[EsssM7QVMehFPAs]

They are basically pushing a credit line in-app to half a billion users.

That's the wet dream of western credit card companies.

Sure in some perspective getting people not used to debt at all to easily overspend might be called empowering from a twisted neoliberal point of view.

[jacob019]

neoliberal - had to look that up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

[msla]

"Neoliberal" is effectively a snarl term now.

[antielectronite]

It's such an imprecise word that it has become a way of showing distaste for something without offering specific criticism. Like in this instance-- what does a CCP backed company offering small, zero interest loans to its citizens have to do with Western left-of-center politics? I can't think of anything less "neoliberal", if anything it's communist.

Seeing everything from a US-centric view really not make sense here, since nothing comparable to this exists in America, and because microloans like this are a lot more meaningful to people in other parts of the world.

[lph]

One of the cornerstones of neoliberalism as practiced in the US in the Clinton-era and beyond has been predatory lending disguised in a facade of laissez-faire feel-good marketing. Drawing a line between Jack Ma’s new lending scheme and that is a pretty specific criticism, even if you don’t agree with it.

[antielectronite]

But we're not talking about predatory payday loans, which are not even legal in China.

If you want to say that QE is "neoliberal" and that this is sort of like QE except bottom up instead of top down, I guess I could see your point although I would argue that it's convoluted because the bottom up vs. top down is a major distinction that no longer makes the two similar.

Also, I disagree that predatory lending is a cornerstone of the modern Democratic party, but that's neither here nor there.