The Trilateral Commission blamed inflation on democracy’s own dynamics

Evidence

Inflation is obviously not a problem which is peculiar to democratic societies, and it may well be the result of causes quite extrinsic to the democratic process. It may, however, be exacerbated by a democratic politics and it is, without doubt, extremely difficult for democratic systems to deal with effectively. The natural tendency of the political demands permitted and encouraged by the dynamics of a democratic system helps governments to deal with the problems of economic recession, particularly unemployment, and it hampers them in dealing effectively with inflation. In the face of the claims of business groups, labor unions, and the beneficiaries of governmental largesse, it becomes difficult if not impossible for democratic governments to curtail spending, increase taxes, and control prices and wages. In this sense, inflation is the economic disease of democracies. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 136

Categorization

• QUESTION: The reader might chase whether this overdemocracy thesis genuinely preceded or shaped the neoliberal turn.
• XREF: This is the canonical overdemocracy diagnosis that Huntington later hardened; relevant to understanding the panic Jäger’s argument responds to. — connects to: Democratic government exists partly to override citizens’ own consumer impatience — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental…, 408