In her book, The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein demonstrates how wealthy elites often use times of crisis and chaos to impose unpopular policies that restructure economies and political systems to further advance their interests. She calls these orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportuinities, “disaster capitalism.”
Disaster capitalism is on display around the country, as legislators use the debt crisis afflicting their states as an opportunity to hollow out the public sector. In Michigan it’s being packaged as “emergency financial management” by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who is looking to exploit an economic crisis that has left his state with a severe budget deficit. In March, Snyder signed a law granting state-appointed emergency financial managers (EFM) the ability to fire local elected officials, break teachers’ and public workers’ contracts, seize and sell assets, and eliminate services, entire cities or school districts, all without any public input. He claims these dictatorial restructuring powers will keep Michigan communities out of bankruptcy.
Michigan currently has unelected EFM’s in charge of the schools in Detroit, as well as the cities of Pontiac, Ecorse, and Benton Harbor. In Benton Harbor, the city’s elected mayor and city commissioners were stripped of all power by unelected EFM, Joseph Harris. Harris issued an order saying the city commissioners have no power beyond calling meetings to order, approving minutes, and adjourning meetings. This decimation of local democracy is spreading. Robert Bobb, the EFM that has taken over Detroit’s public school system, sent layoff notices to all of the district’s 5,466 unionized employees. Bobb says he will exercise his power as EFM to unilaterally modify the district’s collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011.
ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Kary Moss said the law raises concern about separation of powers, its impact on minority communities, collective-bargaining rights and privatization of services. She is absolutely correct. Faced with a deficit, emboldened EFMs can sell off public property to developers, close public schools and authorize charter schools, and void union contracts with literally no recourse for local, tax-paying residents or their elected officials to stop it.
And, it gets worse. Michigan has joined with the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) to develop a training program for prospective emergency managers. According to their website, TMA members are a professional community of turnaround and corporate renewal professionals who share a common interest in strengthening the economy through the restoration of corporate value. Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon, while speaking about the new program during a seminar on municipal distress, said that mayors and school superintendents are essentially running big businesses that, in many cases, are more complicated than private companies. It’s no surprise then, that Wall Street investors are thrilled about the potential impacts of the EFM law.
An estimated 400 accountants, lawyers, school employees, and city workers began classes offered by the program in Lansing, Michigan this week on topics including “Dealing with the Unionized Workforce,” navigating municipal bankruptcy and negotiating contracts for sewer, water and other utilities. “Dealing with the Unionized Workforce” is code for destroying unions and has nothing to do with balancing the budget. Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) in an appearance before the House Oversight Committee, under questioning from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), admitted a key provision in his state budget proposal to curb union rights had no fiscal benefit, putting to rest the notion that union-busting governors like Rick Snyder have any intention of actually solving their state’s economic woes. As for “negotiating contracts for sewer, water, and other utilities”, this is code for privatize, privatize, privatize!
This so-called financial emergency is really a democracy emergency. Local governments are NOT corporations, nor should they resemble them. The true purpose of emergency financial management is the conversion of a democratically elected government into a hierarchal business entity through economic “shock therapy”, which would be impossible if workers, elected representatives, and residents had any say. Michigan has become a laboratory for CEO Governor Rick Snyder to impose disaster capitalism onto his state. If we allow what is taking place in Michigan to continue unabated, it won’t be long before disaster capitalism finds its way to a city, town, or school district near you.
Your observations are good ones. You might be interested to learn that the crisis is a created crisis and could be readily reversed if people understood what the cause was. I am recommending that you read a book that will offer you insights you are not likely to find anywhere else. The book is available as an ebook for $9.95. The link to the book can be found on this page: http://www.gpln.com/itstheeconomy.htm
You’re a good writer. Best of luck.
Mark
April 20, 2011 at 11:16 am“Coming soon?” They are already here.
April 20, 2011 at 11:25 amHardened as I am to chilling developments these times, this seems like a whole new departure. Appointed apparatchiks firing elected officials!
I have been waiting a long time for the pendulum to swing back. Perhaps it’s not a pendulum after all.
Thanks for your clarity in presenting these issues.
April 20, 2011 at 4:20 pmWell written, sister.
Working with Latin American social movements over the last
several decades, what you write about in Michigan is just the US version of
“structural adjustment programs” and “Free Trade” Agreements carried
out since the 80’s.
These policies had international banks (and the G-8 governments
and their client governments in the South)
impose economic terms on people in the Global South
that destroyed social safety nets, worker protections and environmental
safeguards.
The beauty to note here is that the people in the Global South
(and Latin America in particular) have organized mass movements
in recent years to counteract
this process and turned false democracies hemmed in by
international bankers and local elites into real experiments for change
where people’s movements shape new policies and directions that meet
the population’s needs.
It will take nothing less than this kind of massive popular movement
organizing here in the US to stop the same imposition of
the ruling classes economic agenda.
April 20, 2011 at 5:44 pmAn articulate piece on how corpocracy is taking over democracy and turning people into serfs and stealing once again from the many to satiate a few. Rania you added some details on this emerging story that I otherwise have not seen online ~ nice job!
April 20, 2011 at 7:53 pmBrilliant article.
April 20, 2011 at 8:06 pm“We the People” are the sovereign government on the federal, state and local levels, and not our representatives who just work for us. The people and no one else may elect their chosen leaders. Not even the federal government can interfere with uncontested voting decisions made in Benton Harbor, MI!
Seriously, how obviously unconstitutional can this outrageous power grab possibly get? It’s time for the people to rise up in unison and assert their sovereign authority. Wisconsin was just the beginning!
April 20, 2011 at 8:47 pmThat’s some pretty sharp analysis and writing. It’s always refreshing to see young people like yourself who haven’t been brainwashed and retain the freedom of thought that many have given up.
Keep up the good writing. Good luck!
April 20, 2011 at 9:18 pmOutsourcing Citizenship
In the war against the middle-class the government has been outsourcing jobs for decades. Now the government is going one step further. They are outsourcing citizenship to bring corporate citizens into their constituency, and give them the rights that go with it. This country started with an agreement between citizens and leaders. Over time we have evolved into shareholders (all shareholders are not equal) and owners. Our Constitutional rights as citizens have been stripped away while the Constitutional rights of corporations have grown. Today, a corporation has the same value as a natural citizen and made the law-of-the-land by the Supreme Court. This corporate citizen acts like a natural citizen. It looks to the government for the conditions to be productive so it can continue to grow.
Corporate citizens have become a weapon in the war against the middle-class. They can be used to take away the power of the vote form the middle-class. Corporate citizens can get congressman to listen to them and ignore the voice of the voter. This is why all polls in America show the government completely out of step with the majority of its natural citizens in every sector in society. On healthcare, education, taxes, war, environment and a host of others the people and the government are not on the same page. It’s not the government following the will of the people. Instead, it’s the government doing the bidding of its corporate citizens by writing legislation to legalize the assault on unions and teachers.
But, the needs of a citizen and the needs of a corporation are not the same. Natural citizens need and want opportunity and means to be successful and happy. They want government to provide a level playing field for all. Corporate citizens want and need control of the market to maximize profits. The natural citizen wants to live the American Dream and retire while the corporate citizen will be struggle to grow into an empire- builder. Natural citizens used to say their thanks with a handshake. The corporate citizen says thanks with a cash contribution.
The only weapon of the natural citizen is being taken away. He’s being disarmed. But, it’s not his guns he’s losing. What is being taken away is his VOTE. Given to those with citizenship, by the Constitution. The vote – the most effective weapon of the citizen to force the government to listen to him, is being given to corporations. Today their votes are meaningless. They have been made meaningless by a political system driven by money. Who can own the most government? A citizen’s vote has no political value to a congressman, he can’t put it in his war chest. In the battle between the natural citizens and the corporate citizens you only have to look at D.C. and see who represents who. There are thousands and thousands of these corporate citizens. The lobbyists and the think tanks and the media are grafting themselves onto the three branches of the government. It’s Ike’s worst nightmare.
Presidents throughout my lifetime have initiated foreign wars without the approval of the Congress. So why doesn’t Congress take back its power? Since all wars are now political the Congress would rather the White House start the war. The Congress will manage them. With war so profitable for corporate citizens why would they ever want to limit such a money making product? They wouldn’t. That’s why war is no longer a few pages every couple of hundred pages in history books. War is a part of our daily lives.
The government doesn’t have to be afraid. Votes don’t matter anymore.
Hoa binh
April 21, 2011 at 2:09 pmThe situation is even worse than the picture that Ms. Khalek paints. The obvious payback for conservative Republican governor like Snyder is the fact that the corporate takeover of the city or its school board — will be dislodging the strength of Democratic voters in the areas taken over. Detroit and Benton Harbor, the two communities that he has targeted so far, are areas with significant African-American populations. And we can assume Democratic Party leanings. What’s even worse about his takeover agenda is that he is removing supposedly “corrupt or ineffective” management and replacing them with corporate consultants. Unfortunately these corporate consultants come in with complete indemnification for any mistakes or corruptness they may bring into the situation. Unlike the elected officials being replaced who had some level of accountability even in a poorly organized political environment. It really hurts me to see this because my family lived in both Ann Arbor and Birmingham, Michigan. And I went to college and graduate school at the state universities in Michigan which were academically solid at that time. Now with all the economic issues and actions with people like this Republican governor — that once excellent university system is also in jeopardy. Unless there is a way to stop this type of “shock and awe” takeover — our slide into fascism is a foregone conclusion. This bizarre Republican agenda to enrich the very few is nothing but a race to the bottom. It destroys the two most important and publicly-owned parts of our country — our rich economy which is based on a strong consumer component that is been estimated to be about 70% of its GDP. And our country’s intellectual capital. Which is based on a well-educated middle-class. And available education for people who want to get into the middle class. Our country is being taken over by fascists for their selfish, short-term profit objectives.
April 21, 2011 at 2:15 pmDidn’t we already have a coup d’etat last November, when corporations were allowed to give unlimited amounts of secret money to use against and for candidates as the choose, thanks to the most corrupt Supreme Court decision by five of the most corrupt Supreme Court injustices in American history (Citizens United)?
In my estimate, an ongoing series of coup d’etats was begun starting last November, when corporations, using massive amounts of secret money to purchase themselves a
corporate-owned-bought-and-paid for House of Representatives? Now, they also plan schemes like the one you’ve mentioned. And, next year, their plans are to purchase control of the Senate and White House with unlimited amounts of money.
If you think there’s already been a “coup d’etat” by corporations in this one instance, you haven’t seen anything yet. Just wait until 2012, when corporations can pump in hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars for political purposes throughout the country.
We need to impeach the five Supreme Court injustices who have totally corrupted this country allowing corporations to just saunter in and purchase themselves control of governments.
April 22, 2011 at 2:35 pmDear Rebels,
I am ready to light the fire. I have the match and the strike. It’s an e-book named The Dragon’s Teeth. Here’s the front cover or so much of it as the posting software permits. All profits from the sale of the book ($9.95) will go to fund the start-up of the NEW PARTY (Yet to be democratically named by the Coordinating Committee and approved by a vote of the early members). Read the first 11 pages at:
http://thedragonsteeth.wetpaint.com/page/THE+DRAGONS+TEETH%2C+pages+1+-+11.
The Dragon’s Teeth
– The Wheel is Turnin’ & the Battle is On
– Power=Wealth=Power for the super-rich Elites
– Liberty=Democracy=Quality of life for the masses
– Resurrection of “Liberal Capitalism” and the disestablishment of the New World Order’s Corporate State of America
– By Jim Miller
We are headed for a new civil war – a war between the states – the United States of America versus the Corporate State of America, a child of the New World Order. Beware of the Dragon’s Teeth. Sold only as an e-book. First edition due online July 4, 2011.
Intelligent E-Publications, LLC, a worker cooperative, democratically owned and managed.
http://www.intelligente-publications.wetpaint.com
April 23, 2011 at 3:31 pmI added your link to my blog and recommended this essay on facebook. Your concise summary of this massive corporate con job could help awaken voters who have been manipulated into thinking that voting for Tea Party candidates somehow makes them free-spirited and independent. All the problems associated with disaster capitalism – weaker schools, degraded police protection, a free hand for polluters, stolen public resources, etc – will affect the middle class, retirees, youth, and working poor regardless of how they vote. Banks could care less what party you belong to when they boot you out of your home. I really hope you, and more writers like you, gain an audience with the Tea Party rank and file. They have big passion, but low awareness. Educating them would be so much more useful than merely ridiculing them for their low level of understanding.
April 23, 2011 at 9:47 pmSo…this is a question one has to wonder about. At what point would a community so threatened with loss of their local democracy, feel justified in taking up arms?
I can see where taken to the extreme , the right and their corporatist backers would love to use this technique to actually instigate such a resistance as an excuse to go much further in terms of pushing over democracy. Scary stuff
April 23, 2011 at 10:20 pmAwww…looking a the poor little Marxists squealing like stuck pigs as their Marxist agenda and the Kenyan Presidency go down in flames….how’s that Kool Aid taste?
April 24, 2011 at 10:05 amGreat article. The beginning of this problem of corporate power taking over in this country was probably when the supreme court gave corporations the rights of people in the 1880’s( and even before that the electoral college gave insiders the real power to “elect”presidents). But things took a major downward turn in 2000 when the supreme court stopped a recount and gave George Bush the presidency. The hanging chads that paved the way for HAVA(Help America Vote Act 2002), and hackable electronic voting machines, were pre-planned at the paper factory(see Dan Rather special reports). The republicans have stolen numerous elections since 2000(see Mark Crispin Miller-“Fooled Again”). Now they will steal the recount votes in Wisconsin, as they recently did in the Wisconsin supreme court race.
Walker and many of these fascists “won” based on voting machines and hackable optical vote counting systems in which private companies(run by republicans) “count” the votes in secret . Please check out MarkCirpin Miller’s website and Bradblog.com to see in depth information on this issue, and do what you can to publicize this. The media won’t cover it, and neither party will do anything about it. We can’t change anything via the political system in this country until we get our votes counted fairly.
April 25, 2011 at 7:44 pm