There’s been a fusion of big government and big business, says Klein.

Question: Are markets taking on traditional government functions?

Naomi Klein: I think it’s more complicated than simply that markets are usurping the role of government. I think what we’re seeing is a merger between big government and big business. And I think that’s part of the reason why it’s a little bit hard for people to understand because they know corporations have a great deal of power. But at the same time states seem more important, right? We’re seeing more active military intervention, more intervention in our lives in the form of surveillance. And so we’re seeing very active states, and we’re seeing big spending states – what used to be called military Keynesianism – and certainly a willingness to spend a huge amount of money, to take very bold policy measures. But I would argue in the interest of multi-nationals, not in the interest of people, and that’s the pattern that recurs. So it isn’t . . . It isn’t that states aren’t important. They’re crucial to this process. But the question is in whose interests are those states working? So it isn’t about the end of the nation state or the end of the government. It’s about this very dangerous merger between big government and big business.

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