Jared Kushner Is the Point Man for Private Profiteering on the Coronavirus Response

[babylonsister]

Jared Kushner Is the Point Man for Private Profiteering on the Coronavirus Response
April 6th 2020

Jared Kushner - Caricature (DonkeyHotey)
By Max Moran


Hot off of singlehandedly ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, America’s Son-In-Law-In-Chief has put himself in charge of handling half of the White House response to the coronavirus crisis.

Didn’t you know that? No? Oh, well, it seems the White House just decided that, ah, the people didn’t need to hear about this. Oh, and FYI, most of his team are from the private sector. That’s not a problem, Congressional Democrats, is it?

Thanks to some thorough reporting by Politico, we now know that Jared Kushner is running a shadow COVID-19 response team alongside the official task force led by Mike Pence. Pence once characterized his group as an “all-of-government response,” but Kushner’s team is an “all-of-private-sector response” full of private equity executives and health care profiteers. That “all-of-private-sector” line isn’t me being snide: it’s how some of the anonymous White House officials in the report characterized their own colleagues.

Of course, in the Trump era, the difference between the government and the private sector is mostly semantic. As the Revolving Door Project has been pointing out since February, Trump’s health officials are all ex-Pharma and insurance profiteers. That’s a key reason the response has been so bad: the people in charge have perverse incentives and don’t believe in government. Nor are they all that different than whom one might expect under a Marco Rubio or Chris Christie administration: shoring up CEO’s wallets while leaving the poor and helpless to suffer is just how the Republican party works in 2020.

What is unique to a Trump administration response, however, is Kushner. Members of his shadow task force include his former roommate Adam Boehler, a private equity and venture capital bro who was a deputy to Seema Verma (of Medicaid co-pays infamy) before taking charge of the International Development Finance Corporation. Boehler’s replacement, Brad Smith, is also on the Kushner team. Smith, like Boehler, made it big as an entrepreneur by building a home-based palliative care company, which got him a COO job at an Anthem subdivision.

Rounding out the CMS representatives is Andy Slavitt, the last head of Obama’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Slavitt’s $115 million venture capital fund has an undisclosed sum of money invested in Boehler’s old firm, Landmark Health.

Other Kushner team members include private equity executive David Calouri, a career healthcare investor; and Nat Turner, an online advertising-turned-medtech CEO (Boehler is also considered a Silicon Valley-type within the executive branch).

So we have a group of entrepreneurs and investors who all made their money in healthcare secretly managing the federal government’s response to the greatest healthcare crisis in decades. Some have investments in each other’s businesses. They’re in a position to learn more about the virus, and our health system’s needs, than almost anyone. Indeed, Kushner’s group has been given leeway to work with a broad range of agencies, including FEMA, HHS, and USAID. And they set themselves up in this way without the White House ever telling the public.

One might start to wonder if these savvy businessmen could be looking to profit off of this insider knowledge. One might then ask how the federal government plans to counteract these potential conflicts of interest.

more...

https://buzzflash.com/articles/jared-kushner-is-the-point-man-for-private-profiteering-on-the-coronavirus-response?fbclid=IwAR3CeBegHSjtKsH4LfetqyZBuBvAuUme6c8slfs3V0Rbo7esQYTeBXm3MUY

[SheltieLover]

1. K&R - Off to Greatest Page!

TY for posting this!

Here is another from Propublica on this topic:

[link:https://www.propublica.org/article/taxpayers-paid-millions-to-design-a-low-cost-ventilator-for-a-pandemic-instead-the-company-is-selling-versions-of-it-overseas-|

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[underpants]

2. That's a horrible depiction of Jared

I've never seen that much life in his eyes let alone his face.

[Raster]

3. That's because he's imagining all the money he'll make off of people dying.

[malaise]

4. These fuckers should all end up in prison

Disaster capitalism on steroids

[ewagner]

6. 100% "Disaster Capitalism on Steroids"

Well said my friend....

The question is: How do we stop these A-holes?

[safeinOhio]

5. Always pay the Prince,

Never the King. Very Machiavellian.

[Toorich]

7. If a reThuglican cannot.....

......turn a profit from a crisis, then he/she should lose membership at Marred-a-Lego.

[Cosmocat]

8. 1 + 1

Leading to ...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213246090#post5

[BeckyDem]

9. The Trump Crime Family, a non-fiction story.

[panfluteman]

10. Disaster Capitalism on Steroids - And the Ukraine Playbook All Over Again!

Find a need - and then exploit it and profiteer off of it. So you don't wanna die? Then I'd like for you to do us a favor though... A shadow Ukraine policy, and now a shadow Coronavirus policy... The American public, and especially the American voter, need to know about these dastardly deeds!

[Varaddem]

11. That explains a lot!

This is what the MSM should’ve been doing the whole time. Follow the money from the beginning.
I remember reading during the Bush years that we were being governed by a bunch of people who did not believe in government. Except they don’t try to govern… They try to rule. And they sure like them some govt Money.
The fact that this slowed the response is criminal!

[DeminPennswoods]

12. Interesting

Rounding out the CMS representatives is Andy Slavitt, the last head of Obama’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Slavitt’s $115 million venture capital fund has an undisclosed sum of money invested in Boehler’s old firm, Landmark Health.

given the respect some DU'ers have shown toward Slavitt.

[PRETZEL]

13. I noticed that myself

He seems to be a regular on MSNBC.

Wonder if he disclosed that relationship?

[Firestorm49]

14. Conflicts of interest? They simply don't get it and, (not or), don't give a damn either way.

[Botany]

15. Kushner is flat out evil

Grifting as millions get sick and God only knows how many will die.

[Wounded Bear]

16. Gov't by big business is the epitome of fascisim...nt

[scarletwoman]

17. Thank you so much for finding this!!! This information REALLY needs to get out to the public!

Clearly, when Jared says the Federal Stockpile is "ours" (meaning, HIS), it's totally the truth. It's for him and his bros to profit from.

Disaster Capitalism - they are really doing it to us.

Monsters.

[Blue Owl]

18. The Foppish Feculant Freakshow

n/t

[Grasswire2]

19. Dipsh*t Dilettante. nt