Disaster Collectivism

I have used the term 'disaster socialism' or similar analogs, here and there, in recent writings, beginning with the first big government bailout schemes last fall.

I specifically used this term somewhat in mockery of breathless lefty idiot Naomi Klein's so-called 'disaster capitalism', a theory advanced in Klein's factually-challenged and intellectually-dishonest book : Shock Doctrine : The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

[In "The Klein Doctrine : The Rise of Disaster Polemics", Cato's Jonah Norberg effectively demolishes Klein's near-libelous distortions and demonization of the late Milton Friedman who, obviously (and conveniently for Klein), is not around to defend himself. Fortunately others rose to the task.]

It is quite interesting less than two years after the debut of Klein's half-baked anti-capitalist diatribe that the American political left, now in power and doubtless cheered on by Klein, are pushing Klein's theories to new heights (or lows, depending on your perspective) by exploiting economic shock and turning it into epic crisis, whether real or perceived, to effect behemoth radical statism and central governmental expansionism.

David Boaz has penned a piece about "Obama's Shock Doctrine", making some salient observations about how Obama et al are acting right from the supposed disaster/opportunity playbook that Naomi Klein falsely attributes to evil rapacious free-marketeers of yore.

Boaz's observations aptly highlight what complete fabricated manure Ms. Klein peddles with her claims that economic and other crises have historically been exploited to advance pernicious capitalist ends rather than (the truth) as pretext for governments' seizing more and more control over their nations' economies.

I would say Klein evinces her total hypocrisy re: inherent evil in exploiting 'disaster' for ulterior agendas. But her beef apparently is not with the exploitative manipulation of crises and "shock", but rather that it has been done, according to her specious claims, to advance ideologies she abhors - like democratic capitalism and free enterprise economics.

So long as disaster exploitation advances the big lefty collectivist agenda Klein so worships...well....s'aaahright.