Leading neoliberals blamed regulation and inaction rather than their own policy failures

Evidence

Deepak Lal raised an interesting question in his keynote address: why did the crisis occur when so many “Friends of the MPS” like Alan Greenspan and Jean-Claude Trichet were in charge of the world financial system, and hinted they may not have leaned sufficiently in favor of “Sound Money.” Niall Ferguson rallied the troops with the catechism that it must have been regulation that caused the crisis, and not some failure of the market economy, while also exploring his personal theme that somehow China might be to blame. Gary Becker floated the opinion that it might be better to do nothing in response to the crisis, rather than flail about with all manner of government remedies. (This book refutes that canard, when it comes to the neoliberals.) It seems the general mood of the conference was that neoliberals (the “classical liberal” moniker was a smokescreen to be discussed in later chapters) should pretty much keep doing what they had been doing all along, even if the crisis appeared a little scary. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 22

Categorization

• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 22
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberalism induces risk-bearing then blames the victims when risk fails — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 351; Neoliberalism operates through systematic contradiction and disavowal of its own practices — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 81; Wrongdoers blame regulation for harm that deregulation enabled. (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Wrongdoers blame regulation for harm that deregulation enabled. #corroborates (0.95)
• Neoliberalism induces risk-bearing then blames the victims when risk fails #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 351
• Neoliberalism’s public rhetoric of open liberalism contradicted its actual closed, hierarchical organization #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 200
• Neoliberal doctrine must be distinguished from failures in its state implementation #complicates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1778
• Neoliberals preach market supremacy while exempting themselves from its rule #exemplifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 281
• Neoliberalism is an interventionist flexible policy approach, not a laissez-faire orthodoxy #complicates (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 22
• Neoliberalism uses crises it itself caused as opportunities to deepen its agenda #complicates (0.72) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1466
• Neoliberalism operates through systematic contradiction and disavowal of its own practices #responds-to (0.70) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 81