OpenLeft: Shock Doctrine double down

[marmar]

Shock Doctrine double down
by: Paul Rosenberg

Sun Feb 21, 2010 at 15:45


In The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein convincingly argued that "free market" capitalism did not spread worldwide because people welcomed it freely, but because it was forced on them against their will, imposed through a series of shocks--military coups, financial crises, physical disasters--that left people, and entire societies reeling, unable to get their bearings, much less respond critical to the most critical of situations.

Now, however, we've reached a critical turning point: the entire system that was built up by Shock Doctrine strategy is itself coming apart at the seams--and now, rather than standing back, and saying, "Now wait a minute!" the elite consensus in most quarters is to double down on our past mistakes. Now, the very shock of the systems collapse is being used to try to extend it--not just a little further, but far further than ever before.

The main focal point of this effort is the two-pronged battle to (1) prevent anything close to an adequate fiscal response to generate a full-employment recovery, and (2) prevent anything close the necessary re-regulation of the financial sector, so that the national and world economy can be restored to a sound financial foundation. The Obama Administration double-faulted on these twin challenges within its first few weeks in office, and things have been going downhill ever since.

Now passive failure is being turned into active malevolence, as Obama has appointed a commission to address the issue of America's long-term debt--a problem that only exists in the far long term--2050 or so, and only then because we've had an out-of-control health care sector for almost as long as our financial sector has been out of control--as I argued in my diary "Health care costs over time--how the US became so different & why conservatives can't fix it" earlier today. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.openleft.com/diary/17501/shock-doctrine-double-down