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SupportSanity

(1,461 posts)
Sun Jun 22, 2025, 03:18 PM Yesterday

"The Shock Doctrine" book by Naomi Klein. If you haven't read it yet, now would be a good time.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

is a 2007 book by Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal economic policies promoted by Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economics have risen to global prominence because of a deliberate strategy she calls "disaster capitalism". In this strategy, political actors exploit the chaos of natural disasters, wars, and other crises to push through unpopular policies such as deregulation and privatization. This economic "shock therapy" favors corporate interests while disadvantaging and disenfranchising citizens when they are too distracted and overwhelmed to respond or resist effectively. The book challenges the narrative that free market capitalist policies have been welcomed by the inhabitants of regions where they have been implemented, and it argues that several man-made events, including the Iraq War, were intentionally undertaken with the goal of pushing through these unpopular policies in their wake.

Some reviewers claimed the book oversimplifies political phenomena, while others lauded it as a compelling and important work. The book served as the main source of a 2009 documentary feature film with the same title directed by Michael Winterbottom.[1]

Link to Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine

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"The Shock Doctrine" book by Naomi Klein. If you haven't read it yet, now would be a good time. (Original Post) SupportSanity Yesterday OP
Excellent book. choie Yesterday #1
Milton Friedman and his ideas should be sent to the trash bin of history. Lonestarblue Yesterday #2

Lonestarblue

(12,699 posts)
2. Milton Friedman and his ideas should be sent to the trash bin of history.
Sun Jun 22, 2025, 03:48 PM
Yesterday

They are nothing but a scheme to transfer wealth to the 1%.

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