“Neoliberalism” has been a hot topic for a few decades, but by now the word is sloppily used often enough that many claim that the word has become meaningless. However, it doesn’t work that way. The word neoliberalism has a definite meaning, even if it can be a tricky one, and it does not lose that meaning just because it is frequently misused. And it’s a necessary word that is critical to understanding the world we live in and the future we’re likely to see if something is not done to keep it from happening.
The most common mistake people make in trying to understand neoliberalism is to think that it is simply a resurgence of traditional anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-union free-market liberalism (also called market conservatism). There’s something different about neoliberalism, which explains the “neo”. What is it?
Basically, neoliberalism is strong-government market liberalism. Traditional market liberals (Adam Smith) believed in freedom in general. Their freedom began with market freedom, in which business and trade are only minimally impacted by the multitude of assigned monopolies, licensing rules, required permissions, regulations, prohibitions, taxes, and fees which cramped the economy under earlier feudal and absolutist states. But classic liberalism also was (up to a point) egalitarian and libertarian, doing away with the enforced
— source counterpunch.org | John Emerson | Sep 22, 2021