First off, I really like that this book what written with a clear perspective. This being a journalistic project, the author could have very easily sunk into an artificially “objective” perspective, or try to avoid fully committing to the implications of the story she was telling. Thankfully that didn’t happen. The author clearly has a philosophical and ideological basis for the reporting done in this book, and it’s a compelling one. This isn’t just a criticism of American foreign policy or the avarice of international finance - it’s a indictment of the capitalist system that relies on never ending expansion and increase of profits in order to keep itself alive. Reading this book directly after Marx’s Das Kapital vol. 1, I picked up echos of Marx’s critiques of capitalism that are playing out to this very day. Klein’s fluency with these concepts makes her argument even more compelling.

Of course the main function of this book is to shine a light on the machinations of the neoliberal economic order that has effectively run the world economy for the last 35 years, and it does that very well. Americans have a tendency to view geopolitics on a purely ideological level. This was surely a big part of why conservatives and liberals alike were duped into supporting the Iraq war- we feel like it is our duty as the most “advanced” country in the world to save poor brown people from themselves. Who couldn’t benefit from a free press, religious tolerance, equality for women? And yet this was never what the war in Iraq was about. Klein shows that it is economics first and foremost that drives conflict and social upheaval, not vague concepts about freedom. The great switcheroo of American politics is that we traded the fight for economic rights with the fight over cultural rights, and the reason why is clear: those at the top of society know that discussion of economic rights is much more dangerous to them than vague arguments about kneeling for the National anthem or whatever. ( )

THIS should be required reading in school. It summarizes tactics of capitalism that often fail over the last century. This information can help societies prevent repeating these mistakes and consider other options. Very well documented, easy to read, and thought provoking. Highly recommend. ( )

Just too depressing. Nothing I can do about any of it.

A foundation text for the 21st century revolution. One of my new faves. ( )

Probably one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. ( )

Testo importante per mettere in luce le politiche che di fronte ai disastri sfruttano il disorientamento delle persone per imporre logiche favorevoli alle grandi Corporation. Testo molto attuale durante una crisi come quella dovuto al Covid-19.
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Absolutely fascinating. You must read this book. ( )

Das sind also die sogenannten "westlichen Werte", die immer bemüht werden, wenn der Westen in die Schicksale anderer Länder eingreift. Erschütternd... ( )

Incredibly informative. Klein covers the influence on capitalism the Chicago School of Business has from the 1950s (Milton Friedman), and weaves their privatization obsession with the help from Washington) to prop up pro-capitalist regimes through the Southern Cone, Poland, Russia, and Africa. Written in 2006, it's right on the money with where this obsession is heading. ( )

Just turned the last page like fifteen minutes ago, and promptly realized that this book gave me a lot of information to swallow. Thankfully, because of Klein's powerfully simple thesis, if I were ever to embroil myself in an alcohol-tinged dinner party conversation about the recent history/politics/economics of any of the countries mentioned in this book (aka Chile, Bolivia, the UK, Russia, South Africa, Poland, the Asian Tigers, China, Iraq, South Asia, Israel and America, in different periods ranging from early 70s to 2007), I would probably manage just fine.

The philosophy that Milton Friedman and his economics department at UChicago constructed, and that the IMF, World Bank, Reagan, Thatcher, Bush, etc. advanced throughout the world on behalf of corporate interests, made the world less democratic, both politically and economically. "The shock doctrine" is a revealing coinage, because it explains a tenet of this philosophy--the need to shock a population, either politically, militarily, economically, ecologically, into accepting complete, unbounded free enterprise (open up borders to multinational exploitation of economies, privatization of all sectors of the economy, remove price controls on goods--things that people wouldn't support democratically)--in quite literal terms.

It's kind of amazing that Klein managed to take all of these countries, in all of their separate recent conflicts, and tie them to this one man and his devastating ideology. It's amazing because it's totally convincing. Klein's thesis reaches so deeply into the past four decades of history that it's just so impressive and fascinating how she manages to support it so convincingly.

Some things I didn't like:

She overused the torture/shock metaphor. It was a powerful parallel, and it worked, but it was also not elegant enough for her to turn it into a major, repeated part of her thesis. I also thought that the writing could get dry at parts, just because of the overwhelming amount of information and repetition.

Overall, though, this book was a triumph. I took a class called "Globalization and Social Conflict" last semester, taught by a professor who was supposed to be incredible, but this book taught me more about the problems that arose from the ideology of globalization than those four months with Patrick Heller. So thank you, Noami Klein.
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eye-opening ( )

I bought this book quite a few years ago (it was published in 2007) and it has sat on my bookcase gathering dust ever since. I picked it up at a discount because it was packaged with another book written by John Pilger. It's probably not the kind of book I would normally read but something in it must have sparked some interest in me.

To be honest I am not too sure where to start with this book. The title is very apt, it has left me pretty shocked and a little dazzed and confused. I think I can sum it up by saying that this is one of the most remarkable and well researched books that I have read. I have read quite a lot of good non-fiction books on a wide variety of subjects and it is up there with the very best of them. It contains so much information that I started to take notes on things that I thought may help with my review.

The introductory chapters of the book seem a little cryptic at first as they are about electroshock therapy used on patients in the 40's and 50's. It then details how this was adapted by the CIA and tied up in the MK ultra project. During this time an interrogation manual was created by the CIA called KUBARK. This manual focuses partly on the fact that fear and shock can induce a short period of time in which the subject is very susceptible things that they would have been against previously. This period of time is essential in the interrogation process and a phenomenon that can be mirrored in economics.

This was popularized by Milton Friedman who called for completely free markets which no intrusion from the government. He believed that nationalized services and social care were an interference to a natural economic order which would exist. Obviously people are not going to accept a government removing social care, de-restricting prices etc so a bit of economic 'shock therapy' is needed.

In the early days of this theory there was no sure way to test this as no country could or would adopt it. Friedman argued that lots of reforms had to take place quickly and no existing leaders were willing to do it. What was needed was a new country, one with a clean slate to start from and that presented itself as South American countries that had under gone military coups or the over throwing of the government. This allowed the new leaders who bring in these changed saying that temporary hardship would give way to prosperous times. A population still reeling from coup is must more agreeable in this situation that normal. Those that were not agreeable were often put down by military force, think of Chile & Pinochet.

To keep things short the book presents a case that shows huge profits being made by companies off the back off the Iraq war, hurricane Katrina, 2004 tsunami etc. This is down to the economic demands being placed on the places involved to secure funding. Often foreign investors come in, privatize the place, employ only foreigners and then take the huge profits out the country.

There is also growing evidence to show that the IMF and World Bank were able to manipulate the markets forcing non compliant countries into financial distress by destabilizing their currency. Another way the markets were exploited in South East Asia were to take economic control of one country and create investment funds that include the markets of surrounding countries. By bringing the controlled country to its knees financially the linked funds ensured that the others were dragged into the mire. The IMF could then step in, offer a loan but only if they agreed to mass privatization and foreign investors.

This review could be so much longer, the wealth of information is incredible. There are loads of references and the research alone must have been a huge undertaking. I must say that I don't go in for conspiracy theories and I do wonder if everything is as Klein says it is. There are a few reasons why I think the book must be mostly true.1) She hasn't been sued, we live in a society where law suits are readily filed. 2) The only real criticisms of the book are based along economic lines and not questioning the human cost or figures that are portrayed.

This is an incredible book, I highly recommend it. ( )

Naomi Klein is a goddamn treasure.

If this book seems overstuffed or redundant at parts, it's because Klein's thesis explains a whole lot of recent history.

If you want to know how, by whom, and for whom power is wielded in our world, read this book. Read it now especially because it goes a long way to explaining why fascism is on the rise. (Spoiler alert: it's because of the repeated, non-democratic plunder of public wealth by private multinational corporations that are designed to thrive on political instability and economic stratification, sewing widespread poverty and violence that makes room for bigotry and hatred to ascend). ( )

An extremely eye opening book. It goes into detail on the evils of capitalism and how those in power can use "shock treatment" to capitalize on disasters and use these as opportunities to transfer wealth from the local people to the hands of corporatist oligarchs. ( )

The author makes a case for the existence of “disaster capitalism” (reconstruction, largely privatized, both during emergencies and whenever there is a market opportunity), but is so far to the left as to criticize all the good aspects of it along with the bad. This book is more like a 3.5 — the phenomenon of this kind of redevelopment is interesting, but her policy prescriptions and general concern is misplaced.

Ultimately she is arguing against a strawman; no one claims the corruption aided by the government in no bid contracts is capitalism. ( )

This book made me feel sick. It gave me nightmares. My only regret about reading it is that I didn't read it sooner. It's a huge shock--ha-- to find out that the country that prides itself on being a paragon of democracy has done so much to destroy it. If the current pandemic has begun to open your eyes to the brutality of capitalism, you need this book. Actually, everyone needs this book. ( )

Absolutely hands down one of the best books I’ve ever read ( )

Reading The Shock Doctrine, I got flashbacks to reading No Logo all those years ago when I was a student. Klein's writing was eye-opening back then, and her case studies and research made even a dry brick of a book a project that I could not set down.

It is the same experience with this one. The sheer amount of detail and background make Klein's book very addictive because it feels like an attempt at keeping a record of events that will probably be edited out of the footnotes of history.

The Shock Doctrine feels like an attempt of holding people accountable, and it is a very timely and thought-provoking read. It's also entirely infuriating. It's very depressing to be reminded that current events/circumstances are the very basis for the disaster capitalism that Klein describes.

The only reason that I am not increasing my rating for this book is that I felt it lacked balance, which was most evident for me when Klein wrote about Hugo Chavez, without any mention of criticism. Granted the book was written in 2008, but still I expected more balance even if I agree with the underlying premise Klein is arguing.

Still, this was again a thought-provoking read and, maybe because of the current events we are living through, I loved that the book ended on the message (paraphrasing here):

What can we do right now to start to bring our community back in spite of the government, not because of it? ( )

It's 2007 and Naomi Klein builds a rather convincing argument about modern governmental/corporational trends.

I've personally never seen it laid out so baldly, but after having read several dozen of political books, perhaps an equivalent number of documentaries, and a lot of otherwise independent research into the topics herein, I'm willing to concede that she has a very valid point.

What is the point?

Modern economics theories are used to lay out a rather obvious plan of mass looting. They're constructed as laissez-faire Chicago School of Economics, which looks great on paper, letting the invisible hand of Adam Smith regulate all markets. In practice, putting it into effect, under the heading of Democracy or Liberation or whatever they want, the big heads of the Chicago school are backed with the CIA, big corporation interests, and a single additional theory that makes the whole thing gel together.

What's this extra theory? It's simple. They believe, as they have learned from their lessons in briefly earlier psychology research, that the best way to heal a patient is to first break their minds and bodies, starting them out on a tabula rasa, and then rebuilding from the rubble. So many have quoted the belief that the only way to get real change is after a disaster.

Never mind that the original torture victims in McGill college that underwent sensory deprivation, LSD, PCP, punctuated with ECT and blaring noise did not come out of the experience quite sane. Most of them never recovered. But THIS was the original study that they based their first great experiment on. Export the school of thought to Chile, and when it didn't quite take, destabilize the government, assassinate Allende, and install Pinochet. On Sept. 11, 1973. They used shock and awe, destroyed infrastructure, and people went hungry and were terrorized.

Guess who got a Nobel Prize in economics?

It's worse. The dictatorship was atrocious, but the big corporations were given leave to move in and rape the economy, loot anything of value, while allowing Pinochet to take the lion's share, turning him into an Oligarch, overnight. A decade later, Chile, once sporting one of the most impressive resumes of a growing and happy populace, could barely stand on its own. But the corporations got RICH.

Jump ahead to Russia right as Communism is going defunct. The same Chicago school economics of Free-Market offers them a deal. Businesses will loan expertise and open market doctrines and massive loans, but be sure to destabilize everything first. When enough blood is on the ground and people are terrified, starving, and giving up everything they ever owned, then offer them a deal they can't refuse. Capitalism on a plate that promises everything that the European nations and America has to offer since Communism is dead.

When democracy is offered but capitalism is competing, capitalism beats anything. Enter a capitalism-backed coup, corporate sponsorships everywhere, and a promise that our new leader will be able to make himself and a handful others into some of the top 30 ranked richest people in the world, opening up Russia to free trade on a scale never seen before, the only way to keep it going is by looting the population. And it did. What was the number? 14 million homeless children? Think about that. At least under communism there WAS something like a middle class. Now it's only the super rich and the survivors.

CLEARLY, this is an AMAZING outcome for the Chicago School! Companies got rich. The stock market had a field day supporting the victors. Everyone was shaking everyone else's hands. Except for the rest of the 99%, of course. They went hungry. A reported 50,000 AIDS victims exploded into 1.5 million over the space of a couple of years. Clearly, everyone was having a party.

But the rich got richer.

Remember what happened during the Iraq War, part 2? Privatized war, with every single aspect of the war delegated to private companies except for the troops, themselves. 90% of every contract went into overhead, contractors subcontracting up to four times until there was no longer any money left for doing the work. And easily, if you look back on the actual work for the reconstruction, either it was not completed in 85% of the cases, or what did get finished was at half capacity after a year. ALL work and workers were brought in from the outside. Corporations tried to set up McD and Walmart, unloaded big screen TVs on the streets that were lined with rubble.

Shock and Awe. Come on. The purpose is to drive them all into a permanent state of helplessness or create an environment of terrorism. Against them. But heck, as long as we can brew terrorists this way, each one wanting to get revenge or at the very least, JUSTICE for this travesty. 650,000 dead. For Oil. For the free market. For the freedom of a hoard of corporations to come swooping in and install a Free Trade Zone, where profits just kept coming.

Let's ignore for a moment that every cabinet member in the presidency at that time had vested and current interests in the very same corporations that made the most money on Iraq. Or that America inflated its debt many times over to pay for the graft, looting, and amazing incompetence, while leaving the door open to keep ALL of the contractors out of the legal crosshairs of ANY country, while walking away with astounding paychecks.

Ignore the fact that most invasions, if they're NOT there to loot, will actually set aside troops to protect national heritage. There is a lot of proof that the national museum holding artifacts thousands of years old was specifically excluded from that protection list, which is why troops sat by and watched as so many truckloads of priceless artifacts were spirited away. Later, even now, only 20% have ever been recovered.

We can add Hurricane Katrina to the list. The same contractors for Iraq came in to help out, taking more government money, pulling the same exact crap, and then leaving the job almost completely undone. We're talking BIG money, too. But look on the bright side! All that land can now be cleared out to build new condos! Tons of companies swooped in to reclaim the land. And they did. And a lot of them were linked, intricately, to the SAME people who were supposed to REBUILD for the original inhabitants.

Sorry, folks, couldn't do the job. You're gonna have to find a new place to live. My brother here wants the land for his new McD!

Yep, first you need to have a disaster. If you don't have a disaster, make one. If you can, build compounds and Green zones and make sure you give enough fodder to create a simmering cauldron of hate that you can regularly call on to rise up and smash down with your brand new war machine. And make sure it keeps on simmering, too, right, ISIS? We need a reason to keep getting the latest equipment to protect our super-rich bunkers.

It's great economics as long as your real intention is to get extremely rich. It's not good economics if you want long-lasting, sustained prosperity. It's the looter's creed. Make situations you can profit from. Make sure you always negotiate from the ultimate position. If that means making sure the rest of the world has a foot on its neck, then that's all for the best. That's GOOD NEGOTIATION TACTICS.

Laissez-faire, to these guys, means taking away all the safety nets. They're the same ones gutting social security, social protections, and basic food and health for the poorest people in our first-world nations. They want no government, or to turn all governments into shells with no power to do anything. They've stated this creed a million times. They want social darwinism at its worst. Keep everyone so shock and awed that they can take everything. Absolutely everything.


Let's judge an idea not on its stated ideal. Let's judge an idea based on its actual practice. If this wonderful ideal says it works best after a disaster, flawlessly re-establishing the free hand of the market, then by their own writings, we should have seen a flowering of cooperation, self-interest coinciding with everyone else's self-interest, and a natural growth of blanket prosperity that effects everyone involved. It's pretty. I've read many great books on the Chicago Style of Economics and loved them. But let's look at the ACTUAL FACTS of its implementation.

There has never been a free hand of the market. The big banana corporation pressured America to secure its economic freedom. America got it's most famous laissez-faire economists to embark on a campaign, assisted with a ton of money, integral CIA support, and a bunch of extra vultures hanging in the wings, smelling blood in the water. When the blood splashed and buildings with the elected government were murdered, all the looters moved in. Of course, back in the day, it was all ideological garbage. Sticking it to the communists, bringing in democracy. Ignore the fact that they just bombed a democracy and Pinochet the dictator came in, got rich, and entered a very profitable loot cycle with the outside vultures.

It begs the question. If, each and every time, they bring in the Chicago School of Economics, they always bring the same result, then maybe we ought to question their motives. Maybe.

I'm just waiting for other enemies of this paradigm to get their own shock and awe. Left-leaning college campuses? Gay bars? All they need is a disaster. They can wait for it and exploit it like with Katrina, but they're perfectly willing to orchestrate them, too. And give you wonderfully idealistic reasons why you should let them murder you, too.

Dark, right? But real. You've seen these looters in the housing bubble. The banking crisis. It's big. Very, very big. You can complain about transgenders in bathrooms all you like, but the really scary bits are right here. And they can take us all down. Equally. ( )

Essay, History, Geopolitic, Capitalism, Economy ( )

We live in scary times, as capitalists find new ways to profit from labor and land. ( )

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein is the story of where and how capitalism is evolving in our society. I first heard Klein last week as a guest on Bill Mahr’s Real Time and I was pretty intrigued. I followed that up with watching her TED Talk and a trip to my local library. Klein is a writer, journalist, and film maker. She writes a syndicated column for The Nation and The Guardian, and covered the Iraq war for Harper’s. Her first book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is on my short list.

People often ask me why do I read so much non-fiction when other concentrate their focus on fiction. Sometimes nonfiction can be as terrifying as a Stephen King novel. Sometimes it can be as disturbing as the best dystopian novels. Most of all it is real and is really happening. Klein captures this reality in The Shock Doctrine.

Shock therapy was once thought to clear the brain of the learned bad behaviors leaving a fresh slate to work with or a “cure.” Shock therapy was also tested to extract information government agencies wanted. This process has advanced to sensory deprivation followed by very loud noises and bright and flashing lights. The idea is to disorientate and wear down the prisoner. This works. With the idea that shocking a person into submissiveness works, can the same be idea be applied to a nation? Can a nation be shocked into changing ways and can the people be convinced that the new ways are the right ways?

The driving force in Shock Doctrine is Milton Friedman and the Chicago School. Fredman is a capitalist in the fullest sense. There should be no government interference in the economy. The economy is self correcting and vibrant when left alone. Keynesian Economics destroys freedom. Friedman was deeply disappointed in Nixon and his handling of the economy and his hands on approach. He later said there is more freedom in a dictatorship that has a hands off policy concerning the economy than a democracy with a hands on approach. With the US unwilling to make the drastic “shock” decisions with the economy his colleagues went to work in Chile trying to fight nationalization of key industries. The election of the socialist Allende and the beginnings of nationalization of copper and ITT. This brought pressure on Nixon and Kissinger to protect business interests. Allende was overthrown by a coup lead by Pinochet. The Chicago Boys (nationals trained by the Chicago School) and the Chicago school set up a drastic plan to “cure” Chile of socialism. The plan was also carried out by juntas in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Drastic privatization and allowing foreign ownership destroyed the economy of these countries. Nationalized industries are loyal to the nation. Private industry is loyal only to profits. Nationalization, although inefficient, creates jobs and markets.

Enemies were found in these countries. Chile had its infamous stadium holding centers and missing people. People who would be dragged away in the middle of the night never to be seen again. Some went to camps, some became bodies buried in walls, others were killed, had their stomachs cut open (so they would not float) and dropped into the ocean. The biggest group of people to disappear were workers. Any talk of organized labor was seen as a threat to the economy and dealt with harshly. Public gatherings were banned. In one case school children were arrested when as a group they asked for lower bus fares. Knowing that the governments could not arrest everyone involved in labor groups, but used the people they caught as examples to others.

The idea of shock treatment was also applied in Eastern Europe. Countries freed from the USSR looked to the west and the IMF and World Bank for help. The US only offered token aid and demanded that the previous governments debts would still be a valid debt. The IMF and World Bank programs came in with strings attached mostly with complete privatization and foreign ownership. What developed was a type of private colonization of newly freed counties. Klein treats Russia as a separate case from Eastern Europe. A very interest chapter on Thatcher is included. How a failing Prime Minister used a small war to claim victory against foreign enemies and turn her and the nation's interests to defeating domestic enemies -- coal miners union.

Shock and Awe was not only the invasion plan for Iraq, but also its economy. Foreign ownership and a “proper” constitution would part of the plan. Klein brings up an interesting point in war and occupation. There were requests for troops to protect the National Library and National Museum. These requests were ignored even though troops were available. In fact, there were cases where troops watched the looting. This was not just the loss of art. It was the loss of every dissertation written in Iraq, ancient texts, and art. In short it was the theft of a nation's history and identity. It was part of the clean slate wanted by the US and international organizations and businesses.

The US was not immune from shock. Exactly twenty-seven years after the US sponsored coup in Chile, the US was attacked in what was to be known as the 9/11 attacks. This shock we caused us to accept ideas and laws we would not have otherwise considered. It is frightening to listen to the number of congressmen who did not read the Patriot Act before signing it. Their reasoning was something like “It was called the Patriot Act. How could I not sign it.” Suddenly people’s patriotism was questioned. “If you do not support “X” you are unAmerican.” became a rather common refrain. What can be done about war? The military wanted more troops Rumsfeld declined and responded with private security. Conflict was becoming a consumer service; War with a smile. There was at least one example of active duty Marines under the control of private security in combat.

Not all shocks are manmade. Klein covers the Tsunami in Sri Lanka, Katrina, and Lebanon’s aid delivery. Not everything is doom and gloom for Klein there is hope. Democracy and people in Latin America and Eastern Europe have stood up and embraced democracy and vote their interests. Shock Doctrine covers forty years of history in great deal. The work is more than adequately documented. Klein presents a clear argument of where shock capitalism came from and how it has expanded. I have pages and pages of notes on this book that I have not included in the review. Outstanding history with a contemporary implications. ( )

Essential. ( )

A public policy book belonging to the horror genre, Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine is an impassioned chronicle of greedy, violent misbehavior. Her purpose is to publicize and dissect the “Chicago School experiment,” by which she means the economic “shock” therapy promulgated and supported by the school of economic thought that she associates most with 1976 Nobel laureate Milton Friedman. She sums up her thesis by writing that “the entire thirty-year history of the Chicago School experiment has been one of mass corruption and corporatist collusion between security states and large corporations.” No pulling punches there.

I read Friedman’s Free to Choose long ago. It was an easy introduction to his notions and influenced my thinking. That title, Free to Choose, represents a colossal irony if we accept Klein’s accusations of the way freedom and citizen welfare are sacrificed to achieve national economic and political transformation through the principles and prescriptions she attributes to the Chicago School. But, should we accept her accusations?

Four prominent demands of the Chicago School are as follows:
(1) Privatization of public enterprises and resources;
(2) Economic deregulation;
(3) Tax cuts;
(4) Deep cuts in government spending.
While people should debate the merits of these demands, I do not see anything inherently immoral about them if the efforts to implement them are done peaceably with consent.

However, as implemented in nations such as Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, South Africa, China, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere, Klein’s version of the Chicago School’s Friedmanomics takes on the garb of some kind of ghoulish Freakishnomics. Her intent is to show that in these countries it meant all or some of the following:
(1) Overthrow of the ruling government, often by violence, even when that government was legally elected by voters in accord with their country’s constitution;
(2) Capture and torture of opponents or presumed opponents;
(3) Terrorist acts against the citizenry, including murder;
(4) Enrichment of the richest classes of the nation, with some high bureaucrats also becoming plutocrats themselves;
(5) Foreign takeover of profitable businesses and gaining of the right to exploit the nation’s natural resources;
(6) Impoverishment of workers;
(7) Discontinuation or diminishment of many social services;
(8) “Debt bomb” detonation to conquer the willfulness of governments resisting Chicago School policies.
All these actions, among other lapses of polite behavior, to be carried out in the interest of multinational corporations.

How about that for an eight-fold path? Feeling the Zen?

This isn’t a program citizens of conscience normally ask their leaders to pursue, so there’s one other crucial element: Sell it as an absolute necessity to the preserving of freedom, peace, prosperity, and security. But also, if doable, skimp on the selling and establish the package by coercive force brought with such speed and rude brutality that it will seem a reckoning brought forth by the gods. SHOCK, baby!

Why, one might as well revert to Aristotle’s contention in the Politics that “hunting ought to be practiced—not only against animals, but also against human beings who are intended by nature to be ruled by others and refuse to obey that intention—because war of this order is naturally just.” Klein might say that’s exactly what has happened.

The question becomes how fair and correct her account is. For example, her reports of better economic outcomes in some countries with “managed” economies come across as supported by cherry-picked data, a common fault of those engaged in political persuasion. Suppose she has done this? Is it enough to justify rejecting her outrage and accepting the shocking eight-fold path she describes? Do her misjudgments about leaders such as Hugo Chavez wholly invalidate the critique?

Prior political inclinations will do much to color how one responds to this book. It’s not perfect. Ambitious books, passionately argued, aren’t. To some readers it will feel like a defamation, which reaches its height in Klein’s account of the war in Iraq. It attempts to revolutionize some of our most confidently (complacently?) held ideas about U.S. and corporate behavior throughout the world. If you are ill-disposed to accepting Klein’s biases or theses, focusing on the acts she describes and asking, “IS THIS WHAT I’D WANT ANOTHER NATION TO DO TO MY OWN COUNTRY?” can still make The Shock Doctrine an informative, dynamic, even necessary reading experience. ( )

"Instability is the new Stability" - Shock doctrine unravels the neo-conservatism nightmare of deregulated free market policies whose sole purpose is to profiteer from catastrophic calamity ranging from the 70's of breaking down South American countries like Chile , Argentina to Katrina New Orleans to the Gulf war all funded though tax payers . The creation of a new form of rabid capitalism which feeds on the most vulnerable be it privatisation of schools to outsourcing critical defense functions .
Klein goes on to point that this form of virulent economic policies stems from Milton Friedman ideology of total de-regulation in which the market will find its equilibrium thought the cost born would be nothing short of a cataclysmic disaster , currently being played out in the US where an average American family is saddled with massive debts and income in-equality . "Brexit" is another illustration where miss-informed decision by Britain is now being used to de-fund their National Health would fit Klein's Shock doctrine I presume .
Klien's book is replete with examples ranging cross continents over decades but with the same result , very disturbing yet revealing set events - a must read . ( )