The Shock Doctrine

Waiting for the Bus in New Orleans

Bill Quigley, Common Dreams, August 30, 2008

"In the blazing midday sun, hot and thirsty little children walk around bags of diapers and soft suitcases piled outside a locked community center in the Lower Ninth Ward. Military police in camouflage and local police in dark blue uniforms and sunglasses sit a few feet away in their cars. Moms and grandmas sit with the children quietly. Everyone is waiting for a special city bus which will start them on their latest journey away from home....

"Soldiers with long guns and police of all types are everywhere. Fifteen hundred police are on duty and at least that many National Guard are also here. One estimate says two million people may be displaced....

"There are still big problems. A 311 call system for the disabled and seniors never properly functioned, crashed and has been abandoned."

Blackwater on Hiring Blitz Ahead of Hurricane Gustav

R. J. Hillhouse, The Spy Who Billed Me, August 29, 2008

"Blackwater Worldwide is currently seeking qualified law enforcement officers and security personnel to potentially deploy to provide security in the possible aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. This is the first time Blackwater has mobilized under its controversial Homeland Security contracts. Blackwater did deploy security personnel to assist New Orleans in wake of Hurricane Katrina and this resulted in great controversy since it was the first time a private military corporation had deployed on US soil."

See also:
Jeremy Scahill discusses Blackwater's work in New Orleans

Disaster Capitalism at the Democratic National Congress

Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now!, August 28, 2008

Click here to watch Jeremy Scahill interview lawmakers about what they will do about Blackwater

U.S. Infrastructure Crisis Paves Path for Privatizations

Jenny Anderson, New York Times, August 26, 2008

"Cleaning up road kill and maintaining runways may not sound like cutting-edge investments. But banks and funds with big money seem to think so. Reeling from more exotic investments that imploded during the credit crisis, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the Carlyle Group, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse are among the investors who have amassed an estimated $250 billion war chest — much of it raised in the last two years —to finance a tidal wave of infrastructure projects in the United States and overseas.

"Their strategy is gaining steam in the United States as federal, state and local governments previously wary of private funds struggle under mounting deficits that have curbed their ability to improve crumbling roads, bridges and even airports with taxpayer money.

"With politicians like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California warning of a national infrastructure crisis, public resistance to private financing may start to ease. 'Budget gaps are starting to increase the viability of public-private partnerships,' said Norman Y. Mineta, a former secretary of transportation who was recently hired by Credit Suisse as a senior adviser to such deals."

Katrina Pain Index -- 3 Years After Katrina

Bill Quigley, CommonDreams, August 24, 2008

0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant — compared to 116,708 homeowners.

0. Number of apartments currently being built to replace the 963 public housing apartments formerly occupied and now demolished at the St. Bernard Housing Development....

8,000. Fewer publicly assisted rental apartments planned for New Orleans by federal government....

12,000. Number of homeless in New Orleans even after camps of people living under the bridge has been resettled — double the pre-Katrina number....

1.9 billion. FEMA dollars scheduled to be available to metro New Orleans for Katrina damages that have not yet been delivered."

University of Chicago Faculty Object to the Proposed Milton Friedman Institute

University of Chicago Faculty, Website, August 11, 2008

In June 2008, the University of Chicago announced it was establishing a $200 million economic research institute to honor Milton Friedman.

Faculty members at the University of Chicago are actively objecting to this institute. See the petition signed by more than 100 faculty members expressing concern about the University of Chicago's rationale and funding for this center.

Check out the faculty's website, where you can also read detailed letters from staff explaining their objections, see reactions from economists, and find helpful background materials.

Hillary Clinton on Disaster Capitalism

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2008

"There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation under the Bush administration. The examples of the waste, fraud and abuse are legion -- from KBR performing shoddy electrical work in Iraq that has resulted in the electrocution of our military personnel according to Pentagon and Congressional investigators, to the firing of an Army official who dared to refuse a $1 billion payout for questionable charges to the same company....

"But the fraud and waste are not limited to the war. In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, for example, FEMA awarded a contract worth more than $500 million for trailers to serve as temporary housing. The contractor, Gulf Stream, collected all of its money even though they knew at the time that its trailers were contaminated with formaldehyde.

"If we're going to get serious about putting our nation's fiscal house in order, let's talk about putting an end to billions in no-bid contract awards to unaccountable contractors. Let's talk about the number of lucrative contracts and bonuses being paid for duties never performed, promises never fulfilled, and contracts falsely described as complete. And let's talk about reforming the federal contracting system so that we can take on the real waste, fraud and abuse in our federal government."

Oil Crisis Leads to Mass Transit Cuts

Ivan Moreno, Associated Press, August 5, 2008

"About one in five of the nation's transit agencies have cut service over the past year. They include Cleveland; Corpus Christi, Texas; and San Diego, which has seen one of the largest increases in bus ridership in the country.

"The cutbacks come at a time of increasing interest in public buses and trains: The transportation association says people took 2.6 billion trips on public transportation nationwide in the first three months of 2008 — almost 88 million more than last year."

See Also:
Ridership on Mass Transit Breaks Records

Contractors Charge City Staggering Fees for Debris Removal after 2007 Wildfires

Dana Wilkie, Brooke Williams and Danielle Cervantes, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 3, 2008

"The city [of San Diego] hired two companies, which billed by the ton. They removed more debris from 112 homes than the city anticipated and more than many private contractors believe would have been possible.

"Ultimately, A.J. Diani Construction Co. of Santa Maria and Watsonville-based Granite Construction Co. charged an average of nearly $83,400 per home, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of the companies' contracts and invoices. The total program cost was at least $9.4 million.

"The contractors' bills far exceeded an initial estimate of $28,000 per home. Some were almost nine times what privately retained contractors charged to clear nearly identical lots."

Exxon Profits $1,500 A Second

Steve Hargreaves, CNN Money, July 31, 2008

"Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter. That profit works out to $1,485.55 a second. That barely beat the previous corporate record of $11.66 billion, also set by Exxon in the fourth quarter of 2007....The company returned $10.1 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks."

See also:

• Royal Dutch Shell's profits are up 33% to more than $11.5 billion
• BP's profits rose 28% to nearly $9.5 billion
• Chevron profits nearly $6 billion