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The Shock Doctrine

(1) The strategy by the world's economic elites of imposing an extremely neoliberal economic regime on communities they control, using some form of shock: a natural disaster, a coup d'etat, a war, a financial crisis, etc. Once the community has been crippled by this first shock, the economic "reforms" are imposed suddenly, creating a secondary blow. Then, as the community begins to recover and fight back, the authorities use torture and police brutality to (literally) shock the community a third time.

(2) title of a book by Naomi Klein describing def. 1

(Please see disaster capitalism.)
Ms. Klein's 2007 book described the rise of disaster capitalism in mostly poor countries: Chile (after 1973), Argentina (after 1989), Poland (after 1993), and Sri Lanka (after 2004). But in 2009, the super rich were able to inflict the shock doctrine on the richest countries of the world, including Germany, France, and Italy.

The 2008 financial crisis was entirely a product of the richest 1% of the human race; but soon after, national governments scrambled to punish the remaining 99% for the crisis instead, by slashing public services and imposing austerity programs.
by Abu Yahya July 10, 2010
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dirty minded

exceptionally prone to seeing the scurrilous, sexy, or kinky aspect of everything; obsessed with sex; prone to seeing sexual overtones to nonsexual behavior.

A dirty minded person may be hypocritical and unctuous, but read filthy motives into the acts of other people. For example, in the movie "American Beauty," the military officer wrongly assumes that his son's interactions with his neighbor are homosexual, rather than commercial--projecting his own repressed sexuality onto others (with deadly results).
The dirty minded obscene person does not shamelessly exult in his bawdy language, nor does he use it without self-consciousness... The dirty minded person has only partially internalized the taboos that he violates...

Joel Feinberg, _Offense to Others_, p.267
by Abu Yahya February 22, 2010
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plutonomy

(ECONOMICS) economies in which consumption by the very rich is what drives most growth: Bulgari watches, Maybach limousines, Gulfstream V business jets, vacations in the Maldives, Dolce & Gabbana suits, private security services, money laundering, and income tax evasion.

Initially coined by analysts at Citigroup in 2005 to describe the growth of the Usonian economy during that period despite horrible economic fundamentals. Later used by Naomi Klein in her essential work, *The Shock Doctrine*.
The US., UK, and Canada are the key Plutonomies - economies powered by the wealthy. Continental Europe (excluding Italy) and Japan are in the egalitarian bloc.
- Equity risk premium embedded in "global imbalances" are unwarranted.

In plutonomies the rich absorb a disproportionate chunk of the economy and have a massive impact on reported aggregate numbers like savings rates, current account deficits, consumption levels, etc.

{Citigroup Oct 16, 2005 Plutonomy Report Part 1}
by Abu Yahya July 10, 2010
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pressure group

potentially any association of people with a common set of goals, who are politically active as such. However, pressure groups are usually understood to be more grassroots and issue-oriented, rather than interest-oriented (so they are not quite the same as a lobby). Hence, pressure groups are likely to include groups opposed to human rights violations and neighborhood "renewal" projects.
The London-based pressure group, Survival International, called on oil companies to immediately withdraw from Peru, describing the incident as "the Amazon's Tiananmen" and accusing security forces, who have since imposed a curfew over the region, of burying and burning corpses to hide the scale of the killing.

"Peruvian Indians are being driven to desperate measures to try to save their lands which have been stolen from them for five centuries," said the director of Survival, Stephen Corry. "This is the Amazon's Tiananmen. If it finishes the same way, it will also end Peru's international reputation."

M@RCONECTADO, "The jungle massacre: Peru's tribal chief flees country" (11 June 2009)
by Abu Yahya June 12, 2009
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Federal Reserve Bank

(ECONOMICS) Any of the 12 constituent district banks of the Federal Reserve System. Federal Reserve Banks may be referred to either by the number of the district they serve (e.g., 12th FRB) or by the city in which they are headquartered (e.g., FRB of San Francisco).

Representatives of the FRB's are eligible to serve on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the committee that actually administers monetary policy through sales or purchases of treasury securities.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2nd FRB) is by far the most important of the 12 district banks. Each bank holding company is likely to have a subsidiary in NYC, and the 2nd District is uniquely guaranteed a seat on the FOMC. The other 11 rotate, with 4 taking a year-long turn at the FOMC at any given time.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has historically supplied the secretaries of the Treasury or else the chairmen of the Federal Reserve Board.
by Abu Yahya May 5, 2010
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blood libel

a false allegation of murder; the term refers specifically to a recurring rumor from 12th century Europe that Jews were kidnapping Christian children and using their blood for ritual purposes. A famous example of the blood libel is recounted in the "Nun Prioress's Tale" from Chaucer's *Canterbury Tales*. In this and other versions of the story, the events are absurd and feature perverse miracles.


Frequently occurrences of the blood libel were accompanied by a wave of mass murder of Jewish residents of the city. In many cases, the zealots would force the authorities to try random Jews for the alleged crime; these trials were, naturally, travesties.

The last case of a blood libel resulting in murder was the Kielce pogrom of 1946. 200 Jewish survivors of the Final Solution were being transported back to Poland when a boy (who had disappeared for a couple of days) told the police he had been kidnapped by Jews. The police went to a hostel where returning Holocaust survivors were staying, and massacred 37 of them.

Sometimes the phrase "blood libel" is used to refer to similar allegations against primarily non-Jewish groups; for example, many nationalities have been accused of kidnapping children to harvest their organs and sell them to rich patients in the developed world.
Although the details have changed over the last millenium, the blood libel retains core elements of sadistic fantasy, psychological projection, and crass opportunism.
by Abu Yahya February 15, 2009
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long position

(FINANCE) a situation in which an investor stands to gain if a particular investment instrument (stocks, bonds, gold, real estate) goes up in value. One "takes a long position" with respect to a particular item.

There are several ways of taking a long position; an obvious way to go long is to actually own the thing itself. Supposing you are taking a long position on Intel common stock (NASDAQ:INTC), here are some other ways:

* Buy a call option for INTC, especially with a strike price higher than the current spot price.

* Write a put option for INTC, committing yourself to buy more INTC stock if the price goes down over the near term

* Buy a futures contract for INTC at spot (or more).

CAVEAT LECTOR: there are many _potential_ definitions of long position; I have given the broadest one available.
MICHAEL: I want to flatten my long position on T-bills.

ANNA: I would recommend buying a covered interest swap with another major currency, like yen.
by Abu Yahya April 10, 2010
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