Thursday, March 20, 2008

Shock and Awe


"If all the rich people in the world divided up their money among themselves there wouldn't be enough to go around."

Christina Stead 1903-1983 House of All Nations (1938)


The Tanking Economy

What is happening to our economy involves the same kind of “Shock and Awe” tactics that the Bush regime used against Iraq. As Naomi Klein writes in her recent book, “The Shock Doctrine”, the goal of “Disaster Capitalism” is to break down, to brainwash if you will, the targeted population to the point where they are unable to resist and then to establish a clean slate by whatever means necessary. The final intent is to rebuild the object population according to a preconceived economic agenda. Events like 9/11 and Katrina were to Condi Rice and others “great opportunities”. For example, a clean slate was established in New Orleans and then public schools were privatized into charter schools and public housing was dismantled for upscale condos. After 9/11, shock and awe worked beautifully on the American people. In the entire history of this country, the things that we never thought would be sanctioned, such as domestic spying and torture, became commonplace and acceptable.
So our current economic crisis is just another way for the Milton Friedman “Disaster Capitalists” to dismantle what remains of FDR’s social contract with the American people, something that has always been the goal of the elite classes. It is this which we must resist. There is plenty of wealth in this country. It is the distribution of wealth that needs to be addressed.