If you think neoliberals are any better than neocons read this...

Gutting Public Education: Neoliberalism and the Politics of Opportunism

America's political and economic elites have declared a war on working, middle-class and poor Americans. Now that war is coming to a head with the draconian cuts in education, among other vital services, under the economic recession. Progressive critics of Republicans and Democrats have attacked the return of "Hooverian economics" in recent years - understood as the do-nothing approach to dealing with the economic crisis and declining state budgets. Political officials stubbornly refuse to either raise taxes or increase federal or state spending, so as to stimulate economic demand and fill in annual state deficits, at a time when the private sector is unable to produce an economic recovery. Keynesian government spending - which aims at stimulating economic demand during times of recession and depression - has received support at one level or another from most economists, but has become taboo at a time when officials worship at the altar of "budget cuts" and fiscal austerity. Neoliberal policies have long been known to be extremely destructive in less developed countries where they have been implemented for decades. Now, these same policies are appearing in the US and are set to decimate social services along with any lingering economic vitality.
The neoliberal agenda is characterized by an open declaration of war on the majority in pursuit of corporate welfare for the few. American politics is increasingly consumed by an obsession with ever increasing military spending (itself a boon for corporate military contractors), pursued alongside promises of tax cuts for the rich that inevitably eviscerate budgets for social welfare spending. National and state governments set aside trillions every year for the wealthy in the form of patent protections for pharmaceuticals, agribusiness subsidies, corporate bailouts, and other forms of corporate welfare. These same governments then cry poor when it comes to funding programs such as Medicare and education. Neocolonial foreign wars drive up the debt unsustainably, but it is the average American who is left to suffer when it comes time to fire educators and other state employees.

The situation, thankfully, is not hopeless. There is nothing inevitable about social spending cuts. Chicago's public school students and teachers are proving this in their recent walkout in protest of planned education budget cuts. As recently as last week, Chicago public school teachers picketed in opposition to a city school board plan that would throw out thousands of teachers, while increasing class sizes. Their chants of "yes to need, no to greed" in opposition to neoliberal rollback should serve as inspiration for teachers across the country. After all, the only thing currently standing between public employees and mass unemployment is organization and activism.

Link:
http://www.truth-out.org/gutting-public-education-neoliberalism-and-politics-opportunism60754