Corporatocracy v/s democracy

I have been reading Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine. She talks about corporatocracy a la Milton Friedman & its impact on the world. The American policies that have allowed free reign of private capital around the world have led to the collapse & deterioration of many countries around the world. I have been exposed to the idea with Chomsky's writings, although he never used the term or explained the concept in the book I read. However, subsequent reads of Klein & Confessions of an economic hitman brought home the idea that private capital is dangerously bent on gaining profits from the crisis in other nations. In a worse turnaround, private capital creates crises to be able to generate new profits. 

Its a very interesting case for India too, while Klein's book does not mention India except a short sentence on Tsunami. Since the last 5 years we have turned socialists again, introducing public funded policies that seek to resdistribute taxes earned by the govt to the poor through farm loan waivers, NREGA and the likes. However saintly it may look, the government is still guilty of misguiding the general public: the largest amount of tax comes fromt the middle classes & not the exceptionally rich. While they pay a good amount of personal tax, most of their wealth lies in corporations which are cross-subsidized by the government through various tax-waivers, import-export subsidies, SEZ system (the largest tax break system in our country to date), etc. If one is to even calculate off-hand, it is easy to notice that the amount of revenue the government loses (& in effect subsidizes) from corporations is many times more than what it doles out towards pro-poor policies. 

So, is this just a way of covering up the corporatist agenda? The earlier government (NDA) wasn't even covering up - they were blatantly doling out subsidies to the rich while ignoring the poor. However, whether the former or latter, the middle class takes the burden of financing most of this powerplay. In the end, its about our money as taxpayers, that the government conviniently pushes across various spectrums, leaving us high & dry.

This is just the first in a series of posts, where i wish to explore the concepts of corporatocracy, democracy & the status of our country within the same.

Posted via email from sandylief