NAOMI KLEIN: The Shock Doctrine Continues

[carincross]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/19/marketturmoil.usa

Free market ideology is far from finished by Naomi Klein

"Whatever the events of this week mean, nobody should believe the overblown claims that the market crisis signals the death of "free market" ideology. Free market ideology has always been a servant to the interests of capital, and its presence ebbs and flows depending on its usefulness to those interests.

"During boom times, it's profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles to inflate. When those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance, and it goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue. But rest assured: the ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalisation for deep cuts to social programmes, and for a renewed push to privatise what is left of the public sector. We will also be told that our hopes for a green future are, sadly, too costly. ...

"This spectacle necessarily raises the question: if the state can intervene to save corporations that took reckless risks in the housing markets, why can't it intervene to prevent millions of Americans from imminent foreclosure? By the same token, if $85bn can be made instantly available to buy the insurance giant AIG, why is single-payer health care – which would protect Americans from the predatory practices of health-care insurance companies – seemingly such an unattainable dream? And if ever more corporations need taxpayer funds to stay afloat, why can't taxpayers make demands in return – like caps on executive pay, and a guarantee against more job losses? ...

"None of this, however, will happen without huge public pressure placed on politicians in this key period. And not polite lobbying but a return to the streets and the kind of direct action that ushered in the New Deal in the 1930s. Without it, there will be superficial changes and a return, as quickly as possible, to business as usual."

Note: Naomi was on "Real Time with Bill Maher" and said that the "shock" of the current financial crisis will lead to the government saying that the cost of the bailout will mean that we will have to sacrifice such programs as Social Security and Medicare. Just wait!

[enough]

1. k&r

[chimpymustgo]

2. And which of OUR LEADERS will stand up against it?

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[mmonk]

4. If we get the right kind of leader,

we can end the Iraq occupation and pump that wasted money of cronyism into the system. If we hand over the system to the IMF and World Bank, then the people she speaks of will have won because they are the ones that will demand the austerity route (and the buzzards looking to pick over the damage).

[Blarch]

6. The money from Iraq is borrowed.

After we leave Iraq..the smart thing to do would be to NOT BORROW that money every year, no matter where it goes, here or abroad.

[mmonk]

7. Point is we can't continue to finance the Iraq debacle.

While we are at it, we need to start shutting down some of the 800 military bases worldwide. I also think Obama needs to revisit adding two battalions.

[lanlady]

5. just what I was saying to a pair of right-wingers last night

They were crowing with glee about how the bailout would require us to shut down social programs. The talk went like this:

Me: which social programs match this kind of scale? you'd have to abolish SS and Medicare.

Them: SS is finished anyway, it has no more money.

Me: So if there's no money left in SS, WHAT will we pay for this bailout with?

Them: (silence. they don't have a reply.)