*sigh* ...Obviously, exploiting disaster for corporate gain is nothing new. It's practically an automated response in some circles, and under this administration, it has been given far greater latitude by Bush, Cheney & crowd.

Like "Future Shock" many years ago, "Shock Doctrine" is a concept that deserved a book to lay out the trend and suggest remedies...and I am glad to see it getting attention.....but....(You suspected there was a 'but' coming, didn't you?)....the name is misleading. It is not like "The Monroe Doctrine", which was a policy within the government; it is only a description of a set of business attitudes which need to be closely monitored and restricted.

   But, as Little Hawk notes, it is one thing to try to manipulate commerce, laws, military policy and media through cronyism after the fact of a disaster..(the Republicans should be required to put that in their platform!)...it is quite another to suggest, as Carol is again doing, that disasters were **arranged** in order to facilitate business interests!
   Once you buy into that notion, which is FAR from proven, you will be seeing conspiracies behind every door and under every rock, and spend time turning over rocks to look for more....very much like 'seeing' images of the Virgin Mary in tree bark and rust patterns on old water towers! "It's all there if you just look hard enough."

Let's just finish the election...hopefully with a larger Democratic majority...then press Congress to start clamping down on corporate practices.