The failed-bank bailout preserved economists’ political standing and career trajectories

Evidence

Whatever else one might say about Summers, and many have taken their turn, it seems safe to observe that if the banks and hedge funds had been quasi-nationalized or otherwise wound down when they were on the brink of failure, and the financiers consequently demoted to modest roles in the Democratic Party, then economists such as Summers would not have been positioned among the serious candidates to occupy the political stage from 2009 onward; further, his neoliberal credentials might have come in for far more scathing criticism, rendering him persona non grata. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 563

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The economics profession reverted to its prior doctrines after the crisis — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 439; Finance escaping crisis consequences legitimated the economics profession dodging blame — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 583; Bailout rhetoric reframed banker rescue as compelled public-interest stimulus — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 932

Broader Connections

• Finance escaping crisis consequences legitimated the economics profession dodging blame #exemplifies (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 583