Editilla, those links you sent weren’t in the can can; but, once I had time to read them, it was clear they merited a post so others could read them as well.
By way of introduction that few, if any readers need, the Editilla’s guest is an author – and, as noted below, a journalist and internationally syndicated columnist.
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times and international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Published worldwide in September 2007, The Shock Doctrine is set to be translated into 20 languages to date. The six minute companion film, created by Alfonso Cuaron, director of Children of Men, was an Official Selection of the 2007 Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals and was a viral phenomenon, downloaded over a million times…
Here’s a sample from each of the three links Editilla sent today – starting with The Bailout Profiteer published on Halloween and still frightening, if not more so, here at Thanksgiving.
…As soon as the bailout was announced, it became clear that Treasury officials would hire outsiders to perform their jobs for them — at a profit. Private companies wanting to help manage the bailout were given just two days to apply for massive, multiyear contracts. Since it was such a mad rush — after all, the entire economy was about to implode — there was no time for an open bidding process. Nor was there time to draft rigorous rules to make sure that those applying don’t have serious conflicts of interest. Instead, applicants were asked to disclose their conflicts and to explain — and this is not a joke — their “philosophy in fulfilling your duty to the Treasury and the U.S. taxpayer in light of your proprietary interests and those of other clients.” In other words, an open invitation to bullshit about how much they love their country and how they can be trusted to regulate themselves.
The first major contract to be awarded in the bailout was for legal advice — and the choice Treasury made was Halliburton-esque in its audacity…the bidder who won the contract — Simpson Thacher & Bartlett…[is] a Wall Street heavy hitter…The first stage of the plan involves buying stakes in nine of the country’s top banks. Incredibly, Simpson Thacher has represented seven of the nine: JPMorgan, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch… Continue reading “Well, how nice, the Editilla brought a guest – welcome to SLABBED Naomi Klein”