World Famous Comics: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
By: Naomi Klein Publisher: Picador Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Picador Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 720 Publication Date: June 24, 2008 Release Date: June 24, 2008
In this groundbreaking alternative history of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free-market economic revolution, Naomi Klein challenges the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory. From Chile in 1973 to Iraq today, Klein shows how Friedman and his followers have repeatedly harnessed terrible shocks and violence to implement their radical policies. As John Gray wrote in The Guardian, "There are very few books that really help us understand the present. The Shock Doctrine is one of those books."
Amazon.com Review: Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you.
"At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq'' civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves… Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly outsources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater… After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts… New Orleans residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be re-opened." Klein not only kicks butt, she names names, notably economist Milton Friedman and his radical Chicago School of the 1950s and 60s which she notes "produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington today." Stand up and take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld.
There's little doubt Klein's book--which arrived to enormous attention and fanfare thanks to her previous missive, the best-selling No Logo, will stir the ire of the right and corporate America. It's also true that Klein's assertions are coherent, comprehensively researched and footnoted, and she makes a very credible case. Even if the world isn't going to hell in a hand-basket just yet, it's nice to know a sharp customer like Klein is bearing witness to the backroom machinations of government and industry in times of turmoil. --Kim Hughes
The Dark Side of Unrestricted Capitalism The Shock Doctrine is a fascinating exposé on the dark side of unrestricted capitalism when it is implemented through blackmail, extortion, military force, and the suppression of democracy. Naomi Klein provides numerous examples over the last 50 years of countries who upon falling into financial and economic crises, desperately turn to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for financial and economic assistance to stabilize and rebuild their economies. These countries soon discover that the World Bank and IMF are staunch promoters of capitalism and free-market economics, and will only provide aid on the condition that unrestricted capitalist policies be instantaneously and shockingly adopted by these countries, using lethal force if necessary, to suppress existing socialist ideologies and organizations, and even to suppress the will of the countries people who may be democratically opposed. This is what Klein refers to as "disaster capitalism", the introduction of unrestricted free-market economics in crisis and disaster situations with the short-term goal of engaging in excessive profiteering, and the long-term goal of assuming absolute control of those economies. And when disaster capitalism is implemented with the shock therapy approach normally associated with modern torture techniques, we have what Klein refers to as the "shock doctrine".
In every example cited by Klein, where countries were literally forced to adopt unrestricted free-market policies (privatization, deregulation, trade liberalization, cessation of government spending, cessation of unionization, suppression of democratic assembly, unrestricted foreign ownership, unwarranted price increases, higher taxation, and intentional mass unemployment) in order to receive financial and economic aid, these countries went into an economic death spiral as their state resources and infrastructure were sold away to foreign owners for cents on the dollar, and the foreign owners were under no obligation to re-invest back into the countries economy. The financial assistance received from the World Bank and IMF was not used to benefit the newly created masses of poor and jobless people who needed it most, but instead was used to benefit the promoters of disaster capitalism.
The only drawback to Klein's book is that she tends to blame disaster capitalism on its economic architects, and not on the governments and corporations who sponsor it. Consequently, Klein's portrayal of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics as evil incarnate is unwarranted. There is nothing wrong with capitalism and free-market economics when it is implemented under the right conditions. Klein fails to recognize the fact that these economists were acting not just as economic agents of the World Bank and IMF, but also as foreign policy agents of the US government, and globalization agents of American multinational corporations. Klein also fails to acknowledge that these same governments and corporations were engaging in dishonest, unethical, undemocratic, and even criminal behavior when promoting their self-serving political, social, and economic agendas. One fact is clear from Klein's book, disaster capitalism as a means to globalization and American world dominance will not work in countries that embody true democracy.
Nothing new here, move along The only thing that is true, and has been known in fact for a century, is that dramatic events cause change. On this I can agree with Ms. Klein, and only that.
Where this book careens off into left field, is by blaming this all on Milton Friedman and labelling it Friedmanism - all on the basis of a quote, and completely ignoring the history of the Nazis and the Kristallnacht, or the Marxists and the July Days in Russia. Milton Friedman made an observation (why certainly - he's Jewish, the people who suffered disproportionately from the effects of such kinds of propaganda under both regimes), but he surely did not invent the method. Blame the Marxists and the Nazis for perfecting that.
Do yourself a favour, and buy the The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, his thesis is free of partisan politics and delves far further with laser sharp understanding, into how change through improbable events can happen.
Eye opening I would describe myself as reasonably well informed, economically literate, a Wall Street investor and Democrat. I found this book eye-opening, although I believe Klein is pushing a point of view which is frequently incorrect; e.g. privatization is not always bad, and Great Britain under Thatcher did achieve prosperity, while the Chinese middle class is vastly expanding. It is not so clear as Klein seems to imply that if the US had done the right things, the Iraqi invasion would have resulted in a democratic country.
What Klein does is draw lots of things together, and show the extent to which the extreme free market ideology of Milton Friedman and his many disciples dominated US foreign policy in so many countries, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and also the conduct of government under George W. Bush. Once again ideology, untempered by evidence and practicality, when given free reign, leads to disaster. Many of the practitioners of this ideology were self serving and corrupt, or at least blinded by vanity, but clearly a man like Jeffery Sachs, who is currently doing his best as he sees it for the very poor countries, was genuine in his profession of his goals.
Here are a few of the things which are important and which I hadn't fully known, or known at all: the use of torture to terrorize rather than extract information, and the early CIA interest in it; what happened in Chile to the Allende regime and the Chilean people, with US participation, was not a singular event but was replicated in several other Latin American countries; the pattern of foreign aid which relies on starting from scratch instead of taking advantage of local skills and resources, and the extent to which this occurred in Iraq and also in Sri Lanka and Lebanon; the extent of the waste and corruption in Iraq; how undemocratic Yeltsin was.
More relevant than most Americans will ever know This book is an essential read considering the current economic situation. The vast majority of people including me have no idea of the details of how harmful some economic policies been. This book brings many of those details to light in a way that is both understandable and enthralling. The direct role that the American government and University of Chicago economists have played in both Chile and Russia's disastrous attempts at capitalism are shocking. In fact there are so many things that are shocking, I am somewhat surprised that the book was allowed to be published. (If more Americans read books, it probably would not have been.) Probably the most shocking to me was learning of Dr. Jeffery Sach'sThe End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time role in Russia during its rule by Yeltsin. It seems that he has dramatically altered his views on what is a good economic system for a society to thrive.
Disaster Capitalism has been experienced around the world. How much longer will it be before the US gets our shock? If people read this book, hopefully they will be informed and motivated to insist that we have a sound economic system in place.
Essential Reading Considering the global political climate and the way policy decisions are created these days (witness the latest "crisis" of the economic variety in the US, for one), this book ought to be required reading for pretty much anyone who can or will at some point cast a vote, think about joining the political process, or breathe some amount of oxygen in the next 40 years. Understanding the underlying principles of who wields and forces agendas and power across the continents seems to be something that everyone ought to be interested in. Klein does a great job of tying some pretty wildly disparate ideas together and makes it not only relevant but essential to comprehending the world that we have wrought before us.
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