--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You would think that if neoliberals were…" description: "\"You would think that if neoliberals were in any way honest, after the collapse of the Soviet Union the first thing to do is get rid of the Red Army and..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44a/david-graeber-4667_army_you-would-think-that-if-neoliberals-were_2288146.jpg" --- # You would think that if neoliberals were in any way… ![“You would think that if neoliberals were in any way honest, after the collapse of the Soviet Union the first thing to do is get rid of the Red Army and the KGB, and build up the economy. Instead, they just get rid of the economy and keep the military and the KGB.” quote by David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44a/david-graeber-4667_army_you-would-think-that-if-neoliberals-were_2288146.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44a/david-graeber-4667_army_you-would-think-that-if-neoliberals-were_2288146.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44a/david-graeber-4667_army_you-would-think-that-if-neoliberals-were_2288146.jpg) > “You would think that if neoliberals were in any way honest, after the collapse of the Soviet Union the first thing to do is get rid of the Red Army and the KGB, and build up the economy. Instead, they just get rid of the economy and keep the military and the KGB.” [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Neoliberal policies often prioritize military and security institutions over genuine economic development, contradicting stated ideals. **In simple terms:** Neoliberals favor military over economy. Key Takeaway Question economic reforms, not just security. Themes politics economics power illusion policy Mood skeptical critical analytical Type analysis commentary political. When to use this quote - post‑Soviet transition - development aid - budget planning - security sector reform Key Concepts neoliberalism statecraft economic restructuring Questions to Reflect On - How can societies enforce economic priorities over entrenched security interests? - What mechanisms prevent the military from dominating policy? A Different Perspective Neoliberal rhetoric may mask ulterior interests, limiting true reform. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Army](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/army/) [Collapse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collapse/) [Economy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economy/) [Honest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/honest/) [Kgb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kgb/) [Military](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/military/) [Red](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/red/) [Red army](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/red-army/) [Soviet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soviet/) [Soviet union](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soviet-union/) [Things to do](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-to-do/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Unions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unions/) ## Related quotes > [The countries that have risen and separated out as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union are, on the whole, following freer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/the-countries-that-have-risen-and-separated-out-as-a-result-of-the/) [Milton Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/) > [We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brent-scowcroft/we-believe-we-are-creating-the-beginning-of-a-new-world-order-coming/) [Brent Scowcroft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brent-scowcroft/) > [Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/above-all-we-should-acknowledge-that-the-collapse-of-the-soviet-union-2/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [ \[2015\] it's a time that there's a clash of ideologies, similar to the Cold War. I think that a story like this has been… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-knight/2015-it-s-a-time-that-there-s-a-clash-of-ideologies-similar-to-the/) [Steven Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-knight/) > [I see the collapse of the Soviet Union as a great tragedy of the XX century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/i-see-the-collapse-of-the-soviet-union-as-a-great-tragedy-of-the-xx/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [We expected that people were just waiting for the collapse of the Soviet Union, or at least for its retreat, and they were going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrzej-wajda/we-expected-that-people-were-just-waiting-for-the-collapse-of-the/) [Andrzej Wajda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrzej-wajda/) > [What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? 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It's completely discredited supposedly by the collapse of the Soviet Union, but I can't help noticing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/of-course-socialism-is-just-evil-now-it-s-completely-discredited/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [We know that the governments in most of the successor states formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union are replaced through a process…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-kasparov/we-know-that-the-governments-in-most-of-the-successor-states-formed/) [Garry Kasparov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-kasparov/) > [People in Russia say that those who do not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union have no heart, and those that do regret…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/people-in-russia-say-that-those-who-do-not-regret-the-collapse-of-the/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/above-all-we-should-acknowledge-that-the-collapse-of-the-soviet-union/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [The collapse of the Soviet bloc ended the massive subsidies that had kept the Cuban economy afloat. The once-vaunted education and health care systems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-gjelten/the-collapse-of-the-soviet-bloc-ended-the-massive-subsidies-that-had/) [Tom Gjelten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-gjelten/) > [I think it's more difficult now to write a spy thriller with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many authors have tried, but few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-demille/i-think-it-s-more-difficult-now-to-write-a-spy-thriller-with-the/) [Nelson DeMille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-demille/) > [“The Soviet response was silence, followed by bellicose denial, followed by efforts to derail the international investigation. It was eight years after the collapse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-soviet-response-was-silence-followed-by-bellicose-denial-followed/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The mythology of the Reagan presidency is that he induced the collapse of the Soviet Union by luring it into unsustainable military spending and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-greenwald/the-mythology-of-the-reagan-presidency-is-that-he-induced-the/) [Glenn Greenwald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-greenwald/) ## More by David Graeber > [People don't have an ongoing relation unless it's a form of debt because everything is an exchange, so ongoing relationships are incomplete exchanges, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/people-don-t-have-an-ongoing-relation-unless-it-s-a-form-of-debt/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [I would like, then, to end by putting in a good word for the non-industrious poor. At least they aren’t hurting anyone. Insofar as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/i-would-like-then-to-end-by-putting-in-a-good-word-for-the-non/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“But if Smith was right, and gold and silver became money through the natural workings of the market completely independently of governments, then wouldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/but-if-smith-was-right-and-gold-and-silver-became-money-through-the/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“A revolution on a world scale will take a very long time. But it is also possible to recognize that it is already starting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/a-revolution-on-a-world-scale-will-take-a-very-long-time-but-it-is/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“money has no essence. It's not "really" anything; therefore, its nature has always been and presumably always will be a matter of political conten­tion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/money-has-no-essence-it-s-not-really-anything-therefore-its-nature/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [We don't live in a capitalist totality. Capitalism couldn't survive as a totality anyway. We live in this complex system and we already live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/we-don-t-live-in-a-capitalist-totality-capitalism-couldn-t-survive-as/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“About the only thing we can imagine is catastrophe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/about-the-only-thing-we-can-imagine-is-catastrophe/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [The working poor are the people suffering out subprime mortgages and fatal loans and more and more of our money - you know, capitalism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/the-working-poor-are-the-people-suffering-out-subprime-mortgages-and/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“Solitary pleasures will always exist, but for most human beings, the most pleasurable activities almost always involve sharing something: music, food, liquor, drugs, gossip,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/solitary-pleasures-will-always-exist-but-for-most-human-beings-the/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“IMF is really designed to protect creditors not debtors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/imf-is-really-designed-to-protect-creditors-not-debtors/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“The criminalization of debt, then, was the criminalization of the very basis of human society. It cannot be overemphasized that in a small community,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/the-criminalization-of-debt-then-was-the-criminalization-of-the-very/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [If you imagine that everything is an exchange, then we're supposed to just transact and walk away. If we haven't walked away and we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/if-you-imagine-that-everything-is-an-exchange-then-we-re-supposed-to/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“As Pierre Bourdieu was later to point out in describing a similar economy of trust in contemporary Algeria: it’s quite possible to turn honor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/as-pierre-bourdieu-was-later-to-point-out-in-describing-a-similar/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [ \[A\] great embarrassing fact… haunts all attempts to represent the market as the highest form of human freedom: that historically, impersonal, commercial markets originate… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/a-great-embarrassing-fact-haunts-all-attempts-to-represent-the-market/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [“As the events of 2011 reveal, the age of revolutions is by no means over. The human imagination stubbornly refuses to die. And the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/as-the-events-of-2011-reveal-the-age-of-revolutions-is-by-no-means/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) [Explore all 106 David Graeber quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) ## More Army quotes > [There are no more worlds to conquer!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/there-are-no-more-worlds-to-conquer/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [“In American terms, the accomplishment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, instead of being created by a group of educated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-weatherford/in-american-terms-the-accomplishment-of-genghis-khan-might-be/) [Jack Weatherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-weatherford/) > [Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-hilferty/every-army-in-the-history-of-the-world-has-always-had-some-deserters/) [Bryan Hilferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-hilferty/) > [It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/it-is-the-rule-in-war-if-our-forces-are-ten-to-the-enemy-s-one-to/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [The surprise of an army is now next to an impossibility. ... 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