( this was posted by someone on DU..sorry i didn't keep the posters name i just saved it in my files..my thanks to the original poster of this info..)i will go back and try to find who posted it to give them the credit for this info..
fly
edit to add: i believe this is who and where i got this information from...
i thank Marie26 for this information..i compiled it together..from some of her posts..
from this thread..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4818819#4819532xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
WHY does Obama have U of Chicago economic advisers? Has anyone here read the "Shock Doctrine"? This is EXACTLY what Naomi Klein was talking about. Leaders promise populist, liberal reforms to the masses, while their U of Chicago economic gurus ram through free-market free-trade Friedmanism. I have no doubt that this conversation took place - Klein outlines a pattern in which leader's economists would warn/whisper to multinationals/free trade partners that their campaign rhetoric was just bread & circuses to appease the masses.
Obama's 3 Right-Wing Economists
by fairleft, Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 02:54:42 PM EST
To wake some of you up from your dreams, let's take a look at each of Obama's three chief economic advisors.
Obama's Right-Wing Economist Asshole #1: AUSTAN GOOLSBEE
Here's a start, some narrow right-wing economics from chief Barack Obama economic spokesman Austan Goolsbee, on trade (emphasis added throughout):
Austan Goolsbee (BARACK OBAMA): "I'm a University of Chicago economist and no one is ever going to be more in favor of open markets and free trade than an economist, so you would presume I'd be for anything that has the words 'free trade agreement' in it and all I'll tell you is this: I do believe there's no one more in favor of open markets than me . . ."
Spoken like a true DLC neoliberal 'all economists are Milton Friedmanites' asshole, right? Here's more Goolsbee news by way of ronkseattle, noting first that the top economic spokesman for and senior policy advisor to Obama is the DLC's Senior Economist.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/3/145442/8316 George Will column praising Goolsbee -
"The University (of Chicago's) economics department has been adorned by the likes of Milton Friedman, George Stigler and Gary Becker, each a Nobel laureate, each a conservative by virtue of his inclination to expect more utility from markets than from government interventions therein. ...
"Globalization" means free trade and various deregulations that supposedly put downward pressure on American wages because of imports from low-wage countries. Goolsbee, however, says globalization is responsible for "a small fraction" of today's income disparities. He says that "60 to 70 percent of the economy faces virtually no international competition." America's 18.5 million government employees have little to fear from free trade; so do auto mechanics, dentists and many others.
Goolsbee's rough estimate is that technology -- meaning all that the phrase "information economy" denotes -- accounts for more than 80 percent of the increase in earnings disparities, whereas trade accounts for much less than 20 percent. This is something congressional Democrats need to hear from a Democratic economist as they resist trade agreements with South Korea and such minor economic powers as Peru, Panama and Colombia.
Economics is the only academic discipline that in recent decades has moved in the direction that America and much of the world has moved, to the right. Goolsbee no doubt has lots of dubious ideas -- he is, after all, a Democrat -- about how government can creatively fiddle with the market's allocation of wealth and opportunity. But he seems to be the sort of person -- amiable, empirical and reasonable -- you would want at the elbow of a Democratic president, if such there must be.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20... Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" re: Chicago School of Economics: a must read -
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/29/82036/7662 The U of Chicago economics is the focus of the entire book. Friedman taught at the U of Chicago, preaching radical free-market polices, free trade, privitization & the gutting of unions and social programs. (This is known as neoliberalism). His disciples at the U of Chicago became known as the "Chicago Boys" - and they spread around the world, inflicting their policies on one 3rd world country after another. They specialized in creating an economic "shock" to the country (inflation, coups, etc.) in order to weaken the country enough that they had to accept the poison pill of privitization. Once unions were dissolved/tortured, the free trade/free market shock could be administered, and the nation's resources could be privitized & sold to US multinationals.
Friedman actively advised Pinochet, & his economists assisted in the coup & became the economic advisors for the regime. U of Chicago economic advisors assisted genocidal dictators in Indonesia, assisted junta torture in Venezuela, promoted the imprisonment of Bolivian union leaders in order to implement their shock therapy. Klein's point is that Freidmanites don't care about freedom or democracy - in fact they will try to strangle democracy in order to protect corporate interests.
I really, really urge everyone to read this book. It will change the way you see the world. You will never be confused again. Once you see the pattern, it all falls perfectly into place. One of her points is that the "Chicago Boys" will attach themselves to both liberal and conservative regimes - and will often take advantage of leaders who aren't knowledgeable about economic issues by convincing the leader that their way is the ONLY way to run a country. Leaders will preach populism to their people, but will listen to their U of Chicago economic advisors. I'm starting to think that Obama is the neoliberal Manchurian candidate.
You Tube video on the Shock Doctrine -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kieyjfZDUIc xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Goolsbee is a Friedman admirer He actually wrote a eulogy for the NY Times upon Friedman's death.
A Charismatic Economist Who Loved to Argue -
"One of Mr. Friedman’s major impacts on economics was in establishing a basic worldview. ... That view now holds sway throughout much of the profession.
When we heard the news at the University of Chicago that he had died, we actually stopped arguing and were quiet for a moment. It was a most extraordinary event for Chicago economists. Each of us seemed to contemplate Mr. Friedman’s legacy for ourselves. After that bit of calm, the argument resumed. It was, perhaps, just what the old man would have wanted."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/business/17milton.htm... From his CV of published articles, he seems to oppose taxes on the wealthy or corporations as a drag on the market.:
"It's Not About the Money: Why Natural Experiments Don't Work on the Rich," in Does Atlas Shrug? The Economic Consequences of Taxing the Rich, J. Slemrod, ed., 2000, 141-158. Russell Sage Foundation and Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
"Taxes, Organizational Form and the Dead Weight Loss of the Corporate Income Tax," Journal of Public Economics, vol. 69, July 1998, 143-152.
"What Happens When You Tax the Rich? Evidence from Executive Compensation," Journal of Political Economy, April 2000, vol. 108(2), 352-378 (concluding that higher taxes on the wealthy results in revenue losses)
"The Impact and Inefficiency of the Coporate Income Tax: Evidence from State Organizational Form Data,"Journal of Public Economics, 88(11), September 2004, 2283-2299.
"Investment Tax Subsidies and the Wages of Capital Goods Workers: To the Workers Go the Spoils?" National Tax Journal, LVI (1, part 2), March 2003, 153-166.
http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/austan.goolsbee/website/r... IMO one of the most important questions for Obama, or Clinton, is whether they adhere to Keynsian or Friedmanite economics. It's pretty clear that Obama's top economic advisor is a Friedmanite. What's even more troubling is that all of his top three economic advisors seem to hold free-market positions.
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/obamas-eco... / I'd be curious to see that interview, if anyone has a link.