First use of the shock doctrine by CIA was in Guatemala in 1954

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Shock Jock

Submitted by Lawrence Turner, Nov 25, 2007 16:31

The United States of America embarked upon a multi pronged "Cold War" after World War II. Part of that Cold War included an economic element. Afraid of the spread of communism the Cold War warriors pushed for the political and economic destruction of leftist states. This was done on purpose with the ultimate goal of replacing leftward leaning states with states that would be friendly with the corporate model of the capitalist state currently in existence and as exhibited in the United States as well as the recovered states of Germany and Japan.

The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America helped Carlos Castillo overthrow the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in Operation PBSUCCESS, Augusto Pinochet overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende with the September Plan and $6.8 million+, Saddam Hussein overthrow the democratically elected government of Abdul Rahman Arif and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi overthrow the democratically elected government Mohammed Mossadegh in Operation Ajax.

In so doing the corporate entities involved realized that there was good money to be made when a politic state failed and the property of the people, state assets, could be sold off at rock bottom prices to fulfill the demands of the World Bank, the IMF and any other institution or state that was being strangled by unpaid debts many made by prior corrupt regimes.

As most right-wing critics these days Tyler Cowen absolutely no research, falling directly into polemic and character assassination. Naomi Klein was very careful not to mention a vast right-wing conspiracy where in fact there is one. That conspiracy is the corporatist model of statehood which served Franco in Spain, Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, Hirohito in Japan, Stalin in the USSR and now serves George W. Bush in the United States of America today.

"The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein is right on the mark.

Just curious but who owns the oil of Iraq now?

The multinationals are all lined up to buy it but the Iraqi's do not seem to be in a selling mood.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
The Asian Tigers were with the "third approach" and were doing better than their neighbors. Ten years after the Asian... [MORE]	Bob	Aug 9, 2008 21:08
Hard to imagine you could write this review if you read the book carefully. No doubt Cowen skimmed the chapters... [MORE]	dopefish	Mar 7, 2008 09:48
It's so obvious that this "economist" did not take an objective viewpoint when analyzing Klein's book. It's so skewed. It... [MORE]	Kirk	Feb 26, 2008 14:20
Crediting "free markets" for the growth of freedom and modernity is like crediting "religion" for women's liberation. Feudalism is the... [MORE]	Uncle Milty	Feb 12, 2008 15:40
No doubt the reader of this review cannot deny the obvious and true arguement made by Cowen, Western economics has... [MORE]	bill	Feb 2, 2008 18:51
Even if you can't balance a checkbook, Naomi's Klein's fast-paced, meticulously sourced history of free trade economics is clear. It's... [MORE]	Peggy	Jan 29, 2008 20:51
To read Cowen's review one would think that Klein was advocating Stalinist economic policies as opposed to a return to... [MORE]	Nick	Jan 28, 2008 00:20
Good review. I wonder if it is not that capitalism requires shock, but any radical institutional change requires a major... [MORE]	Albar	Jan 25, 2008 20:58
Why is it that critiques of Klein's Shock Doctrine, avoid her good points on Iraq. It's probably because she is... [MORE]	Christopher Hutton	Dec 17, 2007 23:34
The United States of America embarked upon a multi pronged "Cold War" after World War II. Part of that Cold...	Lawrence Turner	Nov 25, 2007 16:31
The notion that the U.S. just happened to be around when all of these corporatist coups took place is demonstrably... [MORE]	noel	Nov 17, 2007 02:32
You mention that "New Zealand and Chile abandoned socialistic policies for freer markets because the former weren't working well and... [MORE]	Burton Hodge	Nov 15, 2007 01:49
One man's polemic doesn't offset another's esp. when that other is a talented wordsmith, and also an energetic and attractive... [MORE]	datadave	Nov 10, 2007 00:14
What you fail to realize in your assertion that Klein is indeed attacking the classical liberals, is that she isn't.... [MORE]	Josh	Nov 5, 2007 11:46
1973 - violent overthrow of a democratically elected socialist goverment leading to the mass killings and literally unpeakable torture of... [MORE]	Erik Bloom	Oct 31, 2007 16:55
". And when Alan Greenspan said during an interview that he fears the populist policies rising in South America -... [MORE]	Cain Adamsson	Nov 5, 2007 05:11
This is a very interesting article. It can be used to point out certain relevant critiques in terms of Naomi's... [MORE]	jan willem	Oct 27, 2007 12:44
Mr. Cowen appears unable to muster the strength to argue the facts that he accuses Klein of misrepresenting or oversimplifying.... [MORE]	Douglas Storm	Oct 21, 2007 11:08
I don't think Mr Cowen has read the book with much care. He wouldn't need to 'presume' that Ms Klein... [MORE]	Dick Wolff	Oct 12, 2007 19:12
I agree, the reviewer has very clearly not read this book. The Shock Doctrine is not a critique of capitalism... [MORE]	Beth	Jan 5, 2008 17:00
The prevailing winds are blowing hard to the left. The will of the ignorant will not be denied. Whatever the... [MORE]	Sammy Radpurtha	Oct 9, 2007 22:44
"The destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina expelled many poor black residents and allowed most of the city's public... [MORE]	Bumper	Oct 8, 2007 17:59
I didn't think much of Klein's book either, but the link between free-market advocacy and and torture advocacy seems very... [MORE]	mtraven	Oct 6, 2007 13:23
Cowen appears to believe that if anyone makes a claim about the distribution of resources, they must be held to... [MORE]	Frank	Oct 3, 2007 12:54
Frank's observation (see post dated Oct 23, 2007) points to a fundmental econometric flaw. The difference in zero and the... [MORE]	Glen	Jan 17, 2008 07:53
The Milton Freedman Katrina Reference is NOT out of 1962 but based on specific suggestions made by Freedman in an... [MORE]	Joey Gilgamesh	Oct 3, 2007 09:25