Riz Khan - Naomi Klein Disaster Capitalism - 19 Sep 07

[qwertypoiu4321]

She is an extreme idiot, ahh (facepalm)...

[rickbar123]

Don't read her books, study them.

[airbreather123]

If only we had more government involvement everything would be fantastic....Ohh how I wish for more regulations. All those factories in 3rd world need to be shut down so that they can live free from work, go back to farming and living in the dirt.

If only I was taxed more to improve our schools, pay more to teachers regardless if they are good or not, and will never get fired. that would be awesome

[randyguitarman13]

Naomi Klein is a tool of the State.

[AudioForAnarchists]

Naomi looks good.

[holzpusher]

Whenever the right wingers talk about "freedom", watch your wallet. What they really mean is the freedom for huge corporations to do whatever they want: pollute, bust unions, rob pension funds, whatever. They hide all that behind the guise of Freedom.

[selurbrainonebay]

I think kleine is great as a whistle blower but there is clearly a debate which needs to be engaged which is not engaged as a debate by kleine between freedome and rights. Freidman said "is it possible to do good with other peoples money" the arguments of libratarions that tax is theft do have powerfull routes and emotional conotations, does kleine really proves libertarionism is just a state of Oligarchy or is Libertarionism a more respectable form of anarchy? total freedom offering total power

[Eldel15]

She needs to learn economics

[BasicEconomics]

Fear mongering junk economics. Very sad how dedicated she is to misguiding the public.

[photopicker]

we've been living with unregulated junk economics for years

[gnoam9]

Shock Doctrine should be a must read for all economic profesors and students. This is what happens when capitalism goes unchecked.

[airbreather123]

@gnoam9 the capitalism that is imposed by a government is not capitalism. the free market provided you with internet and this website, yet you spit on it so quickly.

If the government had stayed out of economic planning the situations that naomi describes would not exist

[gnoam9]

@airbreather123 We all enjoy the free market, it does 'make the world go 'round'. Yet if it is left unchecked, it creates more human misery to more people by the rich. Fanny Mae, RBS, Morgan Stanley either failed outright or needed the US tax payers to bail them out.

Since Canada has regulation to its banking system, it's hard to argue that regulation doesn't work.

The comment doesn't mention anything about capitalism being bad, only that it needs to be held accountable.

[airbreather123]

@gnoam9 I'm sorry but what you are saying is simply not true. Fanny Mae is a government created entity to help people get affordable housing, hence sub-prime loans and interest only loans. In canada unlike USA government does not guarantee other peoples mortgages, thus creating a moral hazard. free market wanted those companies to fail and they should have.

Government created federal reserve sets interest rates, thus creating the bubbles. if you want real economic analysis look up peter schiff

[gnoam9]

@airbreather123 Well, I simply don't know what to tell you. I wish you luck in finding the is nirvana where government doesn't play a role in the up keep of society. Are govenments a neccessary evil? I believe so. Are they held accountable? Indeed, and so they should be. If Bay street could be more Friedmanite, who would hold its feet to the fire when it all went pear shaped?

[airbreather123]

@gnoam9 I'm also at a loss. There is no nirvana to be had, a government has a role, but not in the economy. It has a role in making sure law is followed. If a company breaks a rule it should be held accountable. However the market imbalances that cause huge downturns are government created.

Somehow pursuing political self interest is more noble than pursuing self interest in the free market, i find that to be a fallacy.

[gnoam9]

@airbreather123 I think we can agree on disagreeing. Thank-you for the polite argument, though.

[ServantAngEL]

And You are sooooooooo cute too!!!!!~~

Dr. *Ang-EL*

[ServantAngEL]

i have 3 woman heros:

Joan of Arc

My wives Shay + Sparta

and now we can add Naomi Klein.

Thanks Naomi for being You!!!!!~~ And the way that You are!!!!!~~

W/Love & Respect

i am Your

Dr. *Ang-EL*

[LostFREEDOM]

wake up America-your rights are being taken away in front of your nose-its like nazi germany all over again-didnt bush say that the constitution is just a piece of paper! And now they are wipeing thier ass with it

[Dillardred]

her "philosophy of power" is completely wrong. comes from a good place, i'm sure, to say that there is something wrong with capitalism today, but the intellectual part doesn't make any sense.

[redrick75]

Respectfully, could it be that maybe, just maybe you don't understand her? It's impossible to convey this message in a 15 or 20 minute video segment. My guess is that if you read the book you'll find the deeper analyses and ultimately the answers that you're looking for. Cheers!

[Dillardred]

al jazeera, you spelled 'economist' wrong on the screen.

[suhailshafi]

I think al Jazeera needs to do a better job of clearing its section of the Youtube site of racist comments that play no constructive role at all in promoting dialogue but only serve to incite.

[suhailshafi]

I think al Jazeera needs to do a better job of clearing its section of the Youtube site of racist comments that play no constructive role at all in promoting dialogue but only serve to incite.

[skipscobie]

i bet you a bazillion dollars you didnt read her book. sexdrugsrnr= willfully ignorant shitbag

[gnoam9]

And you know so much being a neophyte?

[semiliteratedgod]

she defends them while the fucking muslims want this woman to wear a bag on her head and be an obedient uneducated slave, see fucking muslims, you're assholes and your religion sucks ass.

[shiankiang]

Hottie with intelligence.

[blakegil1]

Interesting, her history might be right [crisis -> change], but most crisis leads to centralization of gov power, Read 'Crisis and Leviathan' by Higgs. privatization is not outsourcing of power it's giving it up. She fails to see the distinction between 'statist Corperatism' (results see Iraq) and real 'free markets capitalism' results see youtube. Yes morally of freedom trumpets democracy.

[statikcx]

L.O.L. Klein has no idea what she is talking about. ppl should read Rebel Sell, Heath and Potter show Klein to be a hypocritical bimbo. She does a brilliant job of criticizing the status quo but is at odds to provide a better solution. If corporations don't provide the services who will, FEMA? We have already seen how brilliantly that schema worked out in New Orleans.

[breakfastisready]

She's quoting the bible in a crazy way.

Now you can believe the bible or not - but she's obviously never read the thing.

[highway234]

dude, that interviewer is totally undressing her with his eyes.

[blahinhawaii]

The most messed up thing about the CFR is that for decades they have place one of their own members as EVERY SINGLE under or assistant secretary in every division of both the state and defense depts. You have to be invited into the CFR and there is a rule against sharing what is discussed there and they own entire military & intelligence part of our gov't.

[blahinhawaii]

if you were to ever try to find out about these treasonous enemies who are overthrowing the U.S. constitution YOU would be charged with threatening "national security" which is actually the security of the greatest domestic enemies of the constitution which have ever existed. MESSED UP. The CFR, Bilderberg and the trilateral commission are PURE EVIL.

[davidmesaaz]

She is flat out wrong to think that Free Market Reforms only are passed in times in crisis. Costa Rica by popular vote passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Costa Rica does not have a dictatorship a military junta or a natural or economic crisis yet it passed a free trade accord.

Also if people didn't want Reagan's free trade deals why did 49 out 50 states re-elect him in 1984? Why was Clinton Re-elcted in 1996 after he passed NAFTA?

[davidmesaaz]

Her argument is that free-market reforms can only be pushed through during a disaster. That the reforms are inconsistent to democracy.

If that is incompatible with democracy then FDR New Deal policies were "undemocratic." Many of FDR's new deal policies were stalled in Congress for 25 years before the great depression which provided an opportunity for FDR to be elected and pass his "radical" ideas.

[jamesmorgandavies]

If only she WAS wrong. Her books should be mandatory reading for secondary & college students in the US.

Now America is about to get a major dose of fiscal disaster, & yet another "clean slate" for investors; deflated prices on foreclosed real estate, & desperate people who'll work cheaper than ever.

[jrstafford]

This video is a brief summary of Naomi's exceptional book "The Shock Doctrine."When you read the book you can easily look up many of her sources on line nt her website. She is brillant and has had many fist hand experiences that back up her thesis.

[tenayaca]

Your ignorance is showing.

[pulsating123]

SHow me how

[olegeez55]

John Edwards WAS wrong in calling the "War on Terror" just a bumper sticker. It's actually a well played marketing campaign. I'm sure it will have longer 'legs' than the "War on Drugs" or the "War on Poverty". Those two created a great number of government jobs, but not enough corporate profit. And lest we forget, this one has at least twice the measure of God folded into it (always a sure sell).

[narskie]

It isn't Naomi's job to spoon-feed you conclusions to draw from her theory. She's presented a theory, and backed it up with facts and evidence. If the conclusion you draw from her work is that the wealthy few are all psychopaths (and I would on some level agree with you) then fine, but it doesn't mean that by not saying that she's some CIA operative.

[pulsating123]

I must agree David. I am warning people about her.

[davidmesaaz]

The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience.

[davidmesaaz]

Propaganda [from modern Latin: 'propaganda', literally "propagating"] is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of large numbers of people. Instead of impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience

[blahinhawaii]

Heavens NO! Was someone sharing their opinion or trying to influence the opinions of others?

Good God! We can't have that! :O

[davidmesaaz]

Its not that she is sharing her opinion its that she is selectively choosing the facts her video appeals to emotion. She plays it loose and fast with the facts. Even Joe Stigliz said in his NY Times peice that there are many places where she over-simplifies....

[blahinhawaii]

It would be fast and loose to say "there are many places where she" expecting people to take that as truth when you are not being specific.

[davidmesaaz]

That is Joe Stiglitz words and not mine. But I have read the book in Borders I would dare buy the trash. I have a few issues in the book blaming Pinochets torture on Milton Friedman is like blaming Greenspan for the sins of Abu Graib. He was a economic adivsor and not a poltical one. Friedman didn't have any association with the CIA yet she lumps them all in one convient pile.

[blahinhawaii]

Good point. Although Greenspan with Paul Volcker, also a "financial" advisor, were the main founders of the trilateral commission and Donald Rumsfeld is one of its key members who meets with them and who set up the Northcom "common security" aspect of the CFR's North American integration by 2010 plan, and Rumsfeld was responsible for abu graib. The predatory globalists don't separate finances from politics.

[blahinhawaii]

Just google "trilateral" "greenspan" and "rumsfeld" and you will finds some mainstream newspaper articles that show the connections. If you don't know what Northcom is, google that to. It's the military element to the North American Union and it has been in place since 2002.

[davidmesaaz]

You tell me what are the connections?

[blahinhawaii]

Do you know what the trilateral commission is and do you know its agenda? The fact that Rumsfeld is a member, they are the founders, and Rumsfeld is carrying out the Rockefeller plan for North American Union is a pretty amazingly substantial connection. I wonder about people who are told this and shrug it off. Question: How man of the ACLU's cases would have ever been one if the bill of rights were not sovereign? Liberty is neither "quaint" nor "outdated."

[blahinhawaii]

I meant "won" not "one"

Protection against tyranny will never be an "oudated" notion regardless of what we are told by predatory globalists like bilderberg, the trilateral commission and the CFR who put the SPP in place using stealth, bypassing democratic processes, claiming that the memorandems the president is signing at summits with other presidents are not "agreements."

[blahinhawaii]

I'm not interested in the gory details of the intimacy between these CFR whores. You'll have to do your own reading. Start with: Charm of the Chairman "Greenspan got to know Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld during the Ford years, a connection that colors his relationship with George W. Bush in more ways than recent news accounts have noted."

[jamesmorgandavies]

If it serves his ends, even the Devil will quote the Gospels.

If Klein is a propagandist, her method is devious indeed. Too devious to even fit into your definition. How terribly cunning.

[davidmesaaz]

Economic Shock Therapy is the brain child of Jeffery Sachs of Harvard which is hardly the bastion of the far right extremists as she paints them out to be.

With this in mind why did she willingly omit such a common knowledge fact? She is either severely uninformed or accepting information that conforms to her world view and rejecting all others in a word this is propaganda.

[TheFanonite]

What a silly post, and unfortunately for the poster, it also betrays the fact that he has not read the book. One whole section of the book is devoted to Jeffrey Sachs, who borrowed most of his ideas from the originator of the shock therapy prescription, Milton Friedman.

[roddack]

does she not understand things like Social security and what not all came about as a result of the Great Depression which was made far worse than it should have been by the government creating the federal reserve and it taking all the wrong actions during the depression.

[danno321s]

Just a socialist posing as a democrat. Look at Chavez too. She makes no sense. Did capitalists also ask all the criminals to come back? The truth is NOLA is and was a sh&t hole. Most visitors never noticed this because they stay in tourist areas. Let's remember Louisiana is the most corrupt state in the nation. Please read "All the King's Men"

[koolmexican]

21 new billionaires in Mexico after the peso crisis! i did not know that.

[delaneyIRA]

It would be great if the people who made weapons(General Electric) werent making our news also...

[Jonchess]

She makes a lot of good points.

Whether she has made money, or not, does not detract from what she says.

The main problems to contain the 'disasters' from continuing is the Arms industry and its related activities which has a vested interest in spreading chaos when it argues for the opposite. If you can rein in the Arms industry and eventually disband it only then will peace reign. You can't have meaningful discussions about repressive regimes when you continue to arm them.

[LilithFilth]

No Logo is one of my favorite books.

No other book has made me cry, or slapped me in the face & given me panic attacks like that. (don't get smart about the slap thing)

She also wrote Fences & Windows, so The Shock Doctrine would be her 3rd, not 2nd book.

She's about letting people know what's going on in the world around us. If she happens to make money in the process, good on her.

[davidmesaaz]

I love how she condemns the global "inequities" but she get paid more the the logger who cut the tree for the paper or the printer that printed her books or the driver who delivered her books to the store or the Store employees that sold you the book. These global inequities she is silent about.

[LilithFilth]

Read the book.

[davidmesaaz]

Read the Road to Serfdom by Friedrick Von Hayek unlike this book its rated as one of the 100 greatest books of all time.

[hairhorn]

how much money is there in smashing capitalism? A lot apparently.

[sgelles]

wow! you're smart! yeah... i bet naomi klein is just raking in the dough from her books and appearances on aljazeera! you got her! way to go, smart guy!

[hairhorn]

In fact she made tons of money off "No Logo", as the introduction mentions.

Maybe I'm being a little crass.

It's just that here in Canada we're sick to death of self-promoting, self-appointed movement leaders like Ms. Klein and her husband.

I have no real issue with her politics. I'm just sick to death of her.

[killbot6767]

why are you watching videos of her then. Im sick to death of people who attack others for having a political voice. Of course she is going to make money and its idiotic to suggest she doesnt or indeed shouldnt. And for her being self appointed....Christ lets vote on EVERYTHING...oh wait...you probably wouldnt turn out on polling day

[hairhorn]

Point taken... although the thing I'm sick of is ad hominem attacks that have nothing to do with the video.

[killbot6767]

Point taken.....I'm sick of my neighbours

[ebrocato]

BS

Every country that has embraced capitalism has a higher standard of living and more wealth than any other country that has not

[LuminiferousAether]

I don't see how your comment applies. New Orleans is not a country... it's a population that had undesired radical free-market ideas forced upon them during the aftermath of the hurricane.

If you think she's arguing against capitalism in general I think you missed the point entirely.

[poop121]

yeah, she's not anticapitalist. read up on naomi klein.

[crazycatfguy]

Where have you been over the last 40 years? Since the capitalist started buying our legislators we are going down hill at breakneck speed.

[msgg81]

a good interview keep it up.

we need more people and thinkers like this.