Neoliberalism

RedEyedAbyss

Otherwise known as that ideology modern governments love to force on us even though it doesn't work. This is not an opinion. Just take a look at the IMF's track record. Seriously, continuing on a program with such counterproductive results is nothing short of cruelty. 

And for some neoliberal dogma comedy, there's The Economist's Farewell, Nordic Model. (and followup)

I've heard a lot of complaining from British netizens that all their political parties are the same in forcing down the neoliberal pill on the U.K. populace. In such a scenario, I'd wonder how we as people can possibly change things through the ballot.

mathias

As a Dane, that is someone under the Nordic Model, I do sometimes get tired of foreign ideological libertarians spreading lies about the Scandinavian countries to "prove" how the model isn't working, since they don't have enough empirical facts to back them up. Well we have free-market ideologues at home too, it's just that their stuff have to be built on a somewhat different platform than the foreign ones.  Not to say that the Scandinavian countries are perfect they certainly aren't and the article is right about one thing, in the last decade Denmark has become increasingly and ridiculously anti-immigration.

 

I love how these libertarians somehow know that "seen from the inside, it's not so good". They know nothing about what it's like, seen from the inside, they are just hypothesising based on their own assumptions . Most Danes might complain about taxes, but if you ask them whether they want our system or the American one, 90% would choose something closer to ours, though not necessarily exactly like it. Some do want a more libertarian one, it's just that even then it's still closer to our current model than the American one.

 

Another thing that bugged me about that article is the idea that if the Nordic countries are moving towards more libertarian policies, it somehow invalidates the Nordic model, which has stood the empirical test for many years. There has been a general wave of neo-liberalism all over the world the last 10-15 years and the Nordic countries have not been exempt from this, though we've obviously never moved far enough to approach a US level of libertarianism, because very few people here want that. However the general debate has become more libertarian than before, at least in Denmark.

 

I also love how some of these foreign libertarians will always try to find something wrong with the Nordic countries, no matter what. Their economy will break down, oh wait it hasn't yet (but it certainly will, our model says so! Empirical falsification is for pussies!). Well, it's just because they've got oil, oh wait that's only Norway and they put all that money in a saving fund. Well, they don't do innovation very well due to the smothering of the welfare state. Oh wait, they have a lot of technology based companies, put out plenty of research papers and sit pretty well in innovation indexes. Hmm, the welfare state has made them all boring, with little individuality and a general lack of character. Fuck you, you've never even been close to Scandinavia and you know nothing about the people living here.

 

Sorry about that last paragraph, it's kind of ripe with straw-manning, but it's something which has been bothering me for some time, just needed to get it out of my system. And in my defense, it is all arguments that I've heard people use in all seriousness.

RedEyedAbyss

No need to apologize. There's a strange wilful obliviousness that surrounds people following political ideology.

"but it certainly will, our model says so! Empirical falsification is for pussies!"

Pretty much sums the whole thing up. It's the main reason why economics has such a bad reputation.

Ironweaver

After the revolution in 2000, the West practically forced Serbia to accept a quick and unsubtle transition to neoliberal economy from market socialism. It ruined our industries.