Following the series of rate hikes by central banks on both sides of the Atlantic, the financial press was littered with articles insisting that, though it may be a tough decision to make, it was the job of any responsible central bank to remove the punch bowl from the party and cool down the Wests’ overheated economies. The language of restraint and of making tough sacrifices has become so integral to contemporary politics that it is hard to imagine an alternative.

For much of the last century this was not the case. Governments, both capitalist and communist, drew their legitimacy from their ability to fulfill promises of ever-increasing living standards and security to their citizens. This world now seems firmly behind us, in its place a social order run by sensible technocrats offering an endless course of bitter pills. This state of affairs is the result of long-term trends that have shaped the United States and the rest of the world, as Fritz Bartel brilliantly argues in The Triumph of Broken Promises: The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism.