September 30, 2008

charles hugh smith

Like many of you, I recently called my Mom to discuss protecting her nestegg of mutual funds and bonds. She commented that the entire hysteria and the supposedly pressing need to pass fascist legislation reminded her of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein.

I immediately concurred, for the Bush/Paulson/Bernanke "panic" and "plan" to hand unlimited funds and power without judicial or congressional oversight was ripped straight from the "Chicago School's" playbook of inducing a financial panic in developing nations and then moving in to "reform" the system into crony capitalism, a.k.a. corporate and political fascism joined at the hip--all covered with a veneer of propagandistic appeal to "restoring confidence in the market."

As Klein carefully documents, the key elements in such a takeover are threats of financial collapse and a false urgency--both key drivers of the Paulson Plan. Lapdog Bernanke performed like any well-trained circus pup, mouthing absurdities, i.e. substantial benefits would flow to the taxpayers were we to grossly overpay for toxic assets held by insolvent banks.

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