It WAS absolutely a root cause there, and Chile and other places. And yes, the assholes that did the dirty work are to blame equally. If Marx had personally gone to Stalin and encouraged the communist version of the shock doctrine, then yes, he would have been guilty and had blood on his hands as do Friedman and the "Chicago Boys". I have never been one to subscribe to the theory that only the leaders are to blame. As someone who will never know how many family members were slaughtered by the Nazis, I have always bristled when I hear "Hitler did this" or whatever. It took countless average citizens who were willing to do their part in this incomprehensible atrocity, and in that way, I completely agree with your reply. But having studied a little of the history of the implementation of economic free-market "shock therapy", those who, like Friedman, participated in its imposition, also have the blood of innocents on their hands. Plenty of guilt, unfortunately, to spread around. Just for another example, how about the Central American right wing death squads? Trained at the School Of the Americas at Fort Benning. Yes, those murderous thugs in Guatemala, El Salvador etc are guilty. So are those who trained them here and so are the politicians that supported and funded that training...