I think my greatest difficulty in this reading was wrapping my head around the idea of neo-liberalism. Once I got that covered, the rest seemed to flow more naturally. Neoliberalism seems to me to be moving more responsibility into the private sector rather than the public sector. Involving business in issues such as the economy, rather than the government. I think what struck me as interesting was that this seemed to side more with modern conservatives, rather than liberals, but once I learned that the term was coined in the thirties in Europe (thanks Wikipedia), once again, I was less confused.
I think that the discussion of neoliberal practices is an interesting one. How much power can you actually give corporations? Brash mentioned that at the end of the 90s, after two decades of privatization had not actually solved any problems. The city wasn’t on sound ground economically, there wasn’t any sort of sustainable growth, and there was no social peace. I think the question is, can neoliberalism ever be the answer?
I think that corporations, while knowledgable about profits and growth, may not be the best people to run the economy. While they know what will lead to the best result, they are still interested in the best result for them personally. If it comes to a debate of something that is beneficial for them VS something that is beneficial to the city, I think they would naturally like to further their own interests firsts.
Additionally, I think that this type of system gives too much power in the hands of companies. If they are practically running the city’s economy, they have control over political figures. If someone like the mayor doesn’t do what they want, they have viable threats against him. My feeling about this is similar to the way one company can’t own too many TV stations. If one company monopolized them all, then they would have too much say in the way the news was presented to the public. Likewise, if a few companies control the economy of the city, they have too much control of the politics of the city overall.
