Stupidity test . Here you go . Dont Google search .

@Burnley123 And to make it even more confusing is in the US they started using the term "neo con" which was essentially an attempt to invent two flavors of neo liberal to fit American partisanship.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow True. In Britain, we associate neo-cons more with foreign policy (the Bush doctrine in Iraq etc).

Obviously, the 'third-way of Clinton and Blair was all about the center-left being wilfully co-opted by neoliberalism.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Well subsets within subsets - it does mean something. However, it also misses the point and goes to "Democrats good" thinking wh ich is uh, a terrible way to approach politics.

@Burnley123 Ultimately what distinguishes neo liberals from neo cons in practice is the BS justification for inteventionist wars (because they are always bs regardless of the justification).

@CountScrofula Honestly it has nothing to do with the Democratic Party. Neo liberalism is a global phenomenon from the US, to the EU, to Japan.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Sigh. Neo-Cons are neoliberals too and is a subset of it.

The term had very specific origins: i.e group of thinkers who organised The Mont Pelerin Society. These included Hayek, Von Mises, Freidman and others. Back then there was a Keynesian hegemony and they were a fringe rebel group.

That nobody calls themselves neoliberal anymore is because it's paradoxically near-ubiquitous. Basically, any politician or economic thinker who doesn't challenge the economic status quo in some way can be seen as neo-liberal. Modi is neoliberal, as Bush, is Joe Biden.

@Burnley123 That was kind of my point. So I was pointing out the American distinctions are mostly a distinction with a difference beyond the excuse you used to bomb a country based on what sells to your base.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Yes.

BTW you don't need to explain neoliberalism to CountScrofula. Though I'm sure he appreciates the effort. 😜

@Burnley123 I also have to wonder if Clinton's "third way" messaging did well with older Italian and Spanish Americans. I suppose one other aspect of the American political bubble is they were probably not aware that that terminology was used in Italy and Spain to sell fascism and also explains in part why it maintained the aesthetics of the left and working class parties.

@Burnley123 [quote]any politician or economic thinker who doesn't challenge the economic status quo in some way can be seen as neo-liberal[/quote]

Anybody can be seen as anything, by anybody. It just depends on the self appointed seer (pun intended). And anybody, seen as anything, by anybody, can have a viable opinion about the economic status quo. Labels are superfluous, although beloved by pundits.