"Market solutions: (neoliberalism) is the ideology that society should be ruled by "markets," not democracy.
But markets are by definition controlled by the wealthy. OF COURSE it pushed all the wealth up to a few. OF COURSE it brought austerity - cuts in govt - for the rest.
@dcjohnson Yes, I was firm believer in this market stuff in the 1970s. It seems obvious and appeals to an engineer like me.
But it's false. It's nonsense. Falling for this trick comes from ignorance. Markets are not "free", at all.
@shuttersparks @dcjohnson I'm fine with markets, in the sense of farmers' markets. People go to the stall with better produce at a reasonable price. But farmers' markets only work because there are rules that say one stall can't be so big it blocks customers' access to the other stalls.
@msbellows @dcjohnson Exactly. That scenario gets as close as one can get to the imaginary concept of a free market.
Elsewhere, what happens is the orange seller with the most money buys out another orange seller but keeps the stall open with the original name, pretending they are competition, but in fact fixing prices. Then he buys another orange stand and does the same thing.
The public thinks that are six different independent orange vendors competing. In fact, it's an illusion. All the orange stands are owned by the same guy.
This is how the "free market" actually works. This is the natural tendency of capitalism. And, this is why capitalism must be closely regulated.
@shuttersparks @dcjohnson Like Biden blocking the sale of US Steel, not even the free market is the free market.