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jon24 's review for:
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
by Naomi Klein
The central tenant of the book is to refute that Friedman style economics lead to any definable liberty in the modern world. Klein argues how 'The Chicago Boys' (Friedman's followers) have worked hand-in-hand with military coups, subverted democracies, endorsed mass repression, brought about 19th century levels of inequality and ratcheted up jingoism to an all time high.
Going one further than the 'military industrial complex' she argues 'disaster capitalism' is the pinnacle of Friedman-esque politics, which is a series of right-wing leaning corporations and bodies which have exploited (or in the case of Iraq engineered) disasters, man-made and natural, to push through their very unpopular economic model.
The books sweeping style narrative helps show how 'free market' politics has developed from its early unpopular perception to now becoming a sinister cabal of think tanks and the grey area where the political class and corporations seem to inhabit. The books analogy with psychiatric shock treatment I thought was taken too far to be of any help, Klein has a habit of concluding a point twice (as if once wasn't enough) and the book is probably fifty plus pages too long. That said the book helps give enough cause for concern and the chapters on South Africa, China, Iraq and Russia are written so well they will make you want to wet your appetite further.
Going one further than the 'military industrial complex' she argues 'disaster capitalism' is the pinnacle of Friedman-esque politics, which is a series of right-wing leaning corporations and bodies which have exploited (or in the case of Iraq engineered) disasters, man-made and natural, to push through their very unpopular economic model.
The books sweeping style narrative helps show how 'free market' politics has developed from its early unpopular perception to now becoming a sinister cabal of think tanks and the grey area where the political class and corporations seem to inhabit. The books analogy with psychiatric shock treatment I thought was taken too far to be of any help, Klein has a habit of concluding a point twice (as if once wasn't enough) and the book is probably fifty plus pages too long. That said the book helps give enough cause for concern and the chapters on South Africa, China, Iraq and Russia are written so well they will make you want to wet your appetite further.