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I keep seeing articles and tweets saying that America has been in the grip of neoliberalism and free-market zealotry and it's time for a change. This is one of the greatest sleights of hand in intellectual history...
--the idea that so-called neoliberals like Friedman and Hayek took charge of public policy. Where? Health care? Government's role in HC is larger than ever--third party payments dominate relative to out-of-pocket.
Education? Outside of a small number of charter schools and a few experiments with vouchers, the public school system and teachers unions dominate. Housing? The price of housing has risen dramatically in cities where zoning and other restrictions are on the rise.
Labor markets? So-called living wage restrictions are growing. Minimum wage hasn't been abolished though inflation has reduced it in some places. Unionization has fallen but not through neoliberal policy moves but because of changes in the nature of work in America. Yes,
rich people today are a lot richer than the richest people of 50 years ago. Mostly due to globalization which is free-market more or less. Is it bad that an entrepreneur or an entertainer or athlete makes more than their earlier counterparts because they reach more people?
The argument that people have enriched themselves at the expense of the rest of us is true for some policies--ag subsidies, subsidies to Wall Street leverage, a broken patent system in Pharma. But these aren't neoliberal? Arguing that only the rich have made gains...
over the last 50 years requires cherry-picking of the worst kind. (medium.com/@russroberts/d…). Yes, there are people being left behind because they get a lousy education or face barriers to entry from licensing or the minimum wage. None of these
are free-market problems. And if you really believe that "neoliberals" have been in charge of America for the last 50 years, why is government so big? Why is regulation so large? Those of us who love markets are losing.
Those of us who believe that centralizing power and giving Washington a larger amount to allocate are losing. It adds insult to injury to keep claiming that it's time we tried a different approach. Our approach is on the run and has been for decades.
