The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - The Shock Doctrine

Naomi Klein has summed it all up. There definitely is a lot of history to go through, but it is so interesting and keeps your interest all the way through. It is far from a personal perspective on Global and Domestic Shock Economics. She backs up everything with citations from a multitude of sources, worldwide. Her allusions and similes based on hard facts scared the hell out of me of what the government has been capable of over the past 60 years.

It seems like she has "outed" the Shock Economists, The "Chicagoans", all the followers of Milton Friedman's "Free Market Economy". You learn how greed just changed the playing field. Now that she has "outed" them, I just hope more people will read this and speak out against the "Shock Doctrine" the next time it is carried out. This should be required reading in any economics, history or political science class at the university level. Thank you Ms. Klein for putting it out there!

This purchase was made for someone else, but I checked this title out from the library. If it had been my own copy (and there were no due date), I think I would have read it more thoroughly; there were some chapters I scanned rather than reading word for word. There is just SO MUCH in it... It is dense. So much history, and dots connected among so many things that are not typically addressed by our media, or even by historians. Right now I am especially interested in understanding some of Chile's history and did not realize she addresses this very thoroughly in the book. That, and much more. Highly recommend.

Gercekten cok muthis bir kitap,belki de ikinci dunya savasindan sonraki donemle bugunlere kadar donemi icine alan; kapitalizmi ve (buyuk sirketlerin dunyayi ulke adi altinda nasil yonettiklerini ornekleri ile aciklanmis) sanki bir belgesel niteliginde..Dunyadaki darbelerin nasil onceden hazirlanip sonra Milton Friedman'in ekonomik kuramina gore yeniden dizayn edildigini Cile,Arjantin (Allende'nin devrilmesiyle baslayan donem) SSCB'nin dagilmasiyle Polonyada Lah Valesa doneminden sonra ozgurluk arayislari komunizm ekonomik sisteminden kapitalizme gecerken nasil bir ekonomik zincire takildiklarini ) Cin'in Tian'anmen meydanindaki olaylarla dunyaya gozuken ve Cin'in kapitalizme nasil donus yaptigini (birgun de 7000 insani oldurup topluma sok uyguladiklari vsvs),Rusya'da Boris Yeltsin'in meclisi nicin ve nasil topa tuttugunu,TR'de 12 Eylul'un nasil tezgahlandigini,sonradan Ozal'in ekonominin basina nasil getirilmis olabilecegini..hatta bunlari okurken,bugunle AKP'nin bugunku duzeni neyin devami olabilecegini dahi izleyebilirsiniz ..daha akliniza gelen gelmeyen hemen hersey (butun dunyadaki olaylari tarihi zaman akisi icinde ogreniyorsunuz ve sok olmaya hazir olun ,derim.) Naomi Klein,Noam Chomsky ve Howard Zinn turunde bir anlatimla zamana damga vuruyor adeta.

Gercekten cok muthis bir kitap,belki de ikinci dunya savasindan sonraki donemle bugunlere kadar donemi icine alan; kapitalizmi ve (buyuk sirketlerin dunyayi ulke adi altinda nasil yonettiklerini ornekleri ile aciklanmis) sanki bir belgesel niteliginde..Dunyadaki darbelerin nasil onceden hazirlanip sonra Milton Friedman'in ekonomik kuramina gore yeniden dizayn edildigini Cile,Arjantin (Allende'nin devrilmesiyle baslayan donem) SSCB'nin dagilmasiyle Polonyada Lah Valesa doneminden sonra ozgurluk arayislari komunizm ekonomik sisteminden kapitalizme gecerken nasil bir ekonomik zincire takildiklarini ) Cin'in Tian'anmen meydanindaki olaylarla dunyaya gozuken ve Cin'in kapitalizme nasil donus yaptigini (birgun de 7000 insani oldurup topluma sok uyguladiklari vsvs),Rusya'da Boris Yeltsin'in meclisi nicin ve nasil topa tuttugunu,TR'de 12 Eylul'un nasil tezgahlandigini,sonradan Ozal'in ekonominin basina nasil getirilmis olabilecegini..hatta bunlari okurken,bugunle AKP'nin bugunku duzeni neyin devami olabilecegini dahi izleyebilirsiniz ..daha akliniza gelen gelmeyen hemen hersey (butun dunyadaki olaylari tarihi zaman akisi icinde ogreniyorsunuz ve sok olmaya hazir olun ,derim.) Naomi Klein,Noam Chomsky ve Howard Zinn turunde bir anlatimla zamana damga vuruyor adeta.

For decades, we've been baraged with the idea that the free market is a force of nature, as incontestable as the law of gravity, and that it somehow represents the natural extension of free democratic societies. We've heard this so often, we've all but ceased to question it, yet the history of unfettered free market policies fails to support empirically their proponents' idealized predictions. This is the blindfold that Naomi Klein's work seeks to lift from our eyes.

Ms. Klein chronicles the repeated efforts of free market advocates to impose radical free market policies around the world and observes that, in stark contrast to the joyous choruses of freedom on the march offered by the architects of such policies, the reality has been far less promising. In every instance, "free" market policies have been forced upon populations which did not desire them, and with the uniform and predictable consequence of making a tiny minority richer than kings, at the expense of impoverishing the majority of the population.

Critics fault the quality of Ms. Klein's economic analysis, which I find telling. Ms. Klein is not an economist, nor does she pretend to be. Rather, she is a journalist who is chronicling events, none of which, interesting enough, do her critics wish to discuss.

I also am not an economist and I do not presume to speculate whether Milton Friedman and his disciples are as sinister as Ms. Klein perhaps overreachingly suggests, but it matters not at all to me what their intentions may or may not have been: what does matter is that their experiments in radical free markets have consistently produced catastrophic human costs. It is therefore far from having reached the level of an established truism that the "free market" represents some benevolent force of nature and thus the only sensible goal of every policy maker. Quite the opposite: the costly and bloody track record of such policies demands a serious evaluation of the theory's basic assumptions.

Yet, as Ms. Klein points out, proponents of radical free market economics share with other fundamentalists a faith in their ideology which denies any admission of error. Like religious fundamentalists, they have created a logical closed loop, whereby any evidence conflicting with their world view, no matter how overwhelming, is invariably dismissed as the fault of external influences and tamperings with the idealized workings of the free market as they understand it. I find it ironic that these economists like to think of themselves as scientists describing a natural phenomenon, yet the first rule of the scientist is to find hypotheses to explain what they empirically observe; the first rule of the free market economists seems to be to assert a weak hypothesis, and then attempt to force reality to conform to it, no matter how poor a fit it may be.

That Dr. Friedman and his followers are unable or unwilling to acknowledge the reality of their misguided hypotheses is regretable. If we are to have any hope of avoiding repetitions of the same tragic mistakes and failures to which their flawed ideas have led us, it is crucial that the rest of us at least begin to look rather more critically at the fruit those policies have in fact born. Ms. Klein's work is an important step in that direction.

Naomi Klein's frightening and dead honest and impecible researched explains the past and the current of the incredible unethical and immoral behavior of those in power in the Administration today and linking it with the situations, that I have first hand knowledge of in Chile, where the engineered kidnapping, slaughter, torturer of Chilean citizens was done by Kissinger and Nixon, following the outlandishly immoral and unethical and always failed, sick thoughts of Milton Freidman. The scariest part is the Bush/Cheney and his band of Anti-American, Pro-terrorist actions are doing to the U.S. what they aer doing to Iraq and have to do many countries in South America. Fortunately Chile through out Pinochet and Chicago boys and restored a democracy with the last two remarkable Presidents were people who were tortured by the U.S. trained Chilian military of Pinochet.
Thr torture and bombing with "shock and awe" in Iraq, is the same thing that was done in Chile and in Argentina, Brazil and for the first time, in t he U.S. by ouor own administration. The intention economy rotting deficit spending, offshoring of all of ouor manufacturing, the expanding gap between the haves and have nots, destruction of the middle class, 20 bilion a month on Iraq and privitizing the military (180,000 mercenaries), the recovery effort for profit by Haliburton (who still have Cheney on its payroll). They did NOT expect Iraquis to fight back.
We are getting the same "shock and awe" treatment by destroying the economy, the illegal spying on U.S. citizen, BY THE U.S, itself, the creation of a fascist Corpocracy. Destruction of public education. Listen to the neo com/neoliberal mombling of old man McCain about cutting social prograns, which we need more of, BUT to never cut feeding of our taxpayer money to war contractors. The worthlessness of the dollar.
Same, same, same. It has failed horrible every place else, and will keep failing as pure unadulterated evil should fail.

Incredible book. Heck, you can just look at the declassified documents at the library of Congress to see about Nixon/Kissinger's intent for the Corporate takeover of a long time democracy in Chile.

Jon

"The Shock Doctrine" is a must-read for anyone who wants to get a clearer picture about what the US has done in Iraq relating to the 2003 invasion, from an economic perspective. The book begins decades before, from the lens of Milton Friedman and his advocates' approach to laissez faire, free-trade corporatist economics and government's role in making it happen.

She does seem to come from a viewpoint as seeing free trade, etc mostly just punishing the less fortunate. It should be noted that Milton Friedman did advocate a negative income tax to replace welfare. So, it is not that he and some of his advocates are either totally misguided or heartless. However, there are indeed excesses by many in powerful positions who really are either misguided or heartless or both.

From tsunamis to Hurricane Katrina to changes in government in Chile, the Soviet Union, Argentina, etc and the 'shock and awe' in Iraq, there are people with power who either wait for or effect some cataclysm to panic everyday people to accept what is really not in their best interest and looks to reward the well-connected.

I'll just mention a few things from the book which come to mind and I feel noteworthy:

1. The author uses the term, 'useful crisis', like with the Canadian debt crisis in the 90's, to create a sense of panic to justify potential cuts to social programs. This term is appropriate in generalizing what has happened around the world in different situations.

2. Donald Rumsfeld was a board member of ASEA Brown Boveri, the Swiss firm that sold nuclear technology to North Korea. Interesting!

3. Rumsfeld was Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences, maker of Tamiflu, the preferred treatment for bird flu, setting up Gilead to make tons of money as the government which he became a part of, then stockpiled the drug while Americans were warned of a possible mass outbreak of the disease. When Rumsfeld left the government, the value of the Gilead stock he still owned had gone up 807%. Interesting!

4. The 2006 Defense Authorization Act grants the president the power to employ the armed forces, overriding the wishes of state governments during a 'public emergency' which could include hurricane, mass protest or public health situation. Previously, the president could only invoke martial law in case of insurrection.

5. US orchestrated foreign coups seeking to protect corporate favorites, can sometimes try to sell the coup because the country is being alien to Americans simply because it is alien to an American company and thereby trying to undermine the US.

6. Paul Bremer, given the responsibility to remake Iraq, enacted a 15% flat tax and allowed foreign companies to own 100% of the profits in Iraq, not re-invest in Iraq and not be taxed. Plus, 40 year leases for foreign investors so any future Iraqi governments would be stuck with the deals.

7. The author reminds the reader of what the political scientist, Michael Wolf, had to say that conservatives never govern well because they believe that government, itself, is bad. Surely not always true, but it is certainly a thought to keep in mind when evaluating a conservative candidate for office.

8. The White House ignored most of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations except to now allow companies like Shell and BP to get long oil leases and keep most of the profits, something not even Bremer permitted, effectively keeping millions of Iraqis in perpetual poverty.

This book is well documented with references and definitely a must-read.

I read the book in 2008, then recently purchased the audio CD set. I often found myself ranting, pissed off, silently crying or struggling to explain to friends, co-workers and my wife just one small aspect of Ms. Klein's report. Too many very smart friends of mine are not familiar with Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys.

Thank you, Ms. Klein, for identifying Friedman and his military- industrial- congressional high priests as cynical predators of humanity. The Shock Doctrine clearly and concisely displays the IMF, World Bank, Wall Street, Pentagon, Republican National Committee (to name a few) as the real post 9/11 "Axis of Evil" hatched in our once brilliant America. Global corporate greed and by extension it's need to bend civilization to it's financial agenda is all consuming - the poor and middle class will be buried deeper and deeper.

In retrospect Ms. Klein predicted the market collapse of 2008. It is easy to conclude that the evolving world depression is in fact the next planned step in disaster capitalism. Or have American, European and Asian financial markets become the accidental subject of their own internalized shock therapy smash up?

Ms. Klein shows us how the American taxpayer has been held captive by military - corporate - congressional Friedmanites. When do we get shed the straight jacket, or when will their agenda run dry of victims?

At times The Shock Doctrine feels more like an epic work of science fiction - a sad dark tale told by William Gibson, pinpointing the pivotal moment when the leaders of a lost planet began to eat their own.

Now I get it. Thank you, Ms Klein.

I got this book for Christmas and have been reading on it ever since. Unlike people who devoured the book, it has taken me some time to digest this.

Klein has an overarching theory about Shock doctrine and how shock--whether it be physical or psychological or economic--can create a vaccuum because the shocked person(s) are relatively in acute crisis and that allows for draconian measures to be instituted. I suspect that people who do not like the book get hung up on this over-arching theory. I have been slow to buy it and yet there is something there even if it does not attain the status of grand theory--an overarching idea that explains "everything".

And yet, I would urge readers to make peace with this relative flaw and just read the book.

There is something here. She is not "all wrong". I guess in my view of humanity, I would say that Frideman's followers have not been enthusiastic about embracing the pain they have inflicted. Like many flawed people they have minimized and refused to look at the harms their theory inflicts. (the same can be said for many theories of economics and other fields) But she makes a case for it and it is real.

Now I am about two thirds of the way through the book, where I am reading the chapter about Corporatist government. The revelations of this chapter are worth the price of the book and yet to read it in isolation probably won't get you there. The book is an interelated whole. But here she asks some very important questions. If (as she successfully posits) the interests of the government and the interest of big business get conflated and become one in the same, what are the incentives for peace? Corollary questions can be asked: what are the incentives for the government to take care of people as a whole? To see a healthy nation? To provide jobs that provide a just wage and a promise of a future?

In my own field I was stunned to go the CDC web page this winter in the midst of the flu season and to find, on a public information page about influenza, an unprecedented emphasis on anti-viral agents such as Tamiflu. The mainstay of public health approaches to influenza have been prevention in the form of the vaccine and self imposed quarantine and goodhandwashing, to name the highlights. And here was this emphasis on getting in to your doctor to get Tamiflu at the first indication of influenza.

In this particular chapter, Klein talks about how, in an unprecedented way politicians have maintained their connections to business interests (sitting on boards, on the payroll, holding controlling stock interests) WHILE IN OFFICE. Their policy choices have directly impacted ultimately their own bottom line and not unimpressively! So it is a minor point in this chapter that VP CHeney sits on the board of the company that makes...Tamiflu!!! Ta-da! Business interests triumph and public health practice changes. And believe me, Tamiflu is a drop in the bucket of the profits that Cheney and his ilk have seen from being in a position that allows individuals to create policy from which they ultimately profit. This should be concerning to anyone no matter on which end of the political spectrum they count themself.

Read the book. Read it in little bits if that is all you can tolerate. This lady has something important to say.

This book reinforces many of my long-held beliefs regarding the destructive effects of the "global economy", while providing the results of extensive research and documentation. And the author is Canadian, eh?

Forget the pheripheral squabbles over economics and psychology! They are intended to divert the reader. Its detractors would prefer it be ignored and forgotten; don't let that happen. Mostly, this stunningly important book is a History of Your Money and it's international and domestic footprint over the last fifty years....The History of United States' intention and future goals. Absolutely mandatory for every high schooler; required reading. - Chris Potter

This book is a great view countering our spotty American education with regard to just what has happened in the world since WWII.
Naomi Klein accurately covers in depth the CIA/Chicago School of Economics destruction of real 'democracy' in our world, and the involvement of Milton Friedman and Henry Kissinger, and a phalanx of neo-cons, in actions that should have had them tried at the Hague years ago.
this book belongs in every school and library in the nation. A good insight into why Americans are detested worldwide.

We live in some very confusing times, possibly my most confusing (I am 60). Because of this, I like books that explain the present, and make predictions for the immediate future. Few books are better than this, although at times like John La Carre says "Scary as Hell." The book is a critical look at the history of Milton Friedman and his ideas of an "extreme" free market (one of the very few that I've found).

It also looks at the "Shock Doctrine," which is another of the view that "the ends justify the means."
The Shock Doctrine exists outside of Friedmans' Economic theories also. It is the view that "letting a nation adapt the best economic practices takes a VERY long time, and the best way to do it, is to destroy the existing economic infrastructure and install the new one, and not let them re-institute the old practices. Although, very painful (to say the least) it is far less painful in the long run to do it all at once. Sort of like visiting the dentist. When it doesn't work, the policies were not tried hard or stringent enough, in other words, the victim (nation) is to blame."

The book looks at the history of the Chicago school (including Hayek), it's initial testing, and Nixon's later endorsement of it (late 1950-60's) in southern South America (Chile, Argentina, Uraguay, and southern Brazil) and later in Iraq, Mexico, and Thatcher's England, etc. Usually the trend would be, it would run (but not as good as expected), government collusion/corruption, elimination of regulation, loss of government power, reduced taxes (particularly on the rich), the middle class would erode, the economy flounder then collapse, and then sometimes a return to Keynsian policies.

There is also a clear "economic" exceptionalism that justifies our actions (foreign experimentation), just as there have been "nationalism/religious" forms that have justified other actions. The motive unfortunately isn't so much to gain data, and refine theories, but to prove Friedman's ideas work. At times, it is almost almost a form of religious fanaticism, you are saving mankind, and anyone who opposes you is evil and MUST be stopped.

Hell, even New York Magazine tagged this book as A Brilliant Inditement of Chicago School Economics.

Some very smart people that know a thing or two about economics highly recommended this book to me. So, I got it and well--

To anybody out there that is not sure if they want to purchase this book --

After you've read this book you will not look at the world the same way again. Yea, it's one of THOSE books. It will indeed affect the way you understand things because it will open your eyes and make you see what you have not before. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, it is just a fact. We live in a radically troubled and unjust world and it is time we all wake up to the reality of how our economic and political systems are destroying people and the planet.

If your skeptical or if you consider yourself a conservative, a Right-winger, a Republican, whatever, -- I would still recommend the book to you if you have an interest in economics. It's an interesting read and very well written.

excellent read, informed, interesting dismemberment of Milton Friedman's economic theory as put into practice in various countries around the world, along with much more on what goes on in the name of freedom and such like. Can't recommend enough, by no means out of date, a warning for us all. Looking forward to the next work by this author, Also read this author's latest on climate change, another interesting take on the future and developments vis a vis same in recent past, well informed, scathing and filled with workable solutions.

Hell, even New York Magazine tagged this book as A Brilliant Inditement of Chicago School Economics.

Some very smart people that know a thing or two about economics highly recommended this book to me. So, I got it and well--

To anybody out there that is not sure if they want to purchase this book --

After you've read this book you will not look at the world the same way again. Yea, it's one of THOSE books. It will indeed affect the way you understand things because it will open your eyes and make you see what you have not before. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, it is just a fact. We live in a radically troubled and unjust world and it is time we all wake up to the reality of how our economic and political systems are destroying people and the planet.

If your skeptical or if you consider yourself a conservative, a Right-winger, a Republican, whatever, -- I would still recommend the book to you if you have an interest in economics. It's an interesting read and very well written.

excellent read, informed, interesting dismemberment of Milton Friedman's economic theory as put into practice in various countries around the world, along with much more on what goes on in the name of freedom and such like. Can't recommend enough, by no means out of date, a warning for us all. Looking forward to the next work by this author, Also read this author's latest on climate change, another interesting take on the future and developments vis a vis same in recent past, well informed, scathing and filled with workable solutions.

The free market economic revolution is exposed in accurate and substantiated detail for the horror story it is. Far from being a scientific theory, it is exposed for what it really is, a cultish set of beliefs, based on an assumption that human greed is the fundamental motivation of humans, and the way to create a better world is through unleashing and encouraging and if necessary forcing governments in emerging democracies to subject their populations to the violence and degradation of its consequences. In country after country we are shown precisely how such economic manoeuvreing behind the scenes has resulted in the replacement of democratic governments by dictatorships, of the rule of law by the rule of terror, of cultural diversity by the monoculture of poverty. What the west labels terrorism fades into insignificance in the light of the structural violence manifested by their own economic policies. We are shown clearly the results of implementing policies devoid of compassion whose consequences are devoid of the 'freedom' they promise. Except, that is, for a ten or hundred fold increase in millionaires. For many years Americans have been puzzled about why the world seemed to hate them. If they read this book they will have their answer.

4.5 stars

This book covers essential issues in great compelling prose style similar to NPR (if NPR were hard-hitting and wasn't such intelligentsia-washing PR for corporatism/ALEC/"Globalism"). The underlying thesis is a little tenuous or 'infotainment'-y, but makes a great vehicle for narrative.

Also seems to *mostly* transcend or side-step partisanship (essential for understanding the real world these days, and not being played like a chump).

I thought I was well versed in public issues. Little did I know. This book and the detailed information presented startled me. In previous times I thought of the Milton Friedman school of economics (Univ. of Chicago)as primarily dedicated to a monetarist emphasis for economics. Now I know much better - my wife and I have been educated in areas of public policy we had been blind to. If there is a drawback to this book it is the overwhelming density of the material. Nevertheless it is essential reading if one is to understand the broad sweep of a fundamentally ideological and rigid approach to public economic systems. It eschews a mixed economy seeking to replace it with a totally market based system which essentially represents an economic law of the jungle - dog eat dog, having a few extraordinary winners and an overwhelmingly large number of losers. What is so frightening is that it has been and continues on the march.

Interesting exposure about how our world moves. Bring to mind that movie "Cabaret"..."Money makes the world go round..." We are naive thinking that whoever get in power does so for the "love of humanity" There have been VERY FEW exceptions and then again they are dead!

Creative and insightful! Shows the connection between the shock therapy applied to individuals in the 1950s and the national shock therapy applied to Chile, Russia, and Iraq. Shows the method behind the madness of the neo-cons and the neo-liberals. Poignant interview with economist Jeffrey Sacks. Sacks just doesn't get it. If you read this book, you will!

For the first nine chapters of the SHOCK DOCTRINE by Naomi Klein I could not put the book down until I had finished reading it word for word. Having been suitably impressed I immediately purchased three additional copies and have given them out to professional colleagues who I know enjoy reading about history and economics, especially in regards to humanitarian and development issues in third world countries, and their volatile causes/treatments.

I work in a team of people providing business advice on risk, governance, financial viability, and management issues within government circles. We rely on evidence based information and examples of best practice standards in an attempt to form meaningful, arms length, positive future based recommendations to safeguard the needs of various stakeholders. This is done to uphold a particular values and belief system within the culture we operate in.

Naomi Klein's SHOCK DOCTRINE provides a stunning example of all of these factors - the theory, the principles to be applied from this theory, the political element, the execution, the results, and the feedback and refinement of the theory. The context is the way in which free-market economic revolutions require the subjugation of the psychological free will of the people to form their own consensus, and their own democracy, to be accepted. While I'm still slowly digesting the rest of the book, one of the most compelling observations I think KLEIN makes early on, is that purist capitalism does not allow for the presence of competing or tempering world views; it requires a monopoly on ideology. This monopoly condition is a total contradiction in the free-market theory which is supposed to actively encourage competition so that ALL consumer's utility can be maximized at the "bliss point" under Pareto Optimality conditions i.e. having the ability to execute CHOICE is the defining benefit of liberalism, and free-markets over state run command economies.

If you're interested in the use of university silo economics based research, psychological trauma, their theoretical underpinnings and how these have been imposed on real people and communities, and the variable results (some negative, some positive), the SHOCK DOCTRINE is essential and excellent reading. You don't have to agree or disagree with everything presented here; the value of a good non-fiction book like Klein's is in the evidence base, and how carefully linked the conclusion is made to this base. Definitely food for thought.

With situation that really were not even dreamed of, this book explores in details how important historic event were transformed by the official media and misinformation in the middle of the Information Age.

Shocking analysis of the depredations of unbridled capitalism and feckless government. Every citizen should read this book to learn of the immorality of multinational corporations and stooge politicians. The book details murder, torture and war leading to robbery of countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.