Naomi Klein Takes on Deregulation in The Shock Doctrine
When Hurricane Katrina swept into New Orleans in late August 2005, it destroyed much of the city’s infrastructure, including many of its public schools. Soon after, a network of conservative think tanks led by Milton Friedman, the founder of modern neo-liberal economics, pushed the Bush administration to impose a charter system in New Orleans. Charter schools-publicly funded schools run by private entities-are a politically polarizing issue in the United States, and Friedman saw in the still-reeling city a window.