Treasury officials blamed the crisis on workers’ unwillingness to save once wages rose

Evidence

Blackett derived the class consequences that were concealed by the neutral syntax of the Hawtreyan model: the cause of the crisis rested in workers’ wasteful behavior. Whereas before the war they were limited by economic constraints, once their wages had risen workers were fundamentally reluctant to save. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 885

Categorization

• XREF: Direct precursor of modern austerity discourse that blames households for ‘living beyond their means’ rather than policy failure — connects to: State welfare benefits systematically discouraged workers’ savings behavior — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 335; Economists have blamed workers for inflation for over a century — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 15; Financial crisis blame was displaced onto homeowners and housing policy — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1520 (+2 more)
• SEED: Angle: how the postwar inflation blame-shifting of 1919-1920 prefigures the 2008-2010 ‘debt crisis’ framing that blamed public spending and household consumption

Broader Connections

• Economists have blamed workers for inflation for over a century #exemplifies (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 15
• Austerity framed economic crisis as caused by governments and workers, not capital #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 783
• State welfare benefits systematically discouraged workers’ savings behavior #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 335
• Financial crisis blame was displaced onto homeowners and housing policy #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1520
• Blame for the 2008 crisis was displaced from banks onto borrowers #complicates (0.75)