FREE with Clara Mattei Austerity: What They Don't Want You to Know About Our Economy | a FREE Explainer
Jul 31, 2025
Austerity isn't just about saving money—it’s a tool for systemic control. Clara Mattei exposes how cuts to essentials like food stamps coincide with military spending, showing the real agenda behind policy shifts. Delving into regressive taxation and higher interest rates, she reveals how they suppress wages and deepen dependence on markets. Historical roots link austerity to authoritarianism, with chilling effects particularly in the Global South. Prepare to question everything about economic equity and power dynamics!
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Austerity As A Political Project
- Austerity is not about balancing budgets or virtue; it's a political project that shifts resources from workers to capital owners.
- Clara Mattei argues austerity preserves capitalist social relations by redistributing public spending toward elites.
Cuts Reveal Who Benefits
- The recent bill cuts social programs while increasing spending for border enforcement and defense, revealing austerity's priorities.
- Mattei shows austerity reallocates resources to private detention centers and military contractors, not public needs.
Market Dependence And Wage Labor
- Austerity increases market dependence so people must buy commodified essentials and therefore accept wage labor.
- Mattei says the state actively protects wage labor and private property to keep the majority economically dependent.
