• umbrella@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    when we added socialist elements to capitalism (eg. social security, free healthcare, free education and so on) it didnt stop being capitalism.

    same thing here, this is not unlike when the US was putting tariffs on japanese electronics, back when they were getting good at it. branding protectionism with his own name (“bidenomics!”) only makes sense to me in the context of a campaigning politician trying to make it sound like hes doing something new or revolutionary.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      One definition of neoliberalism

      neoliberalism is often associated with policies of economic liberalization, including privatization, deregulation, globalization, free trade, monetarism, austerity, and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society

      What is any of that about what Biden is doing? You didn’t answer me on that, just repeated the label without explaining details or why it applies, and to me it sounds like the exact opposite.

      Or, wait, are you saying that okay yes Biden’s policy is a trillion dollars in the exact opposite direction from neoliberalism, but it doesn’t count, because it’s only an “element” and the overall structure is still neoliberal? I.e. he didn’t seize the means of production, so you can call him a neoliberal no matter what he does, until that happens?

      • umbrella@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        that definition you quoted seems pretty on point with what almost every IS president in my memory has been doing. a little bit of protectionism in a specific industry sector is a drop in the bucket.

        • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          that definition you quoted seems pretty on point with what almost every IS president in my memory has been doing

          Absolutely accurate yes, which is what made it surprising when Biden started doing different things

          a little bit of protectionism in a specific industry sector is a drop in the bucket

          So if he were doing a whole lot more things than that little bit of protectionism in one specific industry sector…

          (I sent a link earlier on)

    • honey_im_meat_grinding@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      when we added socialist elements to capitalism (eg. social security, free healthcare, free education and so on) it didnt stop being capitalism.

      This is a very black and white view of things, though. Norway is seen as capitalist, yet 2/3rds of Norway’s GDP is driven by its public sector, the government owns 30% of the domestic stock market, they have a massive government wealth fund that makes returns in hundreds of billions of dollars annually which they could singlehandedly fund UBI with, they apply Georgist taxes to natural resources (oil, hydro, aquafarms) to collectivize profits made off public land, 60% union density, 20% of housing is collectively owned (housing coops)…

      Like, at what point do we call a country “socialist”?

      (Not to call the US socialist, but Bidenomics might lean like 1% in that direction, and that’s my point - it’s going in a socialist direction if very slowly, and if we can maintain it)