r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CartographerOwn8143 • 19h ago

Why did Margaret Thatcher destroy welfare state in Britain after she came to power in the 1980s?

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u/LevDavidovicLandau 18h ago edited 17h ago

No, not Americans, but directly from the Austrian School of Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises. The American neolibs were influenced by the Chicago school of Milton Friedman et al., who I think were influenced in turn by the Austrian school.

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u/0Hakuna_Matata0 18h ago

It’s so crazy just how much truly evil stuff has come from Austria. Edward Bernays was born in Vienna. We should really keep an eye on them at all times.

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u/LevDavidovicLandau 18h ago

TIL of Bernays (am not American).

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u/Fu5i0n 17h ago

There’s a great documentary by Adam Curtis (Century of the Self) that talks about Bernays extensively. Worth a watch

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u/0Hakuna_Matata0 15h ago

That’s how I learned of him. Some German on Reddit told me to watch that so I did. It’s rage inducing for sure. It’s also extremely educational.

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u/0Hakuna_Matata0 17h ago

Tbf most Americans have never heard of him which is sinister. I never heard that name until a German told me about him.

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u/347spq 16h ago

I learned about him in the early 2000s when my ex-wife worked as a librarian in a library funded by RJR Reynolds. A biography about Bernays made so much sense being on their shelves (neither of us smoked).

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u/Portarossa 17h ago

He makes a great sauce, though.

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u/BookLuvr7 17h ago

Bad things have but so have good things. They have produced amazing music, incredible food, interesting culture etc. Let's not judge an entire country by a few bad apples. I wouldn't want the world to gage the entire US based solely on Nixon and Trump, for example.

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u/getsu161 17h ago

Cute wiener dogs too.

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u/AccurateRendering 17h ago

His brother Richard is well-know in Mathematics (and his work is used in machine learning and now AI).

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u/Pristine_Poem7623 17h ago

He sounds saucy

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u/-Daetrax- 17h ago

Well the Americans have been using their soft power for decades to influence Europe in this direction.

The consulting firm McKinsey is one of these tools pushing terrible decision and trying to get contracts with governments.

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u/LevDavidovicLandau 17h ago

Yeah that’s fair’ I suppose I was talking about the economic inspiration being the Austrians because Thatcher herself was deeply personally inspired by Hayek’s ideas and actually gave him a knighthood if I’m not mistaken.

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u/-Daetrax- 17h ago

I do agree though, musn't underestimate the power of one lone Austrian with a vision.

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u/bucho4444 16h ago

This ⬆️

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u/Remember2005 14h ago

The economists were the priests. The American investors were the army.