>The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
New Book Shelves – Upper Level – 330.122 K
Journalist Klein gives us a superbly researched look at the intersection of modern economics, politics and poverty that ranks among the most disturbing things I have ever read, on par with the literature I read for the Theology of the Holocaust class I took in college.
The current popular theory of economics started in parallel with two seemingly unrelated people. One was a psychologist named Ewan Cameron, who researched how to break down personalities. At the same time, a man named Milton Friedman was developed a new theory of economics. Instead of controlling businesses and taxing businesses and people to level society, Friedman claimed that capitalism could regulate itself, and become a thing of abstract beauty. The way to get there was to shock a people or a nation into acceptance, either by the sheer economic shock of making massive changes all at once or using whatever means were necessary.
Klein follows the chilling progress of Friedman’s economics through history and across the globe, from Pinochet’s Chile, its first adopter, across Latin America, through to Margaret Thatcher’s Great Britain, Poland, South Africa, Russia, Asia, and, most recently, Iraq. The theory is successful in making large amounts of money for global corporations, but in every case results in the loss of the middle class and the explosion of those below the poverty line to 25-60% of the country’s population. Severe methods are required to maintain the new status quo – murder, torture, distraction by wars or natural disaster, or just being ready to take away rights and property when natural disaster strikes. Although Friedman claimed that pure capitalism functions best within a democracy, the opposite has turned out to be the case.
Klein sees the war in Iraq and the War on Terror as a direct result of these theories. The War on Terror doesn’t make sense as a winnable war. As a way to transfer government funds to a large new corporate sector, it has worked brilliantly. When Iraq proved resistant to milder shock therapy, the US has turned to more brutal methods of convincing them to go along with US economic policy. As the US has made it clear that neither Iraqi nor US laws apply to corporations operating in Iraq and done very well at destroying existing Iraqi society, Klein finds that this is the purest example seen to date of what happens when Chicago School principles are allowed free reign. The result: mass poverty and insecurity for the average person, the death of local business and industry, fantastic profits for multinational corporations, and a walled off Green Zone where the privileged few surround themselves in luxury, safe from the chaos and terror outside.
This is a fascinating and convincing retelling of modern history. It’s essential for understanding where the world is today.