Austerity deliberately targeted working-class consumption of even basic goods

Evidence

Gerard Vissering of the Netherlands Central Bank, vice chairman of the Commission of Currency and Exchange, well summed up the austerity treatment: to assure economic recovery, “labour effi ciency will have to be increased, in the fi rst place by avoiding strikes, but further also by a more intensive supply of labourservice.” Moderation, too, could serve to complement workers’ discipline. Economic recovery required “reducing the homeconsumption to the strictly necessary and avoiding the superfl uous, e.g., excessive consumption of butter, sugar, etc.” — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 716

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Austerity coerced workers through the twin motto of working more and consuming less. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 586; Monetary technocrats framed austerity as requiring both worker discipline and reduced consumption — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 716; Austerity policies function to silence working class economic demands — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 774 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Monetary austerity deliberately aimed to rein in workers’ purchasing power #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 757
• Austerity policies function to silence working class economic demands #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 774
• Austerity treats citizens’ consumption as the cause of inflation to justify repressing demand #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 349
• Monetary austerity deliberately induced recession to discipline workers. #corroborates (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 154
• Fiscal and monetary austerity jointly transfer capital accumulation costs onto working classes #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 774
• Austerity is an effective class-structure instrument, not an economic error #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 142
• Austerity suppresses consumer demand by starving the population that sustains the economy #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 349
• A balance-sheet recession better explains flat consumption than expectations-based austerity theory. #qualifies (0.70) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 574