British ministers openly endorsed deficit-financed social reconstruction after the war

Evidence

In Great Britain, Minister of Transport Eric Geddes voiced a popular view in his report to the cabinet on February 25, 1919: “You must be prepared to spend money on after-the-war problems as you did on during-the-war problems. That [money] must be found and added to our debt if necessary.” Minister for Reconstruction Christopher Addison, who campaigned for the adoption of urgent social reforms, was in agreement: “It would be no defense to say that vital proposals were not enacted for want of money. Nobody will believe it.” — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 181

Categorization

• XREF: These quotes are the clear foil Mattei will later contrast against austerity’s fiscal dogmatism — a useful anchor for the core argument. — connects to: Postwar reconstructionists saw the war’s social gains as a foundation for permanent social justice — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 240; British elites promised sweeping social uplift immediately after the armistice — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 241