This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“A more accurate term for a system that erases the boundaries between Big Government and Big Business is not liberal, conservative or capitalist but corporatist. Its main characteristics are huge transfers of public wealth to private hands, often accompanied by exploding debt, an ever-widening chasm between the dazzling rich and the disposable poor and an aggressive nationalism that justifies bottomless spending on security.”– Naomi Klein, Chapter Introduction: Blank Is Beautiful, Page 18
“The principle was simple: countries in crisis desperately need emergency aid to stabilize their currencies. When privatization and free-trade policies are packaged together with a financial bailout, countries have little choice but to accept the whole package. The really clever part was that the economists themselves knew that free trade has nothing to do with ending a crisis, but that information was expertly “obfuscated.”” – Naomi Klein, Chapter 9: Crisis Works, Page 206
“That is pretty much the philosophy: stay in government just
long enough to get an impressive title in a department handing out big
contracts and to collect inside information on what will sell, then quit and
sell access to your former colleagues.
Public service is reduced to little more than a reconnaissance mission
for future work in the disaster capitalism complex.” – Naomi Klein, Chapter 15:
A Corporatist State, Page 398
Is This An Overview?
With disaster comes opportunity, a market opportunity. Disasters are used to impose drastic changes
on society, using shock therapy, rather than gradual changes. Disasters are a shock to the system that
enables policies to be accepted that would not have been acceptable
otherwise. To receive support or loans,
sovereign states facing disaster are given conditions which generally include
privatization, deregulation, and reduction in social spending.
This has the effect of enacting policies that are favorable
to markets, and gives access to foreign firms to buy resources and buyout
domestic firms. Resources and firms are
sold relatively cheap, as the economy is facing disaster. This is how disaster capitalism works. Disaster makes sovereign states vulnerable to
accept policies they would not otherwise accept, policies that are a form of
colonialism. The effect of shock therapy
is to transfer public wealth to private individuals and groups, increase debt,
and exacerbate inequality. This
situation is created by government and businesses working together.
The form of the disaster is not relevant. Whether caused by nature or political
conflict. Although there had been many
disasters available to which shock therapy was applied, there were disasters
that were created. When the democratic
process chose means that were not favorable to those who were ready to take
advantage of a disaster, methods were used to create a crisis such as the
removal of democratically elected leaders and policies. Replacing them with favorable leaders. Undermining the democratic process, often
with violent means. Instituting and
imposing authoritarian measures while claiming to that they are for liberty and
the improvement of society.
Before disaster capitalism, societies wanted to avoid crises
as that hurt the economy and the people.
Due to disaster capitalism, disaster has become profitable. Rather than losing money due to a disaster,
the economy benefits from a crisis. Even
when imposing a crisis on another economy.
Various firms profit from war activities, and then reconstruction
efforts. Firms are being rewarded with
rebuilding what they enabled to destroy.
While war activity is compensated, the victims of disaster are not appropriately
compensated.
Caveats?
The effects of shock therapy are
considered from a variety of events from diverse sovereign states. Many details are provided on the events, but
there can be too many details or lack relevance which takes the focus away from
a systematic account of the topic. Even
with the details provided, the reader would need to do more research to
understand each event.
This book
challenges the myths of how effective economic policies have been. The problem is that the author challenges the
myths by providing myths. This book is a
form of destructive tribalism, in which the ideas and people who are the target
of the book, are assumed to have an essence.
That anyone who engages with them shares all the same terrible ideas
throughout time. All the harm that is
done, the author holds the target group responsible. When a totalitarian sovereign state considers
and changes their economy to be even a little more aligned with the target
group, the target group is considered to be responsible for all the
totalitarianism. When the opponents of
the target group have power and effect policies that are similar to what the
target group wanted, the target group is considered responsible.
Much like how the
author criticizes the target group for wanting a pure market system without
government, the author wants the targets to appear purely evil. The targets of
the book are provided a one-sided narrative, and are given responsibility for
every negative consequent. The author
references books written by the targets, but the content in those books that
contradict the author’s claims are not referenced.
The focus of the book is when the target group uses
disasters for policy opportunities, even though there were a few references to
non-target groups using disasters for policy opportunities. By focusing only on a single target group and
making them responsible for everything, has the effect of hiding and empowering
other groups who use disasters for their benefit.
