One of the great aspects of Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is that it doesn't merely describe what went on in some bygone era; it provides superb information as to what is going on in the world today. In other words, the shock doctrine isn't an ancient economic relic that no longer is employed. The Chicago School, in fact, is the engine running much of the world's economy.
As I'm sure you are well aware, Greece is in the throes of staggering debt and there have been concerns that it might default. In order to stave off this potentiality, the Greek government went to the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) looking for a bailout.
The bailout they received is nothing like the bailouts US corporations received from our taxpayer dollars. In our country, corporations had little strings attached and few, if any, mandates to reform their failed business models. As the result of our lax expectations, corporations used our money to buy other enterprises, lobby Congress and pay their executives outlandish salaries and bonuses.
I bet the Greek government would have loved a bailout on such minuscule terms!!
Unfortunately, the EU and IMF stuck to shock doctrine principles which mandate that Greece must slash social spending severely AND sell off state assets at below market prices.
According to Bloomberg,
The worst part of this whole situation is that Greece had no choice but to accept these draconian measures. If they had refused these ironclad stipulations, they would have received no bailout and, most likely, would have defaulted on their debt.
In its most basic essence, the shock doctrine is a form of legal blackmail. The rich hold out a slim carrot to those in desperate need and, in order to receive the carrot, the country must sell its soul to the devil. The country receives a short-term reprieve, while the corporations benefit from the future profits of formerly state assets.
The situation in Greece is informative to those of us in the US precisely because the GOP-backed proposed budget would send us moving down the same road. This is why we should muster everything we've got to resist it.
As I'm sure you are well aware, Greece is in the throes of staggering debt and there have been concerns that it might default. In order to stave off this potentiality, the Greek government went to the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) looking for a bailout.
The bailout they received is nothing like the bailouts US corporations received from our taxpayer dollars. In our country, corporations had little strings attached and few, if any, mandates to reform their failed business models. As the result of our lax expectations, corporations used our money to buy other enterprises, lobby Congress and pay their executives outlandish salaries and bonuses.
I bet the Greek government would have loved a bailout on such minuscule terms!!
Unfortunately, the EU and IMF stuck to shock doctrine principles which mandate that Greece must slash social spending severely AND sell off state assets at below market prices.
According to Bloomberg,
Greece will sell a stake in Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (HTO), reduce its holding in Public Power Corp SA (PPC) to 34 percent from 51 percent and will begin selling down its stake in Athens International Airport. The sales will help raise 15 billion euros by 2013 and 50 billion euros by 2015...Put another way, giant European and US corporations will take over supplying basic services to the Greeks and charging a pretty penny for it!!
The worst part of this whole situation is that Greece had no choice but to accept these draconian measures. If they had refused these ironclad stipulations, they would have received no bailout and, most likely, would have defaulted on their debt.
In its most basic essence, the shock doctrine is a form of legal blackmail. The rich hold out a slim carrot to those in desperate need and, in order to receive the carrot, the country must sell its soul to the devil. The country receives a short-term reprieve, while the corporations benefit from the future profits of formerly state assets.
The situation in Greece is informative to those of us in the US precisely because the GOP-backed proposed budget would send us moving down the same road. This is why we should muster everything we've got to resist it.
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