Steven Hale
2 min readSep 28, 2019

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There are many thoughtful points (and I do agree that selfishness is a core problem — but I also believe that it always has been).

Most people don’t have a clear, consistent definition of “neoliberalism” (here’s an article about the term’s myriad denotations and connotations).

That doesn’t mean that neoliberalism is not a problem, but I don’t think it’s a problem in the way you use the term.

Specifically, there is nothing inherently selfish in the sort of neoliberalism proposed by its greatest champion, Milton Friedman. In his 1951 article “Neoliberalism and Its Prospects,” Friedman argues for market solutions over government solutions, but he also acknowledges that there are flaws with using the market as the sole source of policy. Specifically, he understands that the market will not step in to address the needs of the poor, and he proposes that government do so. At the same time, he argues against government subsidies to the well-off (i.e. corporate welfare). But he does not believe that government should set a mandatory minimum wage.

Reagan / Laffer and all their modern Republican heirs, on the other hand, would eliminate welfare for the poor and maintain corporate welfare (including agricultural subsidies for the wealthy).

Reagan’s economic policies (which H. W. Bush called “voodoo economics) are the embodiment of the selfishness you associate with neoliberalism. But they are in reality nothing more than what one of your commenters calls “predatory capitalism.” We see it every day in Trump’s deregulatory program.

Regulated capitalism (with government aid for the social good, like welfare, medicare, public schools…), i.e. what Bernie Sanders calls “democratic socialism,” is not a good economic system (there can’t be a perfect economic system, any more than there can be a perfect political system), but it’s the least bad system I’m aware of.

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Steven Hale
Steven Hale

Written by Steven Hale

Music: Discovering the lost and forgotten. Politics: Exposing injustice. Screenwriting: Emotional storytelling.

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