The Disaster Profiteers

How Natural Disasters Make the Rich Richer and the Poor Even Poorer

Business & Finance, Economics, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Social Science
Cover of the book The Disaster Profiteers by John C. Mutter, St. Martin's Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John C. Mutter ISBN: 9781466879416
Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication: August 11, 2015
Imprint: St. Martin's Press Language: English
Author: John C. Mutter
ISBN: 9781466879416
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication: August 11, 2015
Imprint: St. Martin's Press
Language: English

Natural disasters don't matter for the reasons we think they do. They generally don't kill a huge number of people. Most years more people kill themselves than are killed by Nature's tantrums. And using standard measures like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) it is difficult to show that disasters significantly interrupt the economy.

It's what happens after the disasters that really matters-when the media has lost interest and the last volunteer has handed out a final blanket, and people are left to repair their lives. What happens is a stark expression of how unjustly unequal our world has become. The elite make out well-whether they belong to an open market capitalist democracy or a closed authoritarian socialist state. In Myanmar-a country ruled by a xenophobic military junta-the generals and their cronies declared areas where rice farms were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis as blighted and simply took the land. In New Orleans the city was re-shaped and gentrified post Katrina, making it almost impossible for many of its poorest, mostly black citizens to return.

In The Disaster Profiteers, John Mutter argues that when no one is looking, disasters become a means by which the elite prosper at the expense of the poor. As the specter of increasingly frequent and destructive natural disasters looms in our future, this book will ignite an essential conversation about what we can do now to create a safer, more just world for us all.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Natural disasters don't matter for the reasons we think they do. They generally don't kill a huge number of people. Most years more people kill themselves than are killed by Nature's tantrums. And using standard measures like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) it is difficult to show that disasters significantly interrupt the economy.

It's what happens after the disasters that really matters-when the media has lost interest and the last volunteer has handed out a final blanket, and people are left to repair their lives. What happens is a stark expression of how unjustly unequal our world has become. The elite make out well-whether they belong to an open market capitalist democracy or a closed authoritarian socialist state. In Myanmar-a country ruled by a xenophobic military junta-the generals and their cronies declared areas where rice farms were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis as blighted and simply took the land. In New Orleans the city was re-shaped and gentrified post Katrina, making it almost impossible for many of its poorest, mostly black citizens to return.

In The Disaster Profiteers, John Mutter argues that when no one is looking, disasters become a means by which the elite prosper at the expense of the poor. As the specter of increasingly frequent and destructive natural disasters looms in our future, this book will ignite an essential conversation about what we can do now to create a safer, more just world for us all.

More books from St. Martin's Press

Cover of the book Limp Bizkit by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Outlaw: Part 3 by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Sweepers by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Shadow of the Raven by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Wonderblood by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Untimely Graves by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Make a Joyful Noise by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Beyond Acceptance by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Dirty-Talking Cowboy by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book In His Father's Shadow by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Postcards from the Past by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book The Language of Threads by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book How to Win in a Winner-Take-All World by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book The Last Illusion by John C. Mutter
Cover of the book Singled Out by John C. Mutter
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy