After 9/11, the first thing Republicans did was to pass the Patriot Act, a major step toward right wing dictatorship. .It was written before 9/11 and kept in waiting. Such a bill could never get popular support. 9/11 insured its passage.
In 2007, Naomi Klein wrote “The Shock Doctrine; The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” detailing how capitalists exploit disasters by gaining huge bailouts from our Treasury.
The recession of 2008 allowed a major bonanza for our corporations. Naomi’s book became a best seller.
We elected Trump president. His cabinet included many Koch appointees, all committed to hollowing out the government. Among many, many accomplishments, they destroyed the office of Global Security and Biological Defense. So we were woefully unprepared for Corona.
But the Corona crisis led to a 2 trillion dollar federal bailout. Republicans were prepared. Democrats reluctantly signed on after Republicans agreed to a “Special Inspector General” to oversee the 500 billion reserved for corporation bailouts. He was also ordered to report to congressional committees. Trump finally signed the bill, with the proviso that he could ignore such oversight. This week he demoted the “inspector General”.
HERE WE GO AGAIN