Category: 1st Issue

Three Bogeymen of the Apocalypse: Why the $4 trillion U.S. Healthcare Industry Blew the Pandemic

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Covid Death

How to explain the pickle the U.S. is in? The world’s most powerful and richest nation with only 4% of the world’s population has managed to infect 33 million Americans. Almost 600,00 have died. The country that annually spends $4 trillion on healthcare, most of it going into the pockets of healthcare executives, was helpless to stop the widespread carnage. Victims died in nursing homes from shoddy care, in hospitals from a “just in time” supply chain that did not stockpile vital equipment and supplies and at home because their privatized insurance put the cost of an ambulance ride out of reach. There’s lots of blame to go around, but three bogeymen, Bourla, Biden and Fauci, are especially culpable. From uneven vaccine distribution by profit-hungry vaccine makers (Bourla), to the failure of U.S. political leaders to bring the drug companies to heel (Biden) and last but far from least, to the medical advice of the U.S. infectious disease expert (Fauci) whose constantly shifting opinions on mask-wearing, waiving patent protection for vaccines, sourcing the COVID virus, and reaching herd immunity have led many Americans to wonder whose side he’s on. It’s a mess and if you wonder how big, check out “Three bogeymen of the Apocalypse: Why the $4 Trillion U.S. Healthcare Industry Blew the Pandemic.”

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Millions Die as Drug Companies Use Monopoly Medicine To Rake in the Dough

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Drug Profiteering

How does it come to pass that we have bought the lie that corporate big wigs and billionaires are fonts of wisdom, with no personal or professional axe to grind, solely dedicated to ensuring that everyone gets a fair shake? Bill Gates, billionaire founder of Microsoft is one example of the breed. He thinks opening up vaccine distribution to the whole world is “a bad idea.” Guess what? The world’s high-income countries who are spending billions to corner the market on doses agree with him, as do the CEOs of drug companies who have amassed fabulous wealth from the world’s misery. It’s a race to the bottom. How about candidate Biden who promised to support lifting the drug companies’ hold on vaccine technology? “Absolutely, positively. This is the only humane thing in the world to do…The answer is Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” When he became president, Biden waited over 100 days to live up to that promise albeit with a decided lack of enthusiasm and many conditions. Is it time to pull the plug on Big Pharma’s stranglehold over the manufacture and distribution of COVID vaccines? Does their profit come first in the middle of a pandemic? Check out “Millions Die as Drug Companies Use Monopoly Medicine to Rake in the Dough“ for a possible answer.

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Profiting off the COVID Vaccine: Big Pharma Hauls in Big Dollars from the World’s Pandemic Misery

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Stop Greed

You gotta hand it to them. A united front in pharma-land to keep the profits rolling in. When the outcry over the rising cost of prescription drugs erupted — 30% of patients cannot afford to take their prescribed doses — drug company flacks tut-tutted and came up with a refrain they repeat over and over: “[Increased prices are] necessary to support investments that allow us to continue to discover new medicines and deliver those breakthroughs to the patients who need them.” Balderdash! Even a committee of the bought and paid for House of Representatives was forced to admit: “…prices have skyrocketed over the last few decades… these same companies’ have dedicated more and more of their funds to enrich shareholders or to purchase other companies to eliminate competition.” Now pharma has come up with a new wrinkle. The CEO of the world eighth largest drug company, Pfizer, one of three vaccine makers, — revenues of over $42 billion in 2020 — took it upon himself to announce that every American would need at least one booster shot and a COVID vaccination ever year. That announcement more than quadrupled projections for Pfizer’s future revenues from the vaccine. Is the CEO of any drug company particularly one with such an obvious conflict of interest competent to make healthcare decisions affecting every American? Before you decide, check out “Profiting off the COVID Vaccine: Big Pharma Hauls in Big Dollars from the World’s Pandemic Misery”

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Vaccines Developed by a Profit-Driven Healthcare System May Not Stop the Next Pandemic

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For Profit Hospitals

“it’s very nice that the G20 [20 of the world’s largest economies] see Covid-19 immunization ‘as a global public good,’ but the reality is that G20 countries have privatized the medical knowledge behind Covid vaccines … preventing most of the world producing the vaccines we so desperately need. They should have taken this moment to commit to putting the health of people across the world ahead of Big Pharma’s profits,” [Daniel Willis, U.K advocacy group Global Justice]

The role of the U.S. in this shameful conspiracy is appalling. Like his predecessor, President Biden has continued to block India and South Africa’s proposal for an emergency lifting of the world-wide agreement that enforces patent protection allowing drug companies to hoard the formula’s for the vaccine. Monopoly control by the drug companies persists even though a lot of taxpayer money went into the development of their vaccines. Would you believe the drug companies have already bamboozled the U.S. out of $12 billion of taxpayer money?

There’s lots more to indict the U.S., including a profit-driven healthcare system that was so totally unprepared for the pandemic that the U.S. finds itself in the unenviable position of being 5% of the world’s population but first in COVID cases and deaths. How does the U.S. lack of a national health care system make vaccines only a temporary solution? You may find the answer in “Vaccines Developed by a Profit-Driven Healthcare System May Not Stop the Next Pandemic”

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Biden’s American Rescue Plan — Much Less Than Meets the Eye

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Who is Biden?

Talk about a pig in a poke. The American Rescue Plan was hailed as a “Big win both policy and politics…major achievement for the President (John King, CNN, 3/9). Biden himself was over the moon with his handiwork— “What we did get … is a bill to address the crises facing the American people not the wealthy and large corporations...the most significant…legislation to benefit the working class.” Progressive activists didn’t buy it —“No one will be more excited …than my old friends in the corporate insurance industry…funneling $48 billion taxpayer dollars to them…[Wendell Potter] Not one word about taxing wealthy Americans to give the rest the full and unqualified relief they need. In a country where “for a few hundred billionaires … pandemic profits are so immense that America’s billionaires could pay for a major COVID relief bill and still not lose a dime of their pre-virus riches.” What this bill does contain is a bunch of temporary and miserly half-measures. Not a path to address soaring income inequality nor a way back from the hell into which millions of Americans were plunged. Don’t believe the lies and evasions coming from the mainstream media stenography pool and a few progressive outlets and check out “Biden’s American Rescue Plan — Much Less Than Meets the Eye” for the real story.

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Having It Their Way: Drug Companies Raking in the Dough While Americans Get Sicker and Poorer

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Pharma Swooping

As drug prices continue to sky rocket and Americans get sicker and poorer, the pandemic reveals the shocking truth about the true extent of Pharma’s greed. Those life-saving vaccines the U.S. government is providing. Think they’re free? They’re not. The government may be handling the sale but it’s your tax dollars that pay for every dose. The hitch is that unlike the rest of the developed world, the U.S. is reported to be paying an up-charge of 60¢ for every vaccine dose. For the first 200 million doses, the U.S. was ripped off an extra $120 million. It doesn’t end there. Between the vaccination scam, the outrageous prices of both new and old drugs, the prohibition against Medicare (seniors account for over one-third of prescription drug use) negotiating prices — is it any wonder that Pharma is the most profitable sector of the healthcare industry? Sure, it takes a few billions of “walking around” money to pay off the politicians, hire a gaggle of lobbyists, grease the palms of doctors who write the prescriptions and entice consumers via direct consumer advertising. But it’s worth it. In 2019, the drug industry made $1.3 trillion worldwide. 48% of it was made in the U.S. As the outrages mount, the extent of Pharma’s criminality is eye popping. You’ll see why in “Having it their way: Drug Companies Awash in Dough, While Americans get Sicker and Poorer.“

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The Media In the Tank for the Democrats

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Disappearing Trump

Business as usual. The media lionizing Joe Biden, trashing Donald Trump. Well-deserved on both counts? You decide. But is picking winners the job of the media in a democracy? Once the media prided itself on its impartiality. Now profits are king and objective reporting is the archetype of a forgotten era. The media is giving the incoming Biden administration a free pass. The love fest began on January 20 transforming what most progressives regarded as an unremarkable, cliché-ridden inaugural speech into the second coming of the Sermon on the Mount. Here’s one particularly egregious example of the media bending the knee to the administration — “He is the better angel president. Joe Biden is eternally optimistic, he’s not cynical. … He still thinks the better angels exist.” [Chuck Todd, stenographer-in-chief NBC] How long before Biden snares a Nobel? Hard to tell but while you’re waiting check out “The Media In the Tank for the Democrats.”

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Has the Two-Party Congress Outlived Its Usefulness?

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Congressional Baboons

What does a dysfunctional congress and the U.S. congress have in common? Everything. Particularly if you’re one of 75 million who lost their jobs during the pandemic or the 40 million facing eviction or the 50 million the government labels “food insecure (they’re starving). A one-time $1,200 stimulus check and some extra unemployment benefits expired way back in August. Congress didn’t seem to notice. It’s no wonder since more than half of them are millionaires. Then January 6th happened. Suddenly Congress had a new purpose: working on their second impeachment of a hapless president who has less than a week to go before he’s out. In their spare time, they’re chasing a friendly media who have their own ax to grind to broadcast their outrage to the folks back home. They call the events of January 6 — “[the] desecration of the peoples’ house.” But for desperate Americans the real desecration is Congress’ failure to provide them a way out of their misery. If you aren’t ashamed of the politicians you trusted to take care of the Republic and its people, you will be after reading “Has the Two-Party Congress Outlived Its Usefulness?”

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A Christmas Story

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Women Toy Soldiers

Has war lust become so deeply rooted in American culture that feminist equality and empowerment hinge on indoctrinating little girls? The mainstream media would have you believe that a little girl’s fondest wish is to see her image in little toy soldiers thus glorifying the U.S. reign of terror around the world. How did we get to the place where belligerence, killing sanctions and war are the ultimate expression of the world’s sole super power? As the U.S. ramps up its dependence on sophisticated weaponry to gin up its killing power, its grip on moral authority is slowly waning. In the view of many of the world’s countries, the U.S. has been reduced to the stature of a pitiful giant All the female toy soldiers in the world cannot fix that. Indoctrinating little girls to believe that military service is the path to “empowerment” and “equality” is not only an outrage but a flat out lie. Are we seeing the evolution of a next generation of Manchurian candidates? Read “A Christmas Story” and prepare to be shocked and disgusted.

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Profits Over People: Not Big Pharma’s Finest Hour

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Profits Over People

Melinda Gates, wife of the third richest person in the world, whose foundation has given $156 million to vaccine makers was interviewed by the New York Times on December 7. She was asked to comment “on the rise in vaccine hesitancy.” Her answer ““We’re at a point of a lot of distrust in the country… Disinformation is just too easy to spread and, that’s going to cost people their lives.” Not true. “Vaccine hesitancy” has a far more serious and disturbing cause. Throughout the course of the pandemic’s rampage in the U.S., the public has been bombarded with half-truths, unreliable guidance, and the obscene spectacle of vaccine makers circling the pot of gold that awaits the winner of the vaccine sweepstakes claiming success via press releases instead of peer-reviewed journals. It appears that the priority in the U.S. profit-at-any-cost healthcare system is on profits not saving lives. Sorry, Melinda, what we have here is not a bunch of anti-vaxx ‘crazies’ but a healthcare system where anything (profitable) goes. “Reporting the covid-19 vaccine trial results in press releases before publication in journals is neither good scientific practice nor does it help to build public trust in vaccines.” [editorial in the British Medical Journal] Are the oligarchs trying to confuse us by claiming that realistic demands for more public information, more documentation, more reliance on the scientific method are really “disinformation?” Check out “Profits Over People: Not Big Pharma’s Finest Hour” and decide for yourself.

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