Interwar central bank doctrine equated private bankers’ interests with the public good.

Evidence

Undoubtedly, in this framework, what was good for the central bank was also good universally and for the public at large. Any faint doubt that, as a private institution, the central bank could work in favor of the ruling class was strongly disregarded, since “the only defence against infl ation is to be found in the wisdom of the fi nancial world in general, and of Finance Ministries and central banks in particular” (ibid., 240– 41). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1012

Categorization

• XREF: This is a precise early instance of the ‘what’s good for the banker is good for everyone’ logic that recurs across austerity regimes — links to the reader’s wider argument about class interest disguised as universal technocratic good.