Daily Thoughts 12/20/2011
I have been reading more of The Shock Doctrine. A lot of it so far is about economic manipulation of South American countries by the Chicago school of economics and large multinational companies in the 1970s. Some of it is very strange and hard to follow. I don't buy into either socialism or free market economics that much so a lot of the assertions in this section of the book seem irrational.
What does make sense is the author, Naomi Klein's assertion that in democracies that the lower and middle classes opt to vote for programs that improve education, support social services, and protect jobs and industries. This makes pure free market capitalism unworkable in democratic countries. It also leads to large scale protests and social unrest when there are economic downturns.
Another argument that Naomi Klein is bringing forward is that it is possible to have market reform without civil rights and freedoms. China has reformed its markets and so has Russia, but they they have not increased civil liberties.
I had a chance to watch several movies that I wanted to see; Cars 2, Megamind, Stargate Universe, and The King's Speech. The King's Speech was an excellent film. It is well worth watching. It was a nice way to relax. It was a nice break from reading.
Web Bits
How Much Should an Ebook Cost?
http://www.thedominoproject.com/2011/12/how-much-should-an-ebook-cost.html
I find Seth Godin interesting.
Kruthof's "Installation of 4000 Books."
http://vikingpenguinbooks.tumblr.com/post/14271762024/now-this-is-clever-anouk-kruithof
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