Austerity technocrats framed welfare expenditure as a cause of national breakdown.

Evidence

Blackett warned of the dangers of the government’s complicity in supporting citizens to live beyond their means: “Th e attempt to maintain standards of living for everyone, above those which the economic activities of the nation justifi ed, by means of government expenditure out of taxation is in part responsible for the breakdown” (Blackett 1932, 240). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 927

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows how austerity framed ordinary living standards as unjustified ‘excess’ relative to what the nation’s economy legitimately supports.
• XREF: connects to: Austerity was installed by deliberately confusing cause and correlation — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 204; The crisis-as-government-fault narrative was engineered to justify austerity — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 950; Austerity economists framed state restraint as protecting productive citizens. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1710 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Austerity framed economic crisis as caused by governments and workers, not capital #corroborates (0.88) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 783
• The crisis-as-government-fault narrative was engineered to justify austerity #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 950
• Austerity was installed by deliberately confusing cause and correlation #corroborates (0.82) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 204
• Austerity economists framed state restraint as protecting productive citizens. #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1710
• Austerity frames national crisis as requiring patriotic individual sacrifice in frugality and labor #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 803