The shock doctrine, Thai style

This from a baffling front-page story in The Nation , Thailand’s English-language business daily — a stunningly inane piece of neoliberalese trumpeting a "big-bang" deregulation of capital markets as the solution to the global economic crisis:

The ‘big bang’ plan would lift the capital market’s role in developing the economy as a whole and linking the market with the public and become a major funding source for business operators," [Thai finance minister Korn Chatikavanij] said.

The phrase "big bang" is used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets. The Thai version would cover seven areas:

• The capital market’s structure would be revised to lift its competitiveness.

• All securities businesses would be liberalised, which would affect securities services, licensing and commission fees.

• Good-governance practices must be strengthened.

• The legal structure would be changed in a way that provides a greater chance for small investors to protect themselves.

• The tax structure would be revised to get rid of discrepancies, as the capital market covers life insurance, bank savings and investment in bonds or equity.

• New projects would be introduced, such as property funds, infrastructure funds and state enterprises that are privatised.

• There must be measures to develop the bond market.

It’s hard to know where to start with this, but I must say I admire the audacity of the attempt to spin the privatization of state enterprises as the "introduction" of "new projects."