I am asking a really stupid question: What is the exact definition of neoliberalism

[illinoisprogressive]

the reason I ask is that I've seen different things regarding it. so, I stand confused. What is the real definition of it??

[TwilightGardener]

1. I have never heard that term! Look forward to someone else's definition.

[joshcryer]

2. No regulation economically, the opposite socially.

In other words pretty much the most retarded thing in existance.

[roamer65]

3. Here's a definition of neoliberalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

The reason why Poppy Bush and Bill Clinton get along so well is that they are both neoliberals. Neoliberals and neocons do not get along very well. Neolibs tend to favor the use of world organizations for conflict resolution (i.e. UN or NATO), where neocons prefer unilateral, imperialistic actions. Poppy Bush called Wolfowitz, Perle and Feith the "crazies in the basement". He was right on that one.

[magellan]

4. Free Market Capitalism

The "free market" is, in and of itself, a good idea. But like socialism, its implementation has so far sucked due to greed.

Fair Trade is much closer to how I believe the system should work, so that it benefits all instead of just some.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. That system that benefits all instead of some has a name:

it is called socialism.

[magellan]

11. Touché!

Yes, and I think that's why FAIR Trade works so much better.

I don't mind a little capitalism. We run our own business...it'd be nice to make a lot of money. But we won't gouge customers, or step on our employees to do it. We pay well and provide additional assistance to them when/if they need it without asking for it back. We're comfortable, why be greedy?

[Warren Stupidity]

12. mixed economies are fine with me too

It is the consensus that 'all must benefit' that for me describes a socialist system rather than a neoliberal capitalist one. It is the destruction of that consenus over the last 30 years here in this country that has resulted in the current nightmare.

[Selatius]

14. A little capitalism is not a bad thing provided it doesn't spiral out of control and eat you

Entrepreneurship should be encouraged because small business still accounts for roughly 2/3rds of the economic activity in the US economy.

I now favor a public investment mechanism, something akin to the SBA except it would work to establish worker co-op enterprises and provide funding and other financial services to existing ones in addition to helping entrepreneurs start businesses.

In time, more and more people will be absorbed into the co-op sector, and workers would have a real choice between working for themselves in a collective fashion or working for somebody else, and if business owners retire and wish it, this mechanism can buy the firm from them at fair market value and reorganize it into a co-op, thus the reason why entrepreneurship should be encouraged.

[IChing]

5. Post your question in this forum you will get the best answer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=395

I'm finishing dinner right now.

[orleans]

6. (i'm just going to pretend i never heard of that word....

which i hadn't until i read this thread)

[roamer65]

7. Hugo Chavez uses it regularly.

So now you will all know what group he's describing ;)

[Hardrada]

8. To boil it down, neocons are basically bank robbers

and neoliberals are loan sharks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Here you go

http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/neoliberalism.html

Neoliberalism inadequately defined?
The definition of neoliberalism presented here is more abstract than usual - but it also suggests that neoliberalism has been underestimated. A widely quoted example of those 'usual definitions' is What is "Neo-Liberalism"? by Elizabeth Martinez and Arnoldo García:

Neo-liberalism is a set of economic policies that have become widespread during the last 25 years or so. Although the word is rarely heard in the United States, you can clearly see the effects of neo-liberalism here as the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer....Around the world, neo-liberalism has been imposed by powerful financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter- American Development Bank....the capitalist crisis over the last 25 years, with its shrinking profit rates, inspired the corporate elite to revive economic liberalism. That's what makes it 'neo' or new.

More at the site

Oh and on edit, there is NO stupid question except the one never asked

:-)

[Selatius]

13. Neoliberalism is ripping down any and all barriers to the movement of capital and thus corporations

This is why corporations are moving off-shore to find cheap, exploitable labor, while workers these corporations left behind languish in an uncertain future with no certain prospects for steady jobs.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Neo-conservatism and Neo-liberalism are two sides of the same coin.

Both seek to enrich the wealthy by starving the poor. If the poor disagree with the program let them starve or crush them. The Neo-libs assure us that it's for their own good, however, unlike the neo-cons who assure us that it's for our good.

[Odin2005]

16. Neo-Liberal = Free Market Fundamentalism

Note that the "liberal" in "neo-liberal" has nothing to do with liberalism in the American sense of the term, but is ment in the European sense (what we would call right-wing libertarianism) of the term.