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Capitalizing on Disaster
Naomi Klein, Canadian anti-globalism activist and author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Metropolitan Books, 2007) says corporate capitalism exploits catastrophes (like Katrina, 9/11, the tsunami) to gain control of markets.
The Shock Doctrine is available for purchase at Amazon.com
Event
Book signing at Barnes and Noble in Chelsea (located on 6th Avenue between 22nd & 23rd Streets), Tuesday September 18th at 7pm
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Comments
This will be a good show...let me get some popcorn so I can sit back and enjoy.
I watched Naomi Klein on Democracy Now yesterday discussing her book and she makes excellent points on the dangers of unchecked and encouraged corporate capitalism. Hopefully lots of people will read her book and wake up to the dangers. I plan to read it soon. And no I'm not her agent nor do I even know her personally.
I plan on buying the book or at least checking it out at the library-- the public needs to hear more voices like this.
what the difference between blackwater and a band of mercenaries?
Why aren't government officials being protected by troops? Doesn't this imply that the officials don't have faith in them?
They wont act against US interests.
Thank you Naomi Klein for letting me know I'm not crazy, there are others who are drawing the same conclusions about what is happening to public policy and collective brainwashing (Friedman's influence, etc.).
Or that they have "more faith" in BWater, which by the way is made up of ex-military only better paid.
Even if the school is fantastic, thats not the point?
Naomi-you were great last night at the Society for Ethical Culture. This is my question: your suggestions for people to act against this military-industrial complex are mostly grassroots, like educating yourself on the issues. How does America's upcoming presidential election factor in? Has disaster capitalism permeated Capitol Hill too deeply for a change in administration to make a difference?
Just for kicks, couldn't we describe the Govt-Contractor nexus not as the realization of free market ideals, but as their perversion? Not "free market" at all, but utterly corrupt, crony-driven, and opaque. All these things go against the transparency that is such an essential ingredient for a truly free market.
So perhaps the system is "marketist" or "corporatist," but there's also a good free market case against it as well.
I would like to know what Naomi Klein thinks of the front runners for the presidential election 08 This could be interesting..
Good call James....
New Orleans Model. Isn't it market forces that have people moving into areas below sea level? We then extend aid of 117 BILLION of public money to clean up the mess very inefficiently.
Ms. Klein undoubtedly has some valuable critiques to make. But when she rails against how "fundamentalism" among Chicago school economists leads to a distorted worldview, she makes me wonder if her own worldview is free of such fundamentalism. Her work to me in the last few years seems overbroad in its effort to encompass so many aspects of politics, culture, economics, and history in order to formulate a unified theory that ends up being a rehash of her basic political sympathies.
I support involuntary conscription of individuals into the military, simply because it DOES reinforce democracy and civic mindedness.
i don't know for a fact but from my little knowledge Blackwater mercs get paid much better than our troops and I think that's horrible.
What rules govern these private contractors?
How is this different or more legal than me hiring some guys with bats down the street to do my dirty work for me?
What about the invasion of Panama?
1. Mission to remove a tyrant
2. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush Sr. involved
3. Tyrants gov't replaced with US friendly gov't that disbands the army
4. Result US gains control of the Panama Canal, a tremendous financial & geopolitical advatage
I sense a pattern here...
And it is CRAZY that any people who oppose the war we're in are supporting conscription. It might be worth remembering that the Vietnam War raged on for a decade even as the army relied on the draft -- a draft that the children of the wealthy and powerful managed to avoid then, and would in all likelihood manage to avoid if it should return.
So lets project this to the next "Shock" event...what do we lose, what agenda is pushed? Aren't the signs pointing to a police state (IMHO)...
About the core functions of government: I remember, a couple of years ago, a comment from Trent Lott, after a hearing on the NASA budget, saying that the budget would be approved if NASA can show how somebody can make some money from it.
This is a very important piece. I totally agree, this movement toward privatizing everything and leaving everything to be handled by the free market is a direct attack on our democratic system which will leave us with nothing but a oligarchical corporatocracy.
Brian,
Can you ask if Naomi if the charter schools in New Orleans are cheaper to run than public schools?
As long as we're on the subject of Katrina, it's worth pointing out that levee construction and maintenance in New Orleans was in the hands of the public sphere. The levees that failed were designed and built by the Army Corps of Engineers, right? Infrastructure and public services performed by such institutions are not immune to the faults that Ms. Klein writes about in the private sector.
i agree with most of ms klein's general crtiicim of libertarian ideology and how it's fequently applied (and could probably add some). however, i also think that distinctions must be made between policy and implementation.
for example, the general pros and cons of out-sourcing is a different topic than well executed and poorly executed out-sourcing.
[some of the problems with the current admin handing their buddies no-bid contracts sound more like implementation problems.]
however, perhaps implementation problems are to be expected from administrators who have a generally negative view of government. it's been said that "turning to a neo-con to administer a government program is like turning to a chritian scientist to perform an appendectomy."
"Libertarians" today equal nothing more than self-congratulatory corporate mercantile fascists. They embrace "individualism", Ayn Rand and some libertarian principles because it is most beneficial for them to do so to gain power, not because its what they actually believe in. Try reading a real libertarian like Ed Abbey, not the disgusting and intellectually impotent "Kudlow and Company".
"Neocons" are a strange libertarian-corporate mix of fundamentalist policy-setters that have used Marxist doctrine when it best suits them (the historical narrative that all countries will eventually fall to free markets, rather than Marxism, as Marx said) but use multinationals to displace sovereign governments and exploit foreign populations.
Even if charter schools ARE cheaper, the things should be whats best...government is great for saying we are saving money, but should profit (or no loss) be the main thing...
Brian,
I have not read Naomi's book but I think what is more important is the massive transfer of wealth that allows "trust fund babies" like Erik Prince to create companies like Blackwater.
The use of inherited wealth (by conservative and liberal) by the affluent provides enormous advantage. It is beyond exploitation of disaster --this wealth allows "trust fund babies" the purchase of apartments in NYC, the creation of small businesses, etc. I think that is the more important issue.
Where will we find a candidate who is willing to say that capitalism is a good thing as long as it is kept IN THE SERVICE of the society. How difficult a concept is this? BALANCE is crucial to democracy
Without judging the merits of privatization and uber capitalism in the words of Robert Reich. The notion of disasters prompting ideologically led instituitional change in not restricted to Milton Freidman. Did not FDR use Depression and World War II to push forward the New Deal?
Brian, could you please advise Ms. Klein that Charter Schools are public schools, not private schools.
Associating the Bush Administration & Milton Friedman is unfounded.
The Bush Administration issues government contracts w/o competition (for example Halliburton). Free-market thinking holds that issuing government contracts can only work efficiently through market processes if competition for such contracts exists.
After Katrina the legion of right wing pundits pointed out that the true failure of the disaster was the fact that entitlements and dependence on gov't services rendered people helpless and unprepared.
They really live in a compassion vacuum.
Excellent answer Naomi! I agree, the idiotic notion that the slate was wiped clean after 9/11 as if we were starting from year zero, was just propoganda for the far-right to exert control and enable themselves to easily put forth their "free-market", "privitization", fascisto-corporate ideas!
[sorry, I first posted this under the wrong topic!]
I'd like to quibble with Ms. Klein on the point that a miltary draft would guarantee some sort of deep reflection about going to war.
I think it's pie-in-the-sky thinking to believe that a draft would stop war or slow down the drive towards it. Why wouldn't the existence of more troops in the military simply increase the pressure on those who oppose a war to "shut and 'support' the troops"?
I also think that the idea that a draft will prevent war in the U.S. ignores the fact that standing armies threaten democracy. Since Ms. Klein is talking about conservatives using crises to force through normally controversial ideas, wouldn't a larger army (full of draftees) mean that American presidents would be so very tempted to start wars and conflicts with all those troops? After all, what president would hate the popularity that war can bring?
I think the problem (if there is one) of America not thinking about war lies in other traits in the body politic and not with the draft or lack thereof.
(Oh yes, I also disagree that the draft ended the Vietnam War, but that's another topic.)
Sarah Hughes are you the skater? did Naomi answer your excellent question?
But wait a minute Naomi you live next door! Tell us who you like for president!
Trevor,
I totally agree. The word "Libertarian" really doesn't mean what it used to mean. These modern "libertarians" are not libertarians at all in the classic sense.
Could you please post a comment to let me know when NW will be reading? THNX!
Apologies, of course I meant NK.
Ms. Klein's thesis is flawed on at least two points with regards the privatization in the military:
First, armed forces training today is far too intensive and technical to have a potato peeler in the mess hall pick up a rifle and go our on patrol.
Second, Pentagon's expenditgures of just15% of the federal budget (down from 45% during vietnam) cannot afford to keep tank mechanics and cooks and truck drivers on the military payroll during times they are not needed, such as when our forces are not deployed anywhere or at war.
And being a volunteer force, you will not get any recruits joining if they realize that they may be assigned mess hall duties or guarding some Iraqi diplomat. Many join today to move up in rank and make a career of it.
on hold...for segment..
Remember several facts...
1) RUMSFELD (And CHENEY) were the KEY architects of the Privatization principle.
They kicked me off and said call in tomorrow...
See MY BLOG for a FULL listing of CHARGES against Donald Rumsfeld.
Here is a SUMMARY of Rumsfeld's Rules, and pointers to ALL of his rules:
http://markbnj.blogspot.com/2007/09/rumsfelds-rules-his-rules-summary-of-16.html
or ... (without the http info...
markbnj.blogspot.com/2007/09/rumsfelds-rules-his-rules-summary-of-16.html
and.. HJS: There IS NO difference between blackwater and a band of mercenaries. THEY ARE mercenaries!
ALSO :
We need a segment or SERIES of segments on UN-privatizing the ARMY!
Joe (comment # 21 :)
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/09/18/segments/85566#comment8483
said:
...snip...Aren't the signs pointing to a police state (IMHO)...
mark sez:
YEP YEP YEP
That's what The May 11, 2007 NSPD-51 (National Presidential Security Directive #51) sets up.
That the PRESIDENT can DELEGATE a "DICTATOR" (my words...) in the event of a
NATURAL DISASTER (read Katrina?) or Terrorist ATTACK!!
(see original discussion on 5/24 here
http://markbnj.blogspot.com/2007/05/dictator-bush-lookie-at-latest_24.html
and follow up comment HERE: http://markbnj.blogspot.com/2007/06/kudos-to-darrin-bellcandor-nspd-51.html
AND PLEASE Google NSPD-51 for yourself!
And here's the real question....
WHY has there not been ONE word in the mainstream media (not blog-o-sphere) about NSPD-51?
NOT a single word, yet we will be THROWN into a dictatorship because of this!
Mark Brown.
websige is my location!
Last Comment:
We need a NATIONAL "FDR-LIKE" RECONSTRUCTION Plan
for our country.
Which needs to include:
National (mandatory service for X years)
National Health Insurance
National WORKING WAGE
and more stuff, including a RETURN to the PRIVATE
and original ideas.
Including the UN-privatization of the ARMY, and our COUNTRY
And I wish BRIAN or the producers would really read this stuff!
See my latest(?) blog entry for a discussion of a new reconstruction administration we need in our country
Thank you!
Looks like the leftist conspiracy folks found brian's blog. Look Mark, Bob Woodward and others confirmed that Rummy wasn't pushing for invasion of Iraq. That fantasy belonged to the neocons---not Rumsfeld. Though like others, he wanted to know if Saddam had a role in the 911 attack. Who wouldn't. Saddam was the likely suspect. But Rummy was so involved in his pet project (transformation into a lighter and faster military) that he didn't focus enough on Iraq after the invasion.
THAT may be his legacy, unfortunately for him. But not privatization of the armed forces. Privatization had already begun before Bush was elected in 2000. And it was determined by the economics. The Pentagon's budget was reduced as a percentage of federal expenditures, and shifted to a volunteer force. Again, before Rummy was Secretary. The three factors (and more) I mentioned above had dictated privatization. The fact that republicans naturally like privatization philosophically was incidental.
This thread is closed.
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