Disaster Capitalism/Shock Therapy

Lands Leaving

Ok I'm doing an essay for college on this at the moment, based on the new Naomi Klein book, its an impressive logic, but do corporations and governments really have plans in place to exploit disasters? or are they just oppurtunists?

cavedave

Sorry I have not read the book.

On a side note in any discussion of disaster economics it is important to recognise the broken window fallacy.

Whenever someone says "fixing this broken thing will generate loads of wealth" they are incorrect, making new things generates new wealth fixing broken things does not.

donaghs

Is the course using it a reference book? What's the course?

Akrasia

cavedave wrote: »

Sorry I have not read the book.

On a side note in any discussion of disaster economics it is important to recognise the broken window fallacy.

Whenever someone says "fixing this broken thing will generate loads of wealth" they are incorrect, making new things generates new wealth fixing broken things does not.

It doesn't generate new wealth (as with most of modern capitalism), it redistributes it.

Thats what disaster capitalism is about.

After Katrina one of the first things the government did was get rid of minimum wage laws and allocate no bid contracts to their favoured corporations. There was an immediate and sudden redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich that would only have been possible because of the hurricane.

In the current economic situation, even if there is a catestrophic crash, shrewd people (but only those who already have lots of liquid assets) will be able to profit enormously by purchasing undervalued assets at bargain bin prices. You can be certain that there are billionaires buying up repossessed land for next to nothing using some of the spare mountains of cash he has lying around knowing that after this crisis blows over, it will give him enormous leverage and opportunities to make huge profits.

Corporations are already buying up the worlds water supplies in the knowledge that they will be able to make huge profits out of droughts and famine in the coming decades.

donaghs

I'm curious to know what university course would use this book as a text. While an interesting read, I can't imagine it being used in Economics or History courses as it doesn't match the sort of rigorous scholarship attached to them.

Akrasia

donaghs wrote: »

I'm curious to know what university course would use this book as a text. While an interesting read, I can't imagine it being used in Economics or History courses as it doesn't match the sort of rigorous scholarship attached to them.

Its probably sociology, and the book doesn't necessarily have to be a prescribed text, you can base an essay on anything that is relevant to the question.

If he's in Maynooth, there's a course about social movements and globalisation. There are probably similar courses in other universities.

Victor

Also read up on the Year Zero stuff in Iraq.

Lands Leaving

Akrasia wrote: »

Its probably sociology, and the book doesn't necessarily have to be a prescribed text, you can base an essay on anything that is relevant to the question.

If he's in Maynooth, there's a course about social movements and globalisation. There are probably similar courses in other universities.

Similar course in UCD, as part of sociology. Had to pick a part of the course to do an essay on and that seemed the most interesting.

lostexpectation

yes but what was Ireland's shock....

brianthebard

donaghs wrote: »

I'm curious to know what university course would use this book as a text. While an interesting read, I can't imagine it being used in Economics or History courses as it doesn't match the sort of rigorous scholarship attached to them.

Naomi Klein's "No Logo" has been used in History modules at NUIM when studying globalisation. I'm slightly ashamed that I still haven't read it.

cavedave

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Klein

Here is an article on the topic

KERPAL

Disaster Capitalism is simply a way of ridding us of the people who are slowing down world economies, the socialists. Lazy, unambitous fiends.

Sean Lemass started the ground work, and Bertie is admirably completely the task, turning our country once on the verge of scum socialism(NOEL BROWNE) to a brilliant capitalist society.

edanto

Do corporations and governments have plans in place to exploit disasters?! Why is that the biggest question you have after reading this book?!

Governments wouldn't have plans like that. Corporations, well they're bound by the law to make as much profit as they can, so nothing is sacred. Companies are happy to pollute, for example, knowing that even if they get caught they've made a profit.

"A vessel to maximise individual profit and eliminate individual responsibility" is how I've heard corporations described.

http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Jam-Americas-Suicidal-Binge/dp/0688178057

How are you getting on with the essay?

What point are you trying to make in it?

djpbarry

brianthebard wrote: »

Naomi Klein's "No Logo" has been used in History modules at NUIM when studying globalisation. I'm slightly ashamed that I still haven't read it.

I didn't think much of it. I don't really agree with a lot of the logic she uses. Philippe Legrain makes much more sense to me, even though I still wouldn't agree with all of his views.