Why do societies cut back on government spending in a recession when the paradox of thrift clearly argues for extra counter-cyclical expenditures? Why the self-injury? Because when things turns down, people have a need for a measure of talion. They are not averse to the punishment, even seeking out the self-punishment implied in such action.
To embrace desert – a bit of punitive justice – is to invite a cleansing, a purging of the putrifying excess that likely led to the downturn in the first place.
There is a perverse logic to such collective behavior.
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