the blog: tag= books

21st Century Money

Date

4/07/2008 11:20:00 PM [permalink]

Author

yahooza

Entry

I've started reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. It delves into the Bush Administration and the neo-conservative movement towards truly free-market capitalism, where public encumbrances—welfare, Social Security, state-run education—should be replaced by privatized institutions, namely corporations. Undisturbed by the meddling of a "socialist" entity, any free market would and should regulate itself towards an equilibrium for capitalists and laborers, supply and demand, etc. It's an ideal that parallels the utopian views of Socialism.

The 'shock' in the book title comes from the idea that neo-con capitalists use extreme opportunities to inject social reform. An example in the book is how the post-Katrina Baton Rouge school system has been turned inside-out as public education programs have been mostly converted to private-voucher-enabled CEO-run schools. That means your tax dollars (if you live in Louisiana) are now flowing against profit margins; that might be better than the waste of the public educational system, it might not. Who knows, bu t get ready for good schools, better schools, awesome schools and "you-can't-afford-this-school-you-fool" schools!

So, the shock is a means to change, enough to disrupt the status quo and introduce a solution. The real criminal evidence lies in that solution. After 9/11, the Bush folks started a war in Iraq, doling out contracts to private institutions, namely corporations. After five years, that's billions of our tax dollars that could have be spent otherwise and 4000 dead. Why? For the many, many profitable companies that received the open hand of our President and his cronies. Shit, it's not just Blackwater, even Pizza Hut and Subway serve our troops that finest fast food in American military complexes.

It's a really well-written and structured book and worth the $20, so pick it up. If anything, it will give you further insight on the Bush policy, the neo-conservative movement (it's not a religious or political thing) and free-market economics.

Very interesting book.

P.S. I want to write more about social implications of a free-market economy, but I'm a bit tired right now. Look for it later.

Labels: books, corporations, economics

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