"Isn't that the entire neo-liberal argument if you look after businesses, give businesses special treatment, give them free trade and tax cuts, the demand side will look after itself?"
I think that it is a bit more complicated than that. For me neoliberalism is an ideologic framework that says that if you do all that then you will be guarantying the most efficient use of all available resources leading to economic growth at its full potential.
And if on its way there are economic shocks then it will be O.K. to have any monetary or fiscal stimulus, or both as it was the case during the great recession and the Covid epidemic.
However, for some like, for instance, our right-wing libertarians the most efficient way of using the available resources cannot be achieved until the elimination of centralized states in favor of a system of private property enforced by private agencies, free markets and the right-libertarian interpretation of self-ownership is achieved. Thus, for instance, the continuous attacks on the FED.
As a general rule, those demands appear always justified by some theory or another.
"Trickle-down economics, also known as trickle-down theory or the horse and sparrow theory, is the economic proposition that taxes on businesses and the wealthy in society should be reduced as a means to stimulate business investment in the short term and benefit society at large in the long term123. The theory argues for income and capital gains tax breaks or other financial benefits to large businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs to stimulate economic growth3. However, trickle-down economics generally does not work because cutting taxes for the wealthy often does not translate to increased rates of employment, consumer spending, and government revenues in the long term."
Note. Neoliberalism was commonly associated with monetarism, but monetarism is long gone while neoliberalism is still truly and fully with us.
