Does austerity have a hidden agenda? by David Brancaccio and Ariana Rosas

listened to on 2023-02-08

https://play.publicradio.org/web/o/marketplace/segments/2023/02/08/mp_20230208_seg_MMR_-_Mattei_Austerity_Q_64.mp3

Mattei, Clara E. The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2022. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo181707138.html.

I've always wondered why the United States never used the phrase austerity to describe political belt tightening.

Some important points about Blackstone:

• In separate cases in 2018 and 2019, the hotel chain Motel 6, owned by Blackstone, agreed to settle for a total of $19.6 million for giving guest lists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a warrant.
• The company has invested in companies with links to the commercialization and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
• In 2019, a United Nations report found that Blackstone's massive purchasing of single-family homes after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 had "devastating consequences." The report alleged that Blackstone had abused tenants with exorbitant fees, rent hikes, and aggressive eviction practices, and that Blackstone's real estate practices had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, in part because the company targeted foreclosures resulting from subprime loans.
• In July 2020, Blackstone invested US$200m in the Swedish oat milk brand, Oatly, for a 7% stake in the company, triggering outrage among some segments of its customer base.

This is the question, the answer is ... because I know that if I am then so are you--understanding what it is the change wrought by my life and us all watching it.

Understanding how law and order have become a thing of archaic mideival horror stories in the world we see, and that's pretty much all that was possible in reality.

In Heaven, in our "rael world" that's not true, and the line ... the minimum we can allow--

Marmot, Michael. ‘Why Did England Have Europe’s Worst Covid Figures? The Answer Starts with Austerity | Michael Marmot’. The Guardian, 10 August 2020, sec. Opinion. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/10/england-worst-covid-figures-austerity-inequality.

How suprising, from a head teacher. “Throw money at the problem” is exactly what government bodies want to hear, at this point in time.