The 2008 bank bailouts delegitimized the political centre ground myth

Evidence

Fourthly, there was Thatcher herself — a divisive but charismatic politician, who could plausibly present herself as struggling against vested interests, not only on the left, but also in the British establishment. The current Tory government has none of these advantages, and the neoliberal right in general has lost control of the future, much as it refuses to acknowledge this. In the Standard, Anne McElvoy recently described Ed Miliband as “an unreconstructed social democrat”. From what position does McElvoy think she is speaking here? Like much of the mainstream media, which is contriving to carry on as if 2008 didn’t happen, McElvoy is desperately clinging to the myth of a political “centre ground” that no longer has any legitimacy. After the bank bailouts, the neoliberal settlement is just as dead as social democracy. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1475

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader Fisher corpus on hauntology and capitalist realism, where the sense of a blocked future is a recurring theme. — connects to: The 2008 bailouts discredited neoliberalism while powerfully reasserting capitalist realism. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 161; Bailing out bankers while imposing austerity damaged faith in politicians — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 392; The 2008 bailouts discredited neoliberalism but not capitalist realism itself. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 161 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• The Day of Reckoning narrative collapsed when bankers were bailed out and prospered #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 468
• Post-2008 austerity discredited center-left parties and radicalized a generation into populism #contradicts (0.85) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 25
• Bailing out bankers while imposing austerity damaged faith in politicians #contradicts (0.80) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 392
• The 2008 bailouts discredited neoliberalism but not capitalist realism itself. #expands (0.80) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 161
• The 2008 crisis strengthened rather than weakened the political right #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 8
• The bank bailouts radically discredited neoliberalism’s core ideas. #qualifies (0.75) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1505
• Blame for the 2008 crisis was displaced from banks onto borrowers #expands (0.75)
• Letting banks fail produced better outcomes than bailouts in 2008 #qualifies (0.75) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 622
• Neoliberalism’s crisis strategy redirected blame from banks onto state debt #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 475
• The 2008 crisis reinforced rather than refuted neoliberal and orthodox economic doctrine #corroborates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 100