“In every country where Chicago School policies [neo-liberalism] have been applied over the past three decades, what has emerged is a powerful ruling alliance between a few very large corporations and a class of mostly wealthy politicians—with hazy and ever-shifting lines between the two groups.” p17
“A more accurate term for a system that erases the boundaries between Big Government and Big Business is not liberal, conservator, or capitalist but corporatist. The main characteristics are huge transfers of public wealth to private hands, often accompanied by exploding debt, an ever-widening chasm between the dazzling rich and the disposable poor, and an aggressive nationalism that justifies bottomless spending on security.” p18
“… where Rumsfeld saw a boom market in plagues, [Cheney] was banking on a future of war.” p349
That’s why countries go to war: the weapons manufacturers profit from it.
“During the Second World War, president Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke out strongly against war profiteers, saying, ‘I don’t want to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world disaster.’ One wonders what he would have made of Cheney, whose millions in war profits accumulated while he was sitting vice-president.” p377
“… relevant experience often appeared to have nothing to do with how contracts were allocated [in post-Katrina New Orleans]. AshBritt, the company paid half a billion dollars to remove debris, reportedly didn’t own a single dump truck and farmed out the entire job to contractors.” p495
“Something else was familiar: the contractors’ aversion to hiring local people who might have seen the reconstruction of New Orleans not only as a job but as part of healing and re-empowering their communities. Washington could easily have made it a condition of every Katrina contract that companies hire local people at decent wages to help them put their lives back together.” p495
“The result, predictably, was that after all the layers of subcontractors had taken their cut, there was next to nothing left for the people doing the work. For instance … FEMA paid Shaw $175 a square foot to install blue tarps on damaged roofs, even though the tarps themselves were provided by the government. Once all the subcontractors took their share, the workers who actually hammered in the tarps were paid as little as $2 a square foot.” p496
“Perhaps part of the reason why so many of our elites, both political and corporate, are so sanguine about climate change is that they are confident they will be able to buy their way out of the worst of it.” p504
“‘Wealthy individuals and multinational corporations will be the first to bail out of our collective system, opting instead to hire private military companies … to protect their homes and facilities and establish a protective perimeter around daily life. Parallel transportation networks … will cater to this group, leapfrogging its members from one secure, well-appointed lily pad to the next.’ (John Robb) That elite world is already largely in place … ” p505
“… many people around the world have come to the same conclusion: the rich and powerful must be deliberately causing the catastrophes so that they can exploit them.” p512
“The truth is at once less sinister and more dangerous: An economic system that requires constant growth, while bucking almost all serious attempts at environmental regulation, generates a steady stream of disasters all on its own, whether military, ecological, or financial.” p513
“Large oil companies have bankrolled the climate change-denial movement for years; ExxonMobil has spent an estimated $16 million on the crusade over the past decade.” p514
“… in the U.S., CEOs made 43 times what the average worker earned in 1980 … By 2005, CEOs earned 411 times as much. … Trickle-down economics didn’t happen.” p535
