I was sitting there having a thoroughly wretched Thanksgiving, wondering in God's name what exactly our country's economy will look like in six months. To escape my mood, I put in a DVD I picked up at Bellingham's Film is Truth 24 Times a Second : "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by economist/journalist Naomi Klein . The film is a British speech and interview that explains her wildly successful "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism". In the film and the follow on interview, Ms. Klein drives home an important series of points:
(1) The series of unending political and economic crises that the world has been repeatedly subjected to in the last 10 years is designed to numb and shock us so that
(2) political and economic profiteers can usurp and profiteer and remake the world to their best interests (e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma, New Orleans).
(3) The current economic crisis is just another economic shock under the rise of disaster capitalism.
This puts all the unemployment, foreclosures, "border line criminal" bailouts of the last year into perspective: The bailout has been designed to impoverish us and disempower us while we suffer the shock of unemployment and foreclosure and bankruptcy. Also, Matt Taibbi searing article on Obama's recovery for the rich is in this month's Rolling Stone.
Happy Thanksgiving!
1 comment:
Ryan,
First off, thanks for putting together this blog. I would agree that we need far more reporting about economics than the doublespeak of corporate talking heads. Your efforts bring forth voices from the 'trickled down' side of the equation.
While I haven't checked out the Naomi Klein video yet, I would like to suggest a book for you, and am interested in your opinion of it. It's called 'Transformation: Fall of the Consumer Economy, Rise of the Responsible Capitalist' written by Jack Lessinger. Jack is a Blaine resident and he published this book in 2007. You could also find him online by Googling his name or the keyword Penturbia. He presents our economic changes since becoming a nation from a social perspective, which i found refreshing. I don't know if I am all that fond of his analysis of where we are heading, but it certainly gave me a fresh perspective on how things change over time.
As for the 'crisis capitalism' analysis I would recommend a book given to me by my son a few years back, "...and the truth shall set you free" by David Icke. I know this fellow has received quite alot of negative publicity surrounding his recent Bellingham visit, but he does have some interesting insights.
I have both books and would be happy to share. You can contact me at swilson1733@gmail.com
Looking forward to further posts. Steve
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