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The Forum > Article Comments > The real road to serfdom > Comments

The real road to serfdom : Comments

By Marko Beljac, published 5/1/2015

When state action assists the poor it is trenchantly attacked by our erstwhile neoliberals but when aiding the rich it is quietly left aside if not readily applauded.

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Wow! And I thought some of the colleagues were left wing.. actually some of Marco's stuff makes sense, and sort of reminds me of Keith Windshuttle's writings before he stopped calling himself a Marxist. But it would be all the better if he dropped the ideology which he only partially understands, and in particular the idiotic tag "Neoliberal". This is a term of abuse rather than a label and, as Jardine points out, Marco doesn't really know what it is meant to mean.
Posted by Curmudgeon, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 9:30:00 AM
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if the poor are treated so harshly here then why are their still (sorry was) tens of thousands of people risking lives to come here in boats. Was is it that it is people sitting on high salaries funded by the taxpayers that write this garbage. Do they feel that their overpaid Government jobs are at risk. I suppose bagging the rich (whoever they are) keeps the focus off them.
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 9:42:03 AM
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Neoliberalism has a specific meaning: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism .

If it's regarded as a term of abuse, that's probably because of the stupidity of neoliberal policies.

Personally I regard "Austrian School" as a much bigger term of abuse: those morons see every problem as a nail, and want to use gold to make hammers! At least there are some thinking neoliberals.
Posted by Aidan, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 11:46:36 AM
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Aiden

The article you link to is quite good. It shows clearly that the term “neoliberalism” does not have a single accepted meaning. Its meaning had changed over time, it has different meanings in different disciplines, and nowadays it is generally used as a term of abuse.

The “neoliberalism” described by Marko bears no relation to the policies advocated by any influential individual or group I am aware of. That’s why I think it is a straw man.

By all means critique Hayek or Friedman or the Austrians, or anyone you think merits the “neoliberal” tag; but debate what they actually said, not some confection of half-truths and misinterpretations. The way the term is used by critics like Marko seems designed to actively discourage engagement with the real content of his targets' ideas.
Posted by Rhian, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 12:21:38 PM
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