The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism : Book

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1) Paperback Book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Picador. I´m half-way through and give this book a neutral rating even though I am enthralled by Klein´s masterterly work and horrified by her observations. I have just read or skimmed the one-star reviews and found some well written objections coming from specific places. Several advocated reading Friedman´s work. However, I remember him on TV: "it´s not about fairness, life is unfair" he would say. I profoundly disagree. Life is unfair but politics and economics should be about fairness. We don´t have to exacerbate the unfairness. If I simply read a Friedman book I doubt if this will clear it up.¤

2) Paperback Book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Picador. Reading "The Shock Doctrine" was one of the best investments of my reading time in many months. This is a compelling piece of journalism (perhaps more like a well-documented opinion piece) that takes you for an eye-opening trip around the world and through decades of history, examining the role of the United States and the International Monetary Fund in the manipulation of politics and economics.

Sound heavy? It is--to a point. It´s also basic and simple in concept and delivery.

"The Shock Doctrine" exposes the scorched-earth and exploitive approach of Milton Friedman and the "Chicago Boys"--in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Poland, Russia, China, The Maldives, New Orleans, Sri Lanka and more. Using human torture as a point of comparison, Klein shows how conservative ideologues concocted a toxic mix of authoritarian power and pure free-market ideology to upend economies and disrupt lives in the name of profit. Trying to capture the essence of this book in a couple of sentences is a challenge--it´s much more complex than the sentence above.

One quick sidebar note: I found the early chapter about the history of human torture to be overly long and unnecessary. She makes a good point early on in this chapter and then drives it into the ground. If you find this chapter slow or repetitive, just skip it. The going is just getting interesting--if a bit depressing.

In country and country, crisis after crisis, Klein shows how the super-capitalists swoop in when opportunity strikes and how they till the ground and shock the local population so massive parts of the government functions can be privatized. The result is usually harsh and brutal for those on the lowest economic rungs and Klein documents the impact--and the complicit involvement of the U.S. government.

Additionally, "The Shock Doctrine" attacks the notion of government-by-contract and how that notion is fundamentally flawed.

Klein has a way of telescoping world events over the past decades into sharp patterns and brutal rhythms. If you doubt there´s a connection between the tsunami in Sri Lanka and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Klein will show you.

Klein´s prose is rich and direct. "The recipe for endless worldwide war is the same one that the Bush administration offered as a business prospectus to the nascent disaster capitalism complex after September 11. It is not a war that can be won by any country, but winning is not the point. The point is to create `security´ inside fortress states bolstered by endless low-level conflict outside their walls. In a way, it is the same goal that the private security companies have in Iraq: secure the perimeter, protect the principal."

Fascinating book. Hats off to Naomi Klein.
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3) Paperback Book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Picador. Very well done. Clear and cohesive, easy to read. An eye-opener. I don´t have time for more cliches - JUST READ IT!¤

4) Paperback Book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Picador. I am telling everyone I know to read this book. I hope that Obama reads it before he is sworn in as president. Meticulous, damning, and brilliant. You will look at the world in a new way.¤

5) Paperback Book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Picador. Naomi Klein has summed it all up. There definitely is a lot of history to go through, but it is so interesting and keeps your interest all the way through. It is far from a personal perspective on Global and Domestic Shock Economics. She backs up everything with citations from a multitude of sources, worldwide. Her allusions and similes based on hard facts scared the hell out of me of what the government has been capable of over the past 60 years.

It seems like she has "outed" the Shock Economists, The "Chicagoans", all the followers of Milton Friedman´s "Free Market Economy". You learn how greed just changed the playing field. Now that she has "outed" them, I just hope more people will read this and speak out against the "Shock Doctrine" the next time it is carried out. This should be required reading in any economics, history or political science class at the university level. Thank you Ms. Klein for putting it out there!¤

6) Paperback Book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Picador.

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."

7) Paperback Book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Picador. 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 Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

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