pg 418 and 419
The implications of the current crop of politicians to systematically outsource their elected responsibilities will reach far beyond a single administration. Once a market has been created, it needs to be protected. The companies at the heart of the disaster capitialism complex increasingly regard both state and nonprofits as competitors-from the corporate perspective, whenever government or charities fulfill their traditional roles, they are denying contractors work that could be performed at a profit.
"Neglected defense: Mobilizing the Private sector to Support Homeland Security," a 2006 report whose advisory committee included some of the largest corporations in the sector, warned that, "the compassionate federal impulse to provide emergency assistance to victims of diasters affects the markets approach to managing it's exposure to risk" Published by the Council on Foreign Relations, the report argued that if people know the government will come to the rescue, they have no incentive to pay for privatized protection. In a similar vein, a year after Katrina, CEO's from thirty of the largest corporations in the United States joined together under the umbrella of the Business Roundtable, which includes in it's membership Fluor, Bechtel and Chevron. The group, calling itself Partnership for Diaster Response, complained of "mission creep" by the non-profit sector in the aftermath of diasters. Apparently charties and NGO's were infringing on their market by donating building supplies rather than having Home Depot supply them for a fee. The mercenary frims, meanwhile, have been loudly claiming that they are better quipped to engage in peacekeeping in Darfur than the UN.
Much of this new agressiveness flows from the fact that the corporate world knows that the golden era of bottomless contracts cannot last much longer. The US government is barreling toward an economic crisis, in no small part thanks to the deficit spending that has bankrolled the construction of the privatized diaster economy. That means that sooner or later, the contracts are going to dip significantly. In late 2006, defense analysts began predicting that the Pentagon's acquisitions budget could shrink by as much as 25 percent in the coming decade.
When the diaster bubble bursts, firms such as Bechtel, Fluor and Blackwater will lose much of their primary revenue streams. They will still have all the high-tech gear and equipment bought at taxpayers expense, but they will need to find a new business model, a new way to cover their high costs. The next phase of the diaster capitialism complex is all too clear: with emergencies on the rise, government no longer able to foot the bill, and citizens stranded by their can't do state, the parallel corporate state will rent back its diaster infrastructure to whoever can afford it, at whatever price the market will bear. For sale will be everything from helicopter rides off rooftops to drinking water to beds in shelters.
Already wealth provides an escape hatch from most diasters-it buys early-warning systems for tsunami-prone areas and stockpiles of Tamiflu for the next outbreak. It buys bottled water, generators, satellite phones, and rent-a-cops. During the Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006, the US government initially tried to charge its citizens for the cost of their own evacuations, though it was eventually forced to back down. If we continue in this direction, the images of people stranded on New Orleans rooftops will not only be a glimpse of America's unresolved past of racial inequality but will also foreshadow a collective future of diaster apatheid in which survival depends on who can pay for escape.
Looking ahead to coming diasters, ecological and political, we often assume that we are going to face them all together, that what's needed are leaders who recognize the destructive course we are on. But I'm not so sure. Perhaps part of the reason why so many of our elites, both political and corporate, are so sanguine about climate change is that they are confident they will be able to buy their way out of the worst of it. This may also partially explain why so many Bush supporters are Christian end-timers. It's not just that they need to believe there is an escape hatch from the world they are creating. It's that the Rapture is a parable for what they are building down here-a system that invites destruction and diaster, then swoops in with private helicopters and airlifts them and their friends to divine safety.
Previous thread. Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2525753&mesg_id=2525753Merry Christmas!!!
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