Shock Doctrine

The readings that pertained to the Shock Doctrine were all very eye opening and some even appalling.  In Free-Marketeering by Stephen Holmes one point was made that resonated with the other readings assigned in this class. This similarity that arises is income disparity and how these disasters(in this case capitalism) only makes the rich stronger and the poor worse off . Holmes went on to say that the poor become so marginalized that they are "no longer even worth exploiting." One appalling point that was made in the piece  was how individuals, companies, and even nations can sometimes benefit off of disasters. I was sickened to hear of how the Iraq War was "the single most profitable event" for Oil Services Company Halliburton. What's even more sickening was that the company's former CEO was Dick Cheney who at that point in time was the Vice President of America. If people don't know America was at war with Iraq when Cheney was in office. This shocked me and even though I never saw the 9-11 attacks and the Iraq War response as examples of events that follow the shock doctrine," I can now because of these readings.