Uncle Toms. Have you heard of BLM?

Engage with the argument. You said, "Ask any black person..." Well, those people are black. What, not Black enough for you? Not REALLY black???

I can't be sure, obviously, as I don't know you, but there's some evidence that you have an idea in your head of what it means to be black; possibly the same as BLM define it. Okay, fair enough; a lot of people share that definition.

But I don't. It's a definition that ascribes meaning (identity) to skin color, and is therefore ignorant. Skin color doesn't indicate anything about a person except their skin color. It certainly doesn't indicate anything about political allegiance or philosophical outlook or views on abortion or religion or, well, anything.

I have directed you to interesting people who have got over the whole binary thinking thing, dividing people into groups based on race or gender or sexual preference etc, but you haven't caught on. This is a shame as society could do with some healing, some uniting, and we could do a little of that here on Demonland it'd be a good thing.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Grr-owl

[dieter 3,325]

27 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

Engage with the argument. You said, "Ask any black person..." Well, those people are black. What, not Black enough for you? Not REALLY black???

I can't be sure, obviously, as I don't know you, but there's some evidence that you have an idea in your head of what it means to be black; possibly the same as BLM define it. Okay, fair enough; a lot of people share that definition.

But I don't. It's a definition that ascribes meaning (identity) to skin color, and is therefore ignorant. Skin color doesn't indicate anything about a person except their skin color. It certainly doesn't indicate anything about political allegiance or philosophical outlook or views on abortion or religion or, well, anything.

I have directed you to interesting people who have got over the whole binary thinking thing, dividing people into groups based on race or gender or sexual preference etc, but you haven't caught on. This is a shame as society could do with some healing, some uniting, and we could do a little of that here on Demonland it'd be a good thing.

I fail to see how any of the people/pundits you referred me to are interested in healing. I understand them as people who keep asserting that 'our' way is and was always ok. My problem with this is to do with the total amnesia about not only the acts of Colonialism, but also the ongoing issues which victims of this Colonialism now face. You show me pictures and portraits of Black Americans who I assume think everything is A Okay. Well, they ain't baby, they never have been. I also saw in the one on one discussion I watched on You Tube between a Black Brit and whoever he was, reference to all the great women and LGBT writers who prospered in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, as though they were ever considered and accepted as mainstream. My mind boggled at that.

What I find most interesting in your Weltanschauung is that its axis is and always will be that somehow what 'we' have and done is and always will be superior to anything those heathen and communist and Iraqis have done. You have amnesia about the KKK, about what Trump has done and is doing, you have amnesia about the fact that the world is surrounded by US bases, all of their missiles and weapons of Mass Destruction pointed at China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, as though these people/nations are not worth any more than our ridicule and holier than thou posturing. I don't like the world you want to impose on me, it doesn't and won't change a bloody thing.

[Grr-owl 1,171]

On 1/11/2021 at 11:48 AM, dieter said:

I fail to see how any of the people/pundits you referred me to are interested in healing. I understand them as people who keep asserting that 'our' way is and was always ok. My problem with this is to do with the total amnesia about not only the acts of Colonialism, but also the ongoing issues which victims of this Colonialism now face. You show me pictures and portraits of Black Americans who I assume think everything is A Okay. Well, they ain't baby, they never have been. I also saw in the one on one discussion I watched on You Tube between a Black Brit and whoever he was, reference to all the great women and LGBT writers who prospered in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, as though they were ever considered and accepted as mainstream. My mind boggled at that.

What I find most interesting in your Weltanschauung is that its axis is and always will be that somehow what 'we' have and done is and always will be superior to anything those heathen and communist and Iraqis have done. You have amnesia about the KKK, about what Trump has done and is doing, you have amnesia about the fact that the world is surrounded by US bases, all of their missiles and weapons of Mass Destruction pointed at China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, as though these people/nations are not worth any more than our ridicule and holier than thou posturing. I don't like the world you want to impose on me, it doesn't and won't change a bloody thing.

No amnesia. Just not convinced that a civilization is defined by its worst face. There's positive and negative, no matter what, and for me the positive outweighs the negative. 

[Grr-owl 1,171]

On 1/6/2021 at 4:28 PM, A F said:

Emotional economics as in behavioural economics? Yeah, behavioural is much more real than the fantasyland that the mainstream presents. I much prefer hard economics rather than soft economics.

Just quoted so you'd get a notification. 

Interesting battle going on in the US now. Biden is pushing a less-than neo-liberal agenda...

Was surprised and a little pleased to see this BBC article referring to Reagan and Thatcher. Seems its gradually becoming newsworthy to understand neo-liberalism as an approach that is not necessarily inevitable. I can't remember the words Thatcher used, but it was along the lines of "there's no other choice....."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56903805

Now we'll see the soul of the Republican party, if there is one. They want to make America great? Make the investment....

[dieter 3,325]

11 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

Just quoted so you'd get a notification. 

Interesting battle going on in the US now. Biden is pushing a less-than neo-liberal agenda...

Was surprised and a little pleased to see this BBC article referring to Reagan and Thatcher. Seems its gradually becoming newsworthy to understand neo-liberalism as an approach that is not necessarily inevitable. I can't remember the words Thatcher used, but it was along the lines of "there's no other choice....."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56903805

Now we'll see the soul of the Republican party, if there is one. They want to make America great? Make the investment....

You'll need 20/20 Vision to see a 'soul'.

[Adam The God 29,418]

28 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

Just quoted so you'd get a notification. 

Interesting battle going on in the US now. Biden is pushing a less-than neo-liberal agenda...

Was surprised and a little pleased to see this BBC article referring to Reagan and Thatcher. Seems its gradually becoming newsworthy to understand neo-liberalism as an approach that is not necessarily inevitable. I can't remember the words Thatcher used, but it was along the lines of "there's no other choice....."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56903805

Now we'll see the soul of the Republican party, if there is one. They want to make America great? Make the investment....

Yeah, it's interesting, because Yellen is a  neoliberal deficit hawk, but he's clearly getting some advice from elsewhere that is nudging him away from neoclassical economics (New and Old Keynesian).

If you look at their foreign policy though, if more people understood much of what neoliberalism entails, they'd be far more anti US than they are. Biden, along with Clinton and Obama, are big neoliberals when it comes to foreign policies. You watch them destabilise Venezuela. They've literally been meddling there since the late 90s, if not earlier. They've already destabilised Ecuador. They do it to get American business in there, and they use their influence within the IMF, WTO and the World Bank to set the financial agenda. That's why most of the Latin American countries are pegged to the USD, which always leaves them open to balance of payment crises and without their monetary sovereignty, they are at the whims of the US, particularly as they've adopted the USD.

[Grr-owl 1,171]

1 hour ago, A F said:

Yeah, it's interesting, because Yellen is a  neoliberal deficit hawk, but he's clearly getting some advice from elsewhere that is nudging him away from neoclassical economics (New and Old Keynesian).

If you look at their foreign policy though, if more people understood much of what neoliberalism entails, they'd be far more anti US than they are. Biden, along with Clinton and Obama, are big neoliberals when it comes to foreign policies. You watch them destabilise Venezuela. They've literally been meddling there since the late 90s, if not earlier. They've already destabilised Ecuador. They do it to get American business in there, and they use their influence within the IMF, WTO and the World Bank to set the financial agenda. That's why most of the Latin American countries are pegged to the USD, which always leaves them open to balance of payment crises and without their monetary sovereignty, they are at the whims of the US, particularly as they've adopted the USD.

I guess they're thinking that they're helping them somehow....

I would have a thought a pool of cheap labour and untapped resources on the doorstep should be a positive thing for an industrialized country. Is it the failure of the culture to produce rule of law, civil society, democratic institutions etc,. which means they never prosper, or is it just down to the US?

 

[Adam The God 29,418]

3 hours ago, Grr-owl said:

I guess they're thinking that they're helping them somehow....

I would have a thought a pool of cheap labour and untapped resources on the doorstep should be a positive thing for an industrialized country. Is it the failure of the culture to produce rule of law, civil society, democratic institutions etc,. which means they never prosper, or is it just down to the US?

 

This is neoliberalisms con. It hollows out our own domestic jobs market and certainly doesn't give consumers a better price. Telstra is a perfect example. Astronomical prices for basic serviced and few Australian jobs when its infrastructure was built by public money.