Republicans are always preaching their faith in the inherent wisdom of market forces, telling us that if government just got out of the way, free enterprise would come in and do a much better job. It’s that ideology that has led the government to hire Blackwater, a company of mercenaries, to supplement the American military in Iraq.
Blackwater’s work in Iraq has actually helped the American occupation of Iraq turn sour. In one memorable event, four Blackwater mercenaries were dragged from their vehicle, beaten to death, burned to the consistency of charcoal, and then strung up on a bridge, with video cameras documenting the attack so that the American public could see it on TV.
Why did that attack take place? Why were the Blackwater mercenaries so vulnerable? Market forces.
A new report reveals that Blackwater corporate headquarters was told that its vehicles were vulnerable to attack, but chose to do nothing about it in an attempt to make a bigger profit from its Iraq operations than its competitors. Blackwater hoped to force its competitors to give armored vehicles to Blackwater employees by skimping and leaving Blackwater teams clearly vulnerable to attack. People at Blackwater headquarters hoped that this tactic would force its competition to give up their contracts to operate in Iraq, so that Blackwater could make even more money.
If all you care about is money, then unrestrained market forces are the way to go. We have seen, in countless images like those of the corpses of the Blackwater mercenaries, the human cost that has come with the Republican faith in market forces. Progressives believe in a more balanced economic approach, in which human costs have as much weight as financial ones.
(Source: Washington Post, September 28, 2007)
Rampant capitalism (and corporate socialism) has ruined our democracy. Now it’s moving on to the rest of the world’s governments.