I received in the mail a couple of days ago, my copy of Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine". What I was looking for when I got into the economics books in Amazon was a bit of educational material. What I got was a wake up call.
The Shock Doctrine
In THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.
You see all my adult life I have been somewhat of a realist. I think for myself, I depend on no one else, I am somewhat agnostic which is no small feat considering I grew up and currently live in the Bible Belt. I knew that when I ordered Krugman's "the conscience of a liberal", "the return of depression economics" and John Maynard Keynes "The general theory of Employment interest & money" that I was merely looking to educate myself to economics of which i subscribe. I thought from the reviews of related books that The Shock Doctrine could stem the snooze fest of theory that I was getting into with the other books.
Little did I know that I would be scared shitless within a 100 pages of Miss(?) Klein's book. What started out was the description of a survivor of the CIA's 1950's experiments into the realm of mind control/reshaping by a doctor in Montreal funded of course through grants from the CIA. Mind you this is not a fiction novel, but a very real accounting of the rise of "disaster capitalism" brought to us by the disciples and meistro himself Milton Freidman. She starts out with the survivor of the shock therapy of this woman who describes what can only be the predescessor of the CIA torture program that we currently have. At one point the woman makes the statement that she would try to escape but the nurses would tell her "it was for her own good". At that moment I was hooked.
You see that is what it feels like now in the United States. People keep bringing up the Deficit, the Bailouts, and the stimulus and it is all very nicely organized. Too organized. From reading the book you will see that Freidman was like some kind of Mad Scientist that even though he kills 100 patients, his overall work is advanced so everything is ok. It is not O.K. The main premise (IMHO) of this book is to reveal that democracy and capitalism do not go hand in hand. Also the book tells us the playbook that these Economists who trained under and idolized Freidman. If you have not read the book I would highly reccomend you get it and read it.