Thread by @SteB777

"The Democrats are in deep trouble in the US – and Labour is on the way to joining them"

Whilst it's true, there's no mention of a single word, that explains why, neoliberalism.

The Democratic Party, and Labour, except under Corbyn were neoliberal.

1/🧵theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Tony Blair was clearly a neoliberal, and so was Gordon Brown. I'm not sure about Jimmy Carter, but every major Democratic politician since, has been neoliberal. Bernie Sanders isn't but he was an independent for much of the time.
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Neoliberal doctrine, is essentially Conservative policy. It is no coincidence whatsoever that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, are generally regarded to have ushered in neoliberalism in the West (I'm aware of Pinochet) Milt Friedman was senior economic adviser to both.
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The centre-left continued with it, and have been almost solidly neoliberal since, meaning every government since, have continued with the policy laid down by Reagan and Thatcher. No matter who you voted for, you got neoliberal.
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Neoliberals are unbelievably coy and secretive about neoliberalism, often totally denying that neoliberalism exists, and falsely claiming it is a left wing conspiracy theory, when it has got a long documented history.

5/threadreaderapp.com/thread/1947958…

The need to deny neoliberalism exists is clear. It is everything the public hate. What is more, the right don't like admitting they follow anything with liberal in the name. Also acknowledging it, would be acknowledging that the system is rigged.

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Neoliberalism, essentially consists of trying to shrink government, privatize everything, to cut back on welfare spending, to promote economic growth over everything else, and to argue prosperity comes via trickle-down.
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Neoliberals are almost universally opposed to wealth taxes, or any increasing tax on the wealthy. They are very pro big corporation, very pro-billionaire, basically arguing we need the very wealthy and corporate profit, for prosperity for all.

8/threadreaderapp.com/thread/1948623…

However, neoliberalism, is most visible in what it opposes. It is virulently anti-left wing/socialist, it totally opposes the re-nationalisation of things like the public utilities, no matter how badly they are failing. It opposes regulation, such as environmental protection.
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One of the big problems, is ever since it has been denying that neoliberalism exists, and pretending that neoliberal policy, is the only sensible policy to implement, it has got very difficult to see and detect what modern neoliberalism is, and how it is coordinated.
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My impression, is that neoliberalism has actually morphed into the agenda of billionaire/oligarchs, big corporations, and hast drifted from the ideology of Hayek, Friedman etc, and is maintained by the network of right wing thinktanks and big media owners.
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It also seems certain, that modern right wing populism, Trump, Farage etc, is firmly neoliberal. Don't forget, that neoliberalism was ushered in first in Chile, under the murderous, anti-left wing dictator pinochet.

12/thenation.com/article/world/…

The reason the Democrats and the UK Labour Party are failing is that it is pretty obvious to the public that they are no alternative to the right, and are just a continuation of Conservative policy. The public are baffled as to whoever they vote for, they get the same policy.
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This has created an opening for the populist right, who are just liars and conmen, pretending to be different, but who really pursuing the same neoliberal policy, and in fact, being nothing but a front for a cabal of billionaires.
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It is very clear, that senior politicians in the Democratic Party, and the UK Labour Party, are seriously compromised, because despite becoming very unpopular, they are ploughing on with the same policy, making them unpopular.
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By seriously compromised, I mean they have jumped so far in bed with the billionaires, the big corporations, and the malignant oligarch media owners, that they daren't change direction, in case their paymasters throw them to the wolves.
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That the vested interests and oligarchs, pulling the strings of senior Democrats and Labour politicians, have got so much compromising information on them, that they are virtual puppets.
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@threadreaderapp unroll