Book Review: Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine

Please read Naomi Klein's new book The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism. This book, that carefully chronicles the rise and influence of Milton Friedman's school of economic theory and its contemporary embodiment in Republican neo-conservatism, has opened my eyes to the political and economic impact of his ideas as they have become linked to globalism, America's foreign policy and the war machine. Beginning with Chile under Pinochet, Friedman and his disciples (who Klein dubs "the Chicago Boys") have had an immense influence in promoting a style of capitalist fundamentalism that tends to destroy any effort to further the public good through government. They were particularly adept at exploiting social turmoil to persuade political leaders to adopt radical economic policies that often just deepened social dislocations particularly at the expense of the poor. Friedman economics have finally resulted in Bush's crony capitalism and the war profiteering of Iraq. I can only begin to represent the depth of her argument, but suffice it to say that it is well-documented and doesn't make shrill claims. Friedman, Bush and his republican neo- conservatives are truly radical ideologues and mirror images of those they despise. The idea that only the private sphere is capable of achieving the social good is ludicrous and reaches its apex in Blackwater and Halliburton.... corporate pigs at the public trough watched over by Cheney and Rumsfeld as they enrich themselves hugely while their greed is disguised by violence, shock and awe, the never ending "war on terror" and the hypocritical claim that we are promoting democracy in the middle east. If you have the courage to know the truth, read this book.