Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "How Neoliberals Took Control Of The Internet | Ben Tarnoff | TMR" video.

Great Comment. I'm an Australian engineer who went to college in America (late 80s). A couple of years ago I started informally studying economics out of the frustration of the interference in projects by clowns waving economics degrees. What you are describing is yet more symptoms of neoliberal economics. One of the core beliefs of neoliberals is that Government SHOULD DO as LITTLE AS POSSIBLE because the private sector does everything better. At the ideologic level its more libertarian than liberal (and yes there's a difference). Liberals believe freedom isn't absolute and security and safety comes from having limits (laws, rules, codes, regulations,...). Libertarians believe that government should do nothing but protect their property and their interests. its an incredibly narrow minded and narcissistic view of the world. One of the main reasons I started looking into economics was because Australia like many other nations really wasn't doing anything regarding energy infrastructure. Its like they are all waiting for someone from the private sector to do it for them. This is standard neoliberal economics in reality. "The government should do nothing and let the market decide what to do." The problem is that if there isn't a business case or the private sector can get better returns elsewhere then NOTHING HAPPENS. Its not just an energy thing it happens to all forms of infrastructure just like you describe. Another aspect of what you describe is the idea that everything has to act like a business and make money. This is another of the idiotic fallacies of neoliberal economics. Its really obvious in Universities. In the 1990s they were told they had to "be more business like." Yeah fine a way to hear that is WE (the university) need to mange our money better and where possible have some form of ownership over IP so that the money generated helps fund the University. Great but its really easy to lose sight of the fact the PRINCIPLE TASK of a university like all forms of education is to EDUCATE the next generation so that they have the skills to keep a society functioning. By the same account government departments (no matter if they are local, sate or federal) have as their PRINCIPLE TASK the job of providing the necessary services to the community, state or nation that are required to keep it functioning. There is this idiotic concept among neoliberals that EVERYTHING HAS to be run as if its a "for profit" business. The problem is there is no business model that works long term for some of these basic services that any and every society needs. For some things there is no viable business model in neoliberal economics. Things like education, roads, communication services, health care services,.... The problem is you can't explain it to the professors in their ivory towers or to the super wealthy in their marble castles.
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@danielhann4439 Welcome to the club. I recommend listening to people like Mark Blyth, Marianna Mazzucato who both recently gave guest lectures to Stephanie Kelton's class on the history of economics. They are all part of what might be called "Rebel Economics" as they are all trying to explain "How we got here!" In fact one fo Marks best lectures from a couple of years ago is titled "How we got here!" Another guy worth everyone's time is the young British economist Gary Stevenson who has the YT channel Garys Economics. He's right at the top of the very smart brigade on economics and why's its gone wrong.
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@perrymason866 Absolutely true and if the British people ever reject Gary Stevenson he has a place right here in Australia. If I had the money he'd already be here EVEN if it was only for 1 semester a year to teach economics. Our only problem is the same one you have in Britain, we have too many people who wont listen because they've been force fed and indoctrinated with neoliberal free market fundamentalist nonsense and can't conceive there's anything else. As an engineer (who's been looking into economics out of frustration) the one thing that astounds me more than anything else is how NARROWLY FOCUSED the solution to everything is a free market solution. Just only a week ago the head of the Reserve Bank of Australia was asked bout our housing crisis and his answer was "it just the market correcting itself." That's pure Milton Freidman "Do nothing. Just let the market fix itself." Its at a level of insanity that's the equivalent of asking an technician with all the skills and tools needed to defuse a nuclear bomb by watching the clock tick down.
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