Disaster capitalism, as coined by Naomi Klein in her book The Shock Doctrine, is the exploitation of a community suffering from a state of shock as a result of a natural, political, or biological disaster in order to make a monetary profit. The collective people sharing in this catastrophe are in a state of shock rendering them into a position of heightened vulnerability. This heightened vulnerability opened the door for major worldwide corporations to come in under the guise of providing aid and support and leave without delivering on their promise millions of dollars richer at the expense of the poor and displaced. The devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake of 2010 in Haiti is an excellent example of disaster capitalism at its finest.
On January …show more content…
This is the merging of big money, big government, and big corporations into one group of the nation’s elite. The elite pay less tax then the middle and bottom classes of this nation and they pounce on us when we’re affected by tragedy and crisis by taking the money, tax money, from relief funds that are meant to go to the afflicted community. The elite also have ties with the government which make it easier to procure contracts to provide relief when catastrophe strikes. Over the past decade billions of dollars of government money, tax money, has gone to those in big business to make the rich even richer keeping the poor, vulnerable, and displaced people in a perpetual state of shock and heightened vulnerability. This is allowed to go on because the few elite have convinced us that neoliberalism or the laisse faire attitude toward our economy is the most effective and efficient way to keep the economy stable. In a sense it says that keeping a governmental hands off approach and reducing regulations on corporations will allow for economic problems to correct themselves over …show more content…
The Iraq war is attributed to the Bush administration which allowed companies like Halliburton and others to profit off the war while our nation was still in shock from the 9/11 attack. The Clinton Foundation is a major player in the profiteering off the people in Haiti during the aftermath of the earthquake. The state of shock that occurs from the sudden crisis allows for the privatization of government funds and deregulation to benefit the elite few who run the country. This activity has gone far beyond the idea that freedom and capitalism go hand in hand, in fact, as Naomi Klein puts it, it is the rise of corporatism. Where corporations can calculate tax money into their profits at the expense of communities shocked by disaster and tragedy how are we ever supposed to recover ourselves? Not only is the privatization of government funds a despicable mistreatment of tax dollars but it also widens the economic equality
On January …show more content…
This is the merging of big money, big government, and big corporations into one group of the nation’s elite. The elite pay less tax then the middle and bottom classes of this nation and they pounce on us when we’re affected by tragedy and crisis by taking the money, tax money, from relief funds that are meant to go to the afflicted community. The elite also have ties with the government which make it easier to procure contracts to provide relief when catastrophe strikes. Over the past decade billions of dollars of government money, tax money, has gone to those in big business to make the rich even richer keeping the poor, vulnerable, and displaced people in a perpetual state of shock and heightened vulnerability. This is allowed to go on because the few elite have convinced us that neoliberalism or the laisse faire attitude toward our economy is the most effective and efficient way to keep the economy stable. In a sense it says that keeping a governmental hands off approach and reducing regulations on corporations will allow for economic problems to correct themselves over …show more content…
The Iraq war is attributed to the Bush administration which allowed companies like Halliburton and others to profit off the war while our nation was still in shock from the 9/11 attack. The Clinton Foundation is a major player in the profiteering off the people in Haiti during the aftermath of the earthquake. The state of shock that occurs from the sudden crisis allows for the privatization of government funds and deregulation to benefit the elite few who run the country. This activity has gone far beyond the idea that freedom and capitalism go hand in hand, in fact, as Naomi Klein puts it, it is the rise of corporatism. Where corporations can calculate tax money into their profits at the expense of communities shocked by disaster and tragedy how are we ever supposed to recover ourselves? Not only is the privatization of government funds a despicable mistreatment of tax dollars but it also widens the economic equality