Neoliberal denial of class categories paralyzed Obama-era tax policy debates

Evidence

For instance, during the 2008–10 crisis, the Obama administration encountered great difficulty in rolling back regressive tax cuts of the previous administration, because it had equally invested in the ludicrous language of “not raising the taxes of the middle class.” They became bogged down in a game of guessing where the upper tax boundary of that elusive middle class might be found: 100,000, 200,000, 250,000, 1 million? This was occurring when the median household income in the United States (2009) was 51,221 and the average per capita annual money income was 27,041; the public discourse was consequently conducted in a pristine fact-free zone. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 335

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘middle class’ boundary guessing game as a case study in how language itself constrains progressive fiscal policy offers a concrete essay angle on discourse and economic policy.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberalism abolishes classes, the individual, and Lockean property in one move — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 164; Neoliberalism replaces class analysis with a cynical catechism of limitless self-transformation — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 332; Austerity theory’s denial of class precisely coincided with peak class conflict. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1570 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism replaces class analysis with a cynical catechism of limitless self-transformation #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 332
• Neoliberalism abolishes classes, the individual, and Lockean property in one move #corroborates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 164