Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Shock 'Em Til They Drop

It should go without saying, but I am NOT a big fan of the capitalist system. I lean more towards a Marxist democratic socialism and the newer conception of this idea, eco-socialism.

However, it's my guess that, even if I held nothing more than an ambivalent feeling about the so-called free market capitalist system, my opinion certainly would be close to what it is now after reading The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein.

Though I'm only halfway through the book, I've learned a lot about the Chicago School of Economics and what I've learned ain't pretty. In fact, that's an understatement; people who embrace this theoretical construct are, in my opinion, greedy bastards!!

What they've done is taken an amoral system of economics and embraced it in a most immoral fashion. In their mind's eye, profit is god and ANYTHING -- like human beings or the planet -- that gets in the way of their one prime objective is expendable. They may say they believe in concepts like democracy, morality and ethics, but the system they champion puts the lie in such rhetoric.

As Klein clearly has documented (at least to the point I've read thus far), every place their voodoo system of economics has been tried has resulted in the impoverishment of the masses and the creation of unimaginable wealth for a small elitist minority. This result shouldn't be surprising because that is their true aim and they don't give a damn how many people must suffer and die for them to secure their prize.

I realize that some people will argue that there are more compassionate forms of capitalism like Keynesianism. While I will grant that Keynesian economics is preferable over the Chicago School, the latter is always present and trying to push the former to the sidelines. Since the prime objective under capitalism IS the realization of profit, as some individuals and corporations grow ever more powerful, it is inevitable that they will eschew the Keynesian form and embrace an alternative that provides as much candy as they can cram into their fat cheeks!

In my view, capitalism breeds an insatiable desire for more. More money. More wealth. More status. More connections. More influence. More power.

No matter how much you obtain, the system drives you to want more. Enough is never enough. Sufficiency doesn't exist.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of living in an amoral system that is championed by immoral individuals and groups. I favor a socio-economic system that has some form of morality and ethics built into its fabric, the kind of system that doesn't cannibalize a large portion of the population as well as the planet itself.

Throughout today I will feature some brief excerpts from Klein's book to provide you with some food for thought. If you want to understand what is taking place in this country right now, you need to get your hands on this book. Though its focus predominantly is on the previous generation, it will OPEN YOUR EYES because it offers a road map to where today's conservatives want to take us and how they plan to do it.

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