This is a smart, thoughtful discussion, and Michael Moore is not quite the unquestioning Obama supporter he so often seems to be, as evidenced in this Nation interview with Naomi Klein. He also points out the major flaw in the Obama "Hey Guys, Let's Just Split The Difference" strategy:
Naomi Klein: Meanwhile, we are not seeing too many signs of the hordes storming Wall Street. Personally, I'm hoping that your film is going to be the wake-up call and the catalyst for all of that changing. But I'm just wondering how you're coping with this odd turn of events, these revolts for capitalism led by Glenn Beck.
Michael Moore: I don't know if they're so much revolts in favor of capitalism as they are being fueled by a couple of different agendas, one being the fact that a number of Americans still haven't come to grips with the fact that there's an African-American who is their leader. And I don't think they like that.
NK: Do you see that as the main driving force for the tea parties?
MM: I think it's one of the forces--but I think there's a number of agendas at work here. The other agenda is the corporate agenda. The healthcare companies and other corporate concerns are helping to pull together what seems like a spontaneous outpouring of citizen anger.
But the third part of this is--and this is what I really have always admired about the right wing: they are organized, they are dedicated, they are up at the crack of dawn fighting their fight. And on our side, I don't really see that kind of commitment.
When they were showing up at the town-hall meetings in August--those meetings are open to everyone. So where are the people from our side? And then I thought, Wow, it's August. You ever try to organize anything on the left in August?
NK: Wasn't part of it also, though, that the left, or progressives, or whatever you want to call them, have been in something of a state of disarray with regard to the Obama administration--that most people favor universal healthcare, but they couldn't rally behind it because it wasn't on the table?
MM: Yes. And that's why Obama keeps turning around and looking for the millions behind him, supporting him, and there's nobody even standing there, because he chose to take a half measure instead of the full measure that needed to happen. Had he taken the full measure--true single-payer, universal healthcare--I think he'd have millions out there backing him up.
Rachel Maddow talks to Naomi Klein about the bank bailouts, the results of the stress tests and how bailing out these banks is a massive transfer of wealth from the public sector into private hands. They talk about how the crisis has not been solved but instead the burden has been moved to those that can least afford it.
We need to re-regulate these industries and I agree completely with Klein and Maddow when they say the regulation should have come hand in hand with the bailout money. The Obama administration had a chance to channel the public anger over these bailouts to get reform passed and by not using that anger in same the way FDR did, they've wasted an opportunity to really fix the system that got us into the mess we are now. And as Naomi Klein notes that anger is going to get channeled somewhere and unfortunately not always towards the ones that deserve it.
Instead we see these tea bag parties, people lashing out at immigrants or anyone else they can blame their own economic woes on, and many who don't feel that one party is any better than the other one. If the Democrats don't get some real reform passed even if it is a day late and a few trillion dollars short they're going to be facing a lot of that anger at the polls come next election and rightfully so. They're saying that they're going to get it done and that we'll see some reforms come through this summer. I will take them at their word for now that they're going to do it but if they don't, I'm sure myself and everyone else who contributes at this site will be calling them out for it.
November 15, 2008 C-SPAN FIRST 3:40 SECONDS CROWD SHOT! SORRY!
Live coverage from the 2008 Miami Book Fair International featured book talks by authors, interviews with authors this segment includes Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Thursday night I was joined by the brilliant Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine,” to talk about the current economic Shock Capitalism that is taking place right now, thanks to Bush and Paulson's 700 billion dollar plan to bail out Wall Street. And all the wealthy free-market conservative CEOs that drained Main Street for ungodly sums of money until all the financial institutions began to crash and burn are cheering. Bush's base is comprised of these CEOs and they pulled off the ultimate "complexity scheme" on the American people. Naomi hits on some very important ideas during this twenty minute interview.
Klein: But I think that it's important to stress that this is money that could be used for actively preventing foreclosures. They could be using this money - a fraction of it - to keep people in their homes. They could be stimulating and rebuilding the fundamentals of the economy by investing in infrastructure, public works projects, a green-style New Deal - all of the investments that are so desperately needed. New technology, investing in the real economy and getting away from this casino economy. And because they want to throw all this money at Wall Street, that is money that will not be available for those real investments.
Say goodbye to Universal Health Care if McCain is elected. John and the House Republicans are now trying to pull another scam on the American people ,which is another tried and true method that conservatives use. As Digby says: They run as Populists, but govern as Aristocrats. It works all too well. It's a wonderful scam. Now, I'm not saying that a deal shouldn't take place, but a cautious approach should be paramount. As Krugman says: The Dodd-Frank changes make the plan less awful, mainly by creating an equity stake... Also, the oversight means that Treasury can be prevented from making the plan a pure gift to financial evildoers. If the plan looks not-awful enough, I'll be pro. But I won't be cheering - I'll be holding my nose.
Klein: And they all knew it. They all knew it and they were making money as fast as they could based on their belief that they would get bailed out. Because it is entirely consistent with the Bush administration over the past 7 years. One of the other big lies floating around is this is somehow a departure from the way the Bush administration usually does business. It's not a departure; it's just a change in the direction of the flow. This is what they have been doing for 7 years: transferring public money, public wealth, into the hands of private crony contractors. And now as their final act they are taking the bad debts of the corporate sector and transferring them to the taxpayer. There is no aberration here; there is no big surprise. This is entirely consistent with everything they've done.
For instance, where the heck did this $700 billion figure come from in the first place? A Treasury Department spokeswoman told Forbes.com this week, quote, "It's not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number." A really large number? That's the calculus among our nation's leading economic theorists and managers? We just need a ton of money; we don't know how much, just make the pile really tall? Isn't economics a science? Not reassuring.
Just think about that figure. They pulled it out of thin air. Here's the interview. (full transcript below the fold)
Gah! I admit that I've never watched Fox Business Channel, even though my cable company carries it. Based on this clip of their "after-the-market-closes" show, Happy Hour, I see I've made a wise choice. What kind of surreal experience is this? Bar set, complete with a bartender and business men with their brewskis in the background, host Rebecca Gomez looking like she's ready to hook up and whose only research before interviewing Naomi Klein appears to be skimming the reviews of The Shock Doctrine on Amazon, and to top it off, guest host Eric Bolling admits to not only being an oil trader, but never looking at the book? That's respect, I'll tell you, for the collective intelligence of their viewers as well as Naomi.
Still, with all the obstacles Fox Business Channel places in the way of having an intelligent discussion, Klein still gets in some great points that leave the embarassingly ill-informed Fox hosts with little to do but sputter inanities like "Naomi, do you like capitalism?"
Klein: This is just a classic example of what I mean by ‘disaster capitalism,' which is using a real disaster, a real crisis, or a shock-like the oil shock-to push through policies that you can't get through in normal circumstances. So here you have a shock, you have a real oil crisis. People are in pain, they want solutions. And you got the President, the "Extortionist-in-Chief" whose job is actually to solve the problems, but instead he holds the country hostage. And he says, "Listen, unless you give me ANWR, you'll never drive again." Gomez: Wait a minute, so this is, just so I've set it up correctly, this is so you're saying that the President's taking advantage of this crisis... Klein: Exactly... Gomez: ...to get into ANWR. Klein: ...to push the wish list of the oil and gas industries. These are not real solutions. People need real solutions. They're presenting this as if it's a short-term solution and you guys know full well that it's a long...if it's any...going to have any kind of impact on gas prices, it's in the long run. But people are so desperate for solutions that they're willing to buy anything. Bolling: Listen, I have to take the other side of this... Klein: You're kidding! Bolling: ...I've been talking a long time about the actual...you know, it's really only about a year to 5 to 6 years to pull some oil out of the water in the outer continental shelf now. Klein: A year? You need to build the rig! Bolling: No, no, listen, they're already built. All you have to do is move it. Klein: I'm hearing different things. Gomez: He's an oil trader though, Naomi, he may know!
Naomi Klein has a great new article up on her website called Look Out, that is worth a read. Her book, The Shock Doctrine has just been released in paperback so grab your copy here...She explains how the Shock Doctrine is being applied in the usual Milton Friedman way in the pursuit of pushing through the last remaining remnants of Bush's policies. As usual they prey upon the fears of Americans living in a time when gas and food prices are creating household insecurity like we haven't seen in a long time. What better time for the Republcians to pounce, right
Iraq isn't the only country in the midst of an oil-related stickup. The Bush Administration is busily using a related crisis--the soaring price of fuel--to revive its dream of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). And of drilling offshore. And in the rock-solid shale of the Green River Basin. "Congress must face a hard reality," said George W. Bush on June 18. "Unless members are willing to accept gas prices at today's painful levels--or even higher--our nation must produce more oil."
This is the President as Extortionist in Chief, with gas nozzle pointed to the head of his hostage--which happens to be the entire country. Give me ANWR, or everyone has to spend their summer vacations in the backyard. A final stickup from the cowboy President.
Despite the Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less bumper stickers, drilling in ANWR would have little discernible impact on actual global oil supplies, as its advocates well know. The argument that it could nonetheless bring down oil prices is based not on hard economics but on market psychoanalysis: drilling would "send a message" to the oil traders that more oil is on the way, which would cause them to start betting down the price.
Two points follow from this approach. First, trying to psych out hyperactive commodity traders is what passes for governing in the Bush era, even in the midst of a national emergency. Second, it will never work. If there is one thing we can predict from the oil market's recent behavior, it is that the price is going to keep going up regardless of what new supplies are announced...read on
She appeared with Tavis Smiley in the above video and got into this discussion a bit more and really explains the exploitation that occurs when some sort of disasters hit and BushCo is there just waiting...Her book was the best one I've read in a long, long time. Naomi will be joining C&L for a live chat next Wednesday, July 16 at 2:00 PM EST. I'll keep you posted...
Naomi Klein, author of the 
