Neoliberal complaints about big government fuel further privatization that expands government.

Evidence

The constant bewailing of the size of government as a win-win situation for neoliberals: they complain about recent growth of government, which they have themselves fostered, use the outrage they fan to “privatize” more functions, which only leads to more spending and a more intrusive infrastructure of government operations. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2185

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: The self-defeating or self-serving paradox of anti-government rhetoric expanding government could animate a satirical or speculative story about institutional dynamics.
• DEEPTHINKING: A genuinely counterintuitive feedback loop: anti-statist rhetoric produces more state — sits with a reader for days.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberalism expands state penal power while professing to shrink government — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 179; Neoliberalism strengthens repressive state apparatuses rather than shrinking government — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1748; Neoliberal crisis response expanded rather than shrank state power — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 288 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism seeks to strengthen rather than shrink the state #corroborates (0.88) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2128
• Neoliberalism strengthens repressive state apparatuses rather than shrinking government #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1748
• Neoliberal crisis response expanded rather than shrank state power #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 288
• Austerity self-perpetuates by generating consent for privatizing governments #corroborates (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 235
• Neoliberal reforms pushed states toward authoritarian repression to enforce unpopular policies #corroborates (0.75) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 452