In this Bill Maher segment, Naomi Klein argues that by transferring Wall Street's gambling debt to Main Street (what she calls crybaby capitalism), the shock doctrine will come into play:
"They have moved the disaster from Wall Street to Main Street by accepting those debts....But the bomb has yet to detonate.The bomb is the debt that has now been transferred to the taxpayers.
"So it detonates when/if John McCain becomes president in the midst of an economic crisis, and says, 'Look! We're in trouble. We've got a disaster on our hands. We have to privatize social security. We can't afford health care. We can't afford food stamps. We need more deregulation, more privitization.'
"You know the thesis of the Shock Doctrine is that you need a disaster to rationalize pushing through these very unpopular policies.
"So, the real disaster has yet to come.The real disaster is the debt that is going to explode on the American taxpayers.And then they do economic shock therapy."
Andrew Sullivan, author of The Conservative Soul and writer for TheAtlantic.com, argues with her, unsuccessfully.Klein retorts with, "This is socialism for the rich.Look, if we're socializing things, let's nationalize something profitable.Let's go for Exxon. They're socializing junk!"
In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Initially focused on elections, she investigated the 2004 Ohio election, organizing, training and leading several forays into counties to photograph the 2004 ballots. She officially served at three recounts, including the 2004 recount. She also organized and led the team that audited Franklin County Ohio's 2006 election, proving the number of voter signatures did not match official results. Her work appears in three books.
Her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a researcher or investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor.
She graduated from The Ohio State University's School of Agriculture in December 2003 with a B.S. in Natural Resources.
All material offered here is the property of Rady Ananda, copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. Permission is granted to repost, with proper attribution including the original link.
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