Austerity suppresses consumer demand by starving the population that sustains the economy

Evidence

As always, the blame for monetary imbalance is placed on the improper behavior of the people, who supposedly consume too much. Thus, the key to curbing inflation and restoring the value of the Sri Lankan rupee is to suppress internal demand, thereby limiting imports and improving the balance of payments. In simple terms, it is necessary to repress the purchasing power of the majority of citizens. The stability of the internal and external currency is then achieved at the expense of the population, who literally starves. In this way our economic system tends to devour those who are the very source of value on which the system feeds, acting, in the adverb of Nancy Fraser, “cannibalistically.” — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 349

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘cannibalistic’ framing echoes Nancy Fraser’s concept of capitalism cannibalizing its own conditions of possibility; also resonates with Polanyi’s double movement. — connects to: Austerity became self-defeating because it worsened the deficits it claimed to fix — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 516; Austerity may have impoverished millions to save a dying banking sector. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 630; Austerity’s core claim that cuts lead to growth is dangerous nonsense — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 15 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Austerity kills investment by suppressing the aggregate income that justifies new capacity. #corroborates (0.85) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 393