A Truly An Eye-Opener
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This book by Naomi Klein is truly shocking and frightening to which the true nature of the American government is revealed. I found myself having a hard time reading this book because of the dark nature behind the today's world politics and the tortures which is currently been in use by the government. I found it to be saddening to see how our leaders are using human beings for their own benefits, and how they favors money over human lives...that freedom or democracy is only a disguise or empty word to justify their unethical evil actions.
With her intense research and profound discovery, Klein exposed the evil nature behind the politics of American wars both in the past and present, and of course the future. This book is also an excellent account of how disaster capitalism came to be and how long this been going on. It is very informative book, which will impact readers everywhere. No one is safe. Klein has written well-documented and extensive researched work that would certainly open one's eyes to see the "man behind the curtain."
I humbly give much appreciative and thanks to Ms. Klein for bringing forth this important and an eye-opener work. I truly highly recommend this book.
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Disturbing and invaluable explantion of current world events
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This is an excellent historical account of how the current global dominance of capitalism came to be. Disturbing accounts of complicity by US secret services in instigating military coup's in order to bring down the economies of sovereign nations that refused to play the 'capitalism game'.
It gives a refreshing perspective on the real reasons for America's Wars in Iraq and exposes the utter brutality and pointless execution of over a million Iraqi civilians for western profit.
It exposes the complicity between Governments, multinationals and the banking cartel through the IMF and world bank in ensuring 'democracy' is forced upon other nations.
The direct actions of torture and murder to bring citizens to their knees are well documented.
Anyone who isn't shocked and appalled at the negative social consequences of the shock doctrine should question whether they have a conscience at all. - for the rest of us it is a clear message that this system only favours the wealthy and a new economic system is needed.
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The Objectivity of Yesterday Exposed by Its Fruits
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Maybe we thought the age of ideology was over and its wars were done. But Klein examines the rise of a new ideology, whose believers claim to own the future -- Milton Friedman's Chicago School of Market Fundamentalism. In recent decades market fundamentalism grew so globally influential that it seemed to be simple objectivity. But as the performance record of past ideologies exposed their biases and crimes, so Klein feels we can now take a hard look at the new dominant ideology. With a powerful combination of historical research and activist journalism, she shows what the true believers in market fundamentalism "shock therapy" have done in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, South Africa, Russia, Sri Lanka, New Orleans or Iraq.
Probably all ideologies take the quality of medical therapies. They claim to hold cure the patient needs. Klein shows unfolding links between developments in "market discipline", security technology, foreign policy and invasive psychotherapy. As she quotes British Psychiatrist Andrew Wyllie concerning electroshock therapy in 1940, "The introverted schizophrenic or melancholic may be likened to a walled city which has closed its gates and reduces to trade with the rest of the world. ... A breach is blown in the wall, and relations with the world are reestablished. Unfortunately we cannot control the amount of damage done in the bombardment." (p.391)
The therapy of market fundamentalism has required removing barriers to competition from foreign corporations, privatization of national recsorces and services, reduced spending on public education or health, deregulation of business practises, and very commonly suppression of dissent to all the above policies:
"Wherever it has emerged over the past thirty-five years from Santiago to Moscow to Beijing to Bush's Washington, the alliance between a small corporate elite and a right-wing government has been written off as some sort of aberration -- mafia capitalism, oligarchy capitalism and now, under Bush, 'crony capitalism'. But its not an aberation; it is where the entire Chicago School crusade -- with its triple obsessions -- privatization deregulation and union-busting -- has been leading." (p. 379-380)
Much of this book makes very grim reading. But in covering recent years, Klein sees causes for hope and even celebration: "Throughout its' thirty-five year history, the Chicago School agenda has advanced through the intimate co-operation of powerful business figures, crusading ideologues, and strong-arm political leaders. By 2006, key players from each camp were either in jail or up on charges". (p. 535-537) Klein runs down lists: Augusto Pinochet died under house arrest; Juan Maria Bordaberry of Uruguay arrested in charge of murdering political opponents; Argentina's junta leaders Jorge Videla and Emilio Massera jailed for life; Bolivia's former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada charged with killing protesters while signing illegal contracts with foreign companies: Russia's "Harvard men" oligarchs such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Leonid Nevzlin, Vladimir Gusinsky or Boris Berezovsky jailed or living in exile, and North America's of free-market absolutists Conrad Black, Ken Lay or Jack Abramoff prosecuted. Especially in Latin America Klein sees signs of a popular return to balance between business and public interests. As she quotes Ecuador's president Rafael Correa's response to the market fundamentalist-controlled World Bank, "Ecuador is a sovereign country and we will not stand for extortion from this international bureaucracy". (p. 550)
Reading this book I had to wonder what it all will mean for the USA. Where will the rising frustration over labour outsourcing, trade imbalances, product safety, corporate corruption, privatization of basic services, etc. lead America, which has been the world's heartland of market fundamentalism?
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Using Disasters to Make the Rich Wealthier While Making the Poor Poorer
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Naomi Klein demonstrates that in totally unconstrained capitalism, the richest and least scrupulous do best. Why? They are able to eliminate government restraints and taxes and establish monopolies by pushing aside those with fewer resources and more self-restraint to make huge profits from charging everyone more and paying poor people less. This result has occurred consistently in Latin America, Asia, and now Iraq whenever a country needs an international loan from the United States or the international agencies that it dominates.
As demonstrated in this book, the policy of the U.S. government has been to provide such an economic environment wherever possible. This result is often accomplished by subverting democratic governments to put military dictators in power, supporting the dictatorships with the latest military toys and training in torture, and making the economic changes be permanent so that later democracies cannot change them.
With the Bush administration, the policy has been accelerated to include direct invasions such as occurred in Iraq. The effect of these policies has been worsened by the Bush doctrine of outsourcing as many military and government functions as possible to high-priced private firms without holding them accountable for results.
The effect has been to subject nation after nation to widespread murder and abuse of citizens who don't agree with the economic policies, sale of valuable businesses and resources at way below market rates to rich companies and people, and to reduce economic activity levels by depression-standard amounts for 10-20 years.
Only recently have people interested in placing democratic interests above those who wealthy companies and people begun to strike back by refusing to accept U.S. policy when it comes to requiring unfettered capitalism.
The latest application of this U.S. policy is to use natural disasters to produce similar results as we observed after the Asian tsunami and hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
The intellectual fig leaf for this doctrine belongs to Milton Friedman and his academic heirs from the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley. The economic analysis behind these ideas seems to have never considered the way to implement the ideas. Instead with each new powerless country or group, the limits of rapid change are pushed harder. Why? It's really a class war of the ultra rich who can buy politicians and put them in office who need something to tell everyone else about why it's all a good idea. Naive economists make good front men for this effort.
When democracies work well, there's pendulum of public opinion that eventually swings well away from any extreme. Well, we are at such an extreme now in favor of letting the powerful grab whatever they want . . . as demonstrated in this fine book. I hope the pendulum swing will begin soon!
The main weakness of this book is in repeating its arguments a little too much without providing enough new evidence each time. The evidence is there, but the better stories are actually in the second half. If you feel in the beginning that Milton Friedman is being run down too much, wait. You'll eventually be convinced that Friedman's ideas had all of the appropriateness of Marx's on how to run a country to create a healthy society for all. Save us from theorists!
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