Even leaving your 401(k) aside, Toys R Us closing all of their stores eliminates over 30,000 jobs from the market, which is basically the exact opposite of what these “job creators” keep promising us they’re doing. Nothing about anything these assholes do is ethical or decent, and it will eventually drive this country completely into the ground.
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Neoliberal ≠ liberal. Neoconservative ≠ conservative.
Neoliberals are centrists, as in New Democrats and New Labor. They like unregulated capitalism, abolishing “welfare as we know it,” and building more prisons but they’re nominally against racism, sexism, homophobia and all that. The Clintons are total neolibs.
Neoconservatives are typically former leftists who now hate the left but are still prone to lefty-ish enthusiasms like overthrowing “dictators” and installing “democracy” all over the world. They like culture-war issues for their utility in organizing the masses even if they don’t care about that stuff themselves. Their movement peaked in 2001-2005 and its relevance is in decline.
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As expected. And nothing will change.
To be fair, some of those old Toys R Us buildings are going to find new life as some other kind of big box store. The same people who used to man a register at Toys R Us can manage a register at the Container Store or something. This isn’t quite like closing the town’s last Steel Mill.
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In general when you’re talking about complex and shadowy financial transactions the best assumption is that the rich people aren’t going to lose money.
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Oh, it’s not true that nothing will change. Clear Channel was a cold, value-destroying corporation. Sinclair is a propaganda department that makes Fox look fair and balanced.
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It’s pretty dang simple–just make leveraged buy-outs illegal.
Who writes the law?
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The term neoliberalism was coined at a meeting in Paris in 1938. Among the delegates were two men who came to define the ideology, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. Both exiles from Austria, they saw social democracy, exemplified by Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the gradual development of Britain’s welfare state, as manifestations of a collectivism that occupied the same spectrum as nazism and communism
Neoliberalism developed its unsavory reputation in South America-- and the south American left really didn’t give two shits about the comparatively small differences between the norteamericano Republicans and the norteamericano Democrats. Meanwhile, the liberal wing of the Democratic party sees itself as socially liberal, but not Marxist-- dooming themselves to bourgeois irrelevance.
neoconservatism has a different, unrelated etymology.
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See also:
Neoliberalism can be reasonably described as a return to the laissez-faire economics of the 19th century liberals. From the beginning, one of the key liberties they stood for was the liberty of the holders of capital to extract maximum value from workers.
The social liberal stuff mostly came later, motivated in part by a desire for guillotine insurance.
Or Amazon warehouses?
But not all retail space gets used-- an entire wing of the mall nearest my house was blocked off because there were no longer enough stores there to fill it. That was over five years ago. The wing is still closed.
And you assume the toystore workers will just be hired by whatever business fills the toystore building. Not necessarily-- with more and more stores going out of business, opportunities become more scarce. That means employers get pickier. And even if they are immediately rehired by a new retail business, they will probably be hired as close to minimum wage as the employers can manage. These workers will lose any seniority, raises or benefits they might have earned at Toys R Us if they worked there for any length of time.
It may not seem like “closing the town’s last steel mill.” But that doesn’t mean it won’t cause major disruptions in the lives of employees who are losing their jobs. Having been in that kind of situation myself (Borders) I feel for the employees, and I wish them all the best.
Edit: who are, not who’ve.
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having sold off all those once-diverse, once-thriving community radio stations to yet another set of private equity vultures
If it’s to just one set of vultures, than this is just as bad.
if it is sold to more than one set of vultures, that is an improvement.
Good luck with that, because you’re now fighting Sinclair Media AND Ajit Pai’s FCC (both of which are probably also in cahoots).
I’m thinking a national chain of cannabis grow rooms. I keep hearing growers are snapping up the large industrial spaces in states on the verge of legalization. “Buds R Us”?
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Since when?
It was introduced by a Republican, passed through a Republican subcommittee and then the Republican senate and then he Republican House and was signed by Clinton.
Was there plenty of Democrat support? Yes.
Does that make it a Democrat measure? No.
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Thanks for the info and the background. In general, I’ve found these types of labels confusing, not to mention being a pain, since they seem to change over time. Again, in general, I think democracy is about equality; equal opportunity, equal application of the law, etc. Capitalism, unregulated and left to its own “devices” is un-equal. Without protection and regulations the free market becomes a sport where greed becomes the only goal; resulting in monopolies, tax advantages for the rich, and corporations being treated like people. Unregulated competition ultimately ravages the social and economic system and leads to the1% wallowing in vast sums of money and the middle/lower class struggling with stagnant wages - all the guise of the equality.
jerwin
BBS Commander
March 16
SMK:
I may have missed something, but the last time I checked, it wasn’t neo-librels who advocate de-regulation; it’s “everything de-regulated” neo-conservatives.
The term neoliberalism was coined at a meeting in Paris in 1938. Among the delegates were two men who came to define the ideology, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. Both exiles from Austria, they saw social democracy, exemplified by Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the gradual development of Britain’s welfare state, as manifestations of a collectivism that occupied the same spectrum as nazism and communism
[the Guardian – 15 Apr 16](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot)
Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems
Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative?
Neoliberalism developed its unsavory reputation in South America-- and the south American left really didn’t give two shits about the comparatively small differences between the norteamericano Republicans and the norteamericano Democrats. Meanwhile, the liberal wing of the Democratic party sees itself as socially liberal, but not Marxist-- dooming themselves to bourgeois irrelevance.
neoconservatism has a different, unrelated etymology.
Who said it was a “Democrat measure”? No one. It was Clinton’s signature that made it a law, there are consequences for his action. Presidents are expected to own the major legislation they sign off on. His speech at the signing makes it clear he was 100% in favor if it.
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