Despite the fact that just 1% own 48% of the world’s wealth [and that percentage continues to climb] while the least well-off own just 5.5%, epidemic resource plunder and worldwide corporate rapacity continues unabated. Climate change and economic disparity are part of the same conversation – a market system that incentivizes greed. In "Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe" journalist Antony Loewenstein provides a chilling account of how corporations forge profits from economic crisis. Disaster is profitable – but only for some. Those who aren’t privy to the hallowed corridors of economic sanctions ultimately suffer.

Loewenstein cites the “Reagan Revolution” as the beginning of the end of the middle class and of any hope for a more equitable distribution of wealth. He’s not wrong. Reagan era deregulation made it easy for the federal government to profit from “unaccountable financial private interests.” Since then, even more wealth and power has shifted to clandestine corporations and people who routinely undertake whatever practices necessary to secure profits. The collusion of big business and government has made it easier for multinationals to exploit resources anywhere in the world and one of the best ways to make a profit is to exploit already vulnerable populations.

Loewenstein takes us into the bowels of desperation and capitalist plunder. It’s a journey into dystopia and America is neck-deep in corruption, clandestine deals, human rights violations, and subterfuge. Multinationals such as G4S, Serco, and Halliburton, routinely cash in on despair and vulnerability, quickly embedding contractors and policies that function as governments in nations where war or natural disasters have destabilized the economy. Once ensconced, private corporations receive little, if any, resistance. Private Military Contractors [PMCs] survive on chaos; former soldiers can make thousands of dollars a day providing security in war-ravaged countries. Refugees and asylum seekers are housed in substandard and dangerous for-profit detention centers that don’t abide by any code of ethics – people are routinely beaten and starved and women raped. War, prisons, and disaster have been successfully corporatized. The financial oligarchy continues to operate world wide, perpetuating devastation without media scrutiny or government intervention. The question is, can they be stopped? This is thorough and chilling examination of where the reins of power lie.

The book was well written but it the subject matter has very little interest to me.

I struggled with parts of the book and found other parts surprisingly easy to read. FYI, I have a lowly Bachelor of Science degree (no, not in Economics) and still have unpleasant flashbacks of my college statistics class. Is it worth picking up for the average reader? Well, it depends. There are plenty of memorable sound bites for water cooler discussion.

The author is unapologetic and occasionally inflammatory in his opinions. Some of them you will undoubtedly disagree with.

"The market system guarantees unfairness and rewards greed."

"It [capitalism] is an ideology that thrives despite guaranteeing social disharmony."

From an American viewpoint, Disaster Capitalism tilted somewhat anti-American, perhaps inevitable considering the subject and the author's nationality. Still, though it reads like a reference manual occasionally, there are lots of useful facts and figures within. Solidly researched, an invaluable resource on the subject of "vulture capitalists."