I don't get the "liberal" in "neoliberal"

[Chew Toy McCoy]

A basic definition of neoliberalism is government's main purpose is to serve capitalism. I don't know anybody's understanding of liberal to include some major connection to capitalism. When you hear neonazi nobody thinks "Oh, the good inclusive strand of naziism!". Can anybody explain this?

Regardless of what your political leanings are, neoliberalism is what we are currently living under that is about the collapse.

 

[Nycturne]

Seems like it’s the application of liberalism to the market (i.e. if people should be generally free, so should the market). Doesn’t actually mean the market will remain free and fair, which is the core flaw in the thinking.

 

[Yoused]

"Liberal" comes from "liberty", relative, as Nycturne says, to markets and regulation. Neoliberal is fundamentally the same as glibertarian and "liberal" commonly carries that meaning in most of the rest of the world (Canada's Liberal-Democrat party is one example of an ideology that is more like Republican than you average USAian would expect).