So, this is my first diary. I've been lurking for some time, without actually joining. I've been here before bitter, before Olbermann joined, before Obama decided to run, before the surge, before the 2006 election. Still, I didn't say anything. I was satisfied to simply read. I didn't necessarily need to contribute - it was primarily a way to stay informed rather than to amend the information. No longer.
To see why, you have to know a little bit about my background. I'm quite lucky to be in my situation. I'm at a good college - admittedly, I have to take out copious loans and I can't particularly afford luxuries, but I'll be okay. Being at college, however, does give me some opportunities that not everyone is privy to. Lectures, for example: every so often, a speaker will come in, decided by our activities board, to give a lecture on their prowess.
A week ago, I saw Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine, her recent bestseller. The next morning, I saw John McCain, the Republican nominee for President of the United States. Naomi Klein is a brilliant woman and I wanted to see John McCain, at the very least, to say that I've seen him - I would know his platform and be able to discuss it honestly.
Through these experiences and with their juxtaposition, I became terrified.
The Shock Doctrine discusses the idea of Disaster Capitalism. Naomi Klein uses this term to describe the idea of passing unfavorable legislation in the aftermath of disasters. It is not to propose that any of these disasters were planned or that those in power didn't try to avoid them. No, she claims that, after the events had passed - it was in that moment of shock that those in power rapidly passed pro-capitalist ideas they had at hand. This can be seen most obviously in Hurricane Katrina.
Senator McCain came to Carnegie Mellon last week to discuss economic policy. Our student body president pointed out, we are home to six Nobel Laureates in economics, including John Nash. He had said that he "doesn't really understand economics". I went to see whether this would be a good time to set the record straight. He started off with what appeared to be a populist notation. He admitted that there was a financial problem and that citizens were tired of CEOs walking out the door with millions of dollars. Then, it took a turn.
Katrina was a phenomenal example of Disaster Capitalism. She described it as the "green zone being lifted up" and taken to New Orleans. In the aftermath, the recovery efforts had private policing by Blackwater. Then, two weeks after Katrina had hit, there was a meeting with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. They came up with a list of Pro-Free-Market Ideas concerning the rebuilding of New Orleans, including "Make the entire affected area a flat-tax free-enterprise zone" and "Streamline the environmental hurdles to building new oil refineries". But, how did this happen?
McCain then went on to describe his response to the economic situation. He discussed what steps he would follow as President. He would maintain the Bush tax cuts while instituting additional tax cuts for the middle class. He had called his opponents decision to rescind these tax cuts as the "biggest tax increase since World War II". Furthermore, he said that cutting taxes would not be enough. He would have to put a "pause" on Discretionary Spending with an exemption for the military and paying for the healthcare and well-being of veterans. This "pause" would allow for a thorough review of all spending to see which programs are "successful" and which are not. Discretionary Spending refers to all spending by the Government. With the exemption for the military, this would mean no increases for Social Security, Medicare, the Departments of Education, Health, Welfare, Labor, Commerce, Agriculture, or Energy.
She stated, quite clearly, that this Disaster Capitalism was not an accident. It was a deliberate process which derives from the ideology of Milton Friedman. Friedman believed that the government should privatize everything except Defense and the police. All other aspects of the government should be out of public hands. This policy became rampant, known more colloquially as trickle-down economics or Reaganomics. Donald Rumsfeld was a student of his and he loved the idea. He went beyond Friedman and instituted it in Defense, hiring Blackwater for Iraq. There are now more contractors in Iraq than US Soldiers.
The Senator went on to discuss his plans concerning businesses and what should be done now to fix the financial burdens. He stated that we should cut business taxes from 35 to 25 percent. This, he said, would encourage more businesses to stay in America, thus ensuring "more jobs, higher wages, and lower prices". There would be other benefits, such as lowering or barring other taxes that limit innovation. Concerning the current situation, he said that we should have a "holiday" this summer, entailing a period from Memorial Day to Labor Day without any taxes on gasoline. This would, he said, encourage stimulus in the economy and get us out of any lasting crisis. On the topic of gasoline, he further stated that we should stop buying oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency supply of oil in case of any supply limitations.
Another part of what makes Friedman's philosophy so dangerous is that it now has philosophical justification via Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand popularized the objectivism movement. She theorized that society gets in trouble when it tries to do good. Thus, we can maximize the amount of good by allowing men to act on their own selfish tendencies. This gave the idea of privatization a menacing aftertaste. Whenever a public service was privatized, the privatizer could pat themselves on the back for doing a good job for the world. This policy has become widespread - it has been in America for the past 30 years, but it also spread to Margaret Thatcher of England who declared that: "There's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families."
Unfortunately, I had a research meeting to go to so I couldn't stay for the entire speech. I wish that I could have, because there is a sizable chance that Senator McCain could be the next President of the United States.
In the middle of her talk, Naomi said that she still visits New Orleans and when she does, she gets angry. She talks to people there and it reminds her that Disaster Capitalism isn't just a theory; Katrina is just one example. It's happening right now in our own country.
"All these tax increases are the fine print under the slogan of 'hope': They're going to raise your taxes by thousands of dollars per year - and they have the audacity of hope you don't mind." - Senator John McCain, Republican Nominee for the President of the United States
I am terrified.