McCamy Taylor
McCamy Taylor's JournalThis Is Our Tiananmen Square
Are we up for it? Even though this is a battle that will be waged on the Internet, in the newspapers, on television and YouTube, it could get bloody. Jobs could be lost. Reputations could be trashed. Feelings could be hurt (yeah, that was sarcasm).
Chinese citizens, alarmed at being voiceless, at having no power to control their own lives and fates took to the streets. They were shot down. They died.
We are not being shot at--yet. But give our foreign master time. He'll get around to it. And his own citizens in his own country will applaud on cue.
How does it feel to be powerless? How does it feel to be third world? To know that your life and death is being orchestrated for the amusement of folks on the far side of the planet? How does it feel to be a participant in gladiatorial games for the amusement of Russia?
Now that we find ourselves in our own Tiananmen Square, how will we act? Will we hide? Will we put our heads in the sand and hope that four years from now it gets better? Will we pray to escape notice? Will we overeat and binge watch television? Will we sit quietly and weep?
Will we resist? Will we fight?
Worse Than Watergate: The Man Behind the Coup Is Literally Above the Law
Yes, I know that we have heard the phrase "worse than Watergate" many times. So many times, that we may have decided that "Watergate" is the new norm---government will always be corrupt, controlled by the rich, insensitive to the needs of the citizens.
But this truly is worse than Watergate.
In Watergate, all the key players were United States citizens. They could be investigated, tried, convicted and jailed by the United States government.
This really is worse than Watergate, because Putin is not a U.S. citizen. He is free to do anything, bribe anyone, threaten anyone. He can cheat, lie, blackmail, murder and otherwise attempt to overturn the democratic process in the country with impunity, because he is not a United States citizen.
Do you think Putin cares about threats to appoint a special prosecutor? Do you think he worries about impeachment? No. All he has to do is get Trump to appoint a Secretary of State who will launch more wars for oil and an Energy Secretary who will cut funding for alternative energy and an EPA Secretary who will make climate change discussions grounds for dismissal from employment with the U.S. government----
And then Putin can sit back and watch oil prices rise and his nation's economy (which is dependent upon the price of crude) will grow and the Russian people will call him a hero for saving them by staging a bloodless take over of the United States and his personal, secret fortune which is all oil based will make him the richest man on earth, giving him even greater powers to pull the puppet strings of people like Trump and Mitch McConnell and James Comey.
Even the press, which patted itself on the back for taking down the corrupt Nixon administration is powerless. Because Putin can control the press within Russian borders, meaning that no matter how biting John Dean's analysis or how spot on the New York Times' assessment of the treason, it will all be just sound and fury, affecting nothing---unless it spurs one man to act. I am talking about President Obama.
This is a national crisis of historic importance, and our window to act is very narrow. The President of the United States has been given unique powers to protect our country from attack by foreign governments for exactly this reason---because our court system, our prosecutors and the voters are powerless to punish people who can hide behind foreign borders (particularly when those foreign borders are protected by a big stockpile of nuclear weapons).
If the members of the press are hoping to get a Pulitzer Prize through their insightful coverage of the crisis--don't waste the ink. Or the electrons. This will not be Watergate 2016, because this is not Watergate. This is worse than Watergate.
President Obama, this is going to be your toughest test as President. Do you have the courage and judgment to see what needs to be done and do it? Do you have the political skill to see it through, to make the U.S. people understand why we must invalidate the recent election and investigate those who have committed treason? They will call you a would be dictator. They will launch character attacks. They will threaten your legacy. But what is one man's legacy compared to the fate of a country that is under siege by another country?
Health Wars! or A Chicken in Every Pot and a Shiny New Knee in Every Leg
Been trying to figure out what it all means? Tom Price, orthopedist to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Affordable Care Act to be repealed---but not for two to four years. Vouchers so Veterans can get care outside the VA. Medicare going to be replaced by vouchers any day now (Paul Ryan swears it is true even though his Party does not have the balls to actually take away the health insurance of the 22 million people who got under the Affordable Care Act because it might cost the GOP the next midterm election so they hope that their right wing supporters will understand that these things take time and it's the thought that counts and if they are afraid to take away ACA insurance for fear of a voter backlash, how would they ever dare to touch Grandma's Medicare with all the political damage that would entail but Ryan still wants you to believe that the death of Medicare as we know it is coming down the pipeline.) Toss in a plan to deny folks on Medicaid any pain medication stronger than ibuprofen. And make sure that even when you dismantle the ACA, you keep the part that keeps insurance companies from discriminating against people with per-existing conditions, like osteoarthritis of the knee or hip----
Add it all up and what do you get?
The math is simple, really. Especially if you recall that Tom Price is an orthopedist who shot down federal legislation that would have funded a study to compare the efficacy of different treatment options, because (in his words) that was the first step towards "health care rationing". And especially if you understand that "health care rationing" is a buzz word (phrase?) for "under European style socialized medicine very few people get elective surgeries like knee and hip replacements but in the United States you can get one on demand--which is why orthopedists drive expensive cars".
Still trying to put it together? What do you think folks on ACA insurance will do when told that they will lose their benefits...in two years? What do you think people on Medicare will do if told they could lose their generous benefits at any moment? What will veterans do if given vouchers and told "Go out into the community and become health care consumers"? What will poor, working class people who take opiates like hydrocodone for their hip and knee osteoarthritis and lumbar disc disease so that they can go to work at Wall-Mart each day for another grueling eight to twelve hours on their feet--what will they do when the pain gets so unbearable that they can no longer work?
Answer: they will run (or maybe hobble) to their nearest orthopedist to declare "I am now ready for the lumbar diskectomy and fusion/total knee replacement/total hip replacement/shoulder surgery that you said I was gonna need one day and I said 'I want to put it off as long as I can, but now I'm afraid if I put it off much longer I won't be able to get it so when can you put me on the operating room schedule?"
There. That was easy. And best of all, the only people who will get all hot and bothered by the Trump plan to create a massive demand for expensive orthopedic (and other semi-elective surgeries) in as short a period of time as possible are the health insurers! And the GOP, which once danced to the tune of the health insurance industry (Bush ran on a platform of "My state passed the Patient Protection Act!" then, as soon as he was in office had AG Ashcroft strike down Texas' Patient Protection Act in federal court) has spent the last four years telling the faithful how bad the health insurance companies are and how they deserve to suffer for taking part in Obamacare. And how they will never ever give the health insurance industry a bailout (though lately there have been whispers that the GOP Congress might consider a bailout, something they will have to do once the nation's insurers get through paying for all that semi-elective surgery.
So, who stands to gain? Doctors and hospitals obviously. As a physician myself (thought not a lucrative surgical specialist) I urge my brothers and sisters to be circumspect. Even if you are raking in the cash, try to limit your conspicuous consumption. And remember that when the feeding frenzy is over, there will still be a demand for what you do, because people always need health care and the nation as a whole is getting older and sicker everyday.
Who else stands to gain? The manufacturers of all those artificial joints that are going to be inserted into all those people. I touched on the subject in my last journal. The company that used to make and sell the most artificial joints, Stryker, is owned by three siblings who are all billionaires thanks to their sire's inventiveness. They don't need any extra business. They will be fine. The new kid on the block, Zimmer, which is now the largest manufacturer of artificial joints--I am guessing that they will be relieved at being so popular. They have been snatching up other companies right and left. (See their acquisition history at wiki here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmer_Biomet ) And thanks to all the young, active (often obese) people who are now demanding new joints that can keep up with their active lifestyles, manufacturers of artificial joints are now facing an onslaught of artificial joint failures and lawsuits. Like these:
https://www.drugwatch.com/hip-replacement/zimmer/
http://thesandersfirm.com/defective-medical-devices/zimmer-nexgen-knee/
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/injury/devices/zimmer-knee/
http://www.indystar.com/story/money/2015/10/23/zimmer-biomet-sued-10m-ex-sales-rep/74402816/ (whistle blower suit from former sales rep who says Zimmer gave gifts as bribes to doctors to encourage them to use Zimmer products---but wait! Chris Christie shut that down when he was AG, didn't he? See my last post)
Sigh. It was so much easier being a manufacturer of artificial joints in the old days when the recipients usually had one foot in the grave and were more likely to kick the bucket than run a marathon.
So anyway, don't despair! Trump does not want to take away your heath insurance. On the contrary. He is trying hard to get you to use your health insurance. And not for any old routine mammogram or cholesterol check, no. He wants you to get the very best that the health care industry has to offer. Hysterectomies for everyone! Weight loss surgery! Bladder suspensions! Sinus surgery! Tonsillectomy! The list goes on and on! Act fast! Operators are standing by the take your call---
Just think twice or maybe three times before you toss out your old knee and replace it with a shiny new one.
Who's Afraid of Medicare and the VA?
Attacking Medicare and the VA is an extremely risky political move. Any politician who goes after either program risks painting a big X on his back. So, why are so many rights wingers so willing to go on record as hating two of the most popular health care programs in the U.S.? Ask yourself who is threatened by the work done at the VA and by Medicare?
If you said the private health insurance industry, you are only partially correct. The private health insurance industry loves to write policies for healthy people who will not use their benefits. That's why we have so many Medicare Advantage plans. However, Blue Cross Blue Shield is not salivating at the thought of taking over the expense of your Aunt Betty's dialysis. The mere presence of Medicare scares BCBS, because the insurance giant knows that the presence of a popular, successful single payer insurance program could lead to calls for a universal single payer program that could easily be modeled upon or even rolled into Medicare. But BCBS does not want to do away with government funded health care since it allows the taxpayer to absorb the cost of caring for truly sick people while BCBS collects benefits from the healthy.
It's the snake oil salesmen that are truly afraid of the VA and Medicare. Those inside the U.S. and around the world who are making a fortune selling overpriced useless procedures and medications to the U.S. public.
Both the VA and Medicare are devoted to controlling costs. One way to do this is to carefully evaluate treatments to see which are actually useful. Here is a link about Veterans Affairs Administration research into cost effectiveness of treatments.
http://www.herc.research.va.gov/include/page.asp?id=cost-effectiveness-analysis
"The Institute of Medicine estimated that $210 billion worth of unnecessary services were provided in the U.S. health care system in 2009 (United States Institute of Medicine, 2012)."
So, who gets hot and bothered by studies like this? The folks who pocketed $210 billion for unnecessary services. Who would love to see the VA and Medicare and all other medical organizations stop doing cost effectiveness analysis? The investment bankers who buy a pharmaceutical company because it promises to deliver a drug for dementia that will fetch a hefty sum from desperate families---even though it does not work. People who advocate surgeries for conditions that are better treated by lifestyle changes. People who want you to overeat and smoke and laze around during your youth so that you will need their prosthetic hips and knees in middle age.
We have reached a milestone in the U.S. We now spend $10,000 per person per year on health care that gives us quality of life similar to folks living in Mexico. We are the only wealthy country in the world that does not invest in disease prevention and this allows pharmaceutical companies, durable goods manufacturers and hospital chains to reap a windfall.
If Trump was doing this for the health insurance industry we would not hear him talk about retaining one particular feature of the Affordable Care Act, the clause that forces insurers to write policies for those with pre-existing conditions. The readiness of people with cancer to buy insurance and the reluctance of healthy people to do the same is costing the insurance industry lots of money. The fact that the GOP Congress would rather bail out the health insurance industry than do away with this policy signals that they are listening to someone besides (or, at least, in addition to) the insurance industry. I think that someone is the collection of snake oil salesmen around the world who sell us overpriced treatments that do not actually do us any good.
Health spending will be close to 20% of the GNP by 2020. If you want to get rich in this country, you do it by investing in drugs and urgent care center and designer hospitals (without emergency rooms). And if you want to make a lot of money, you have to control or shut down anyone who is trying to control costs. You make the FDA a revolving door with industry. You give give large sums of money to politicians. And you shut down any large health care enterprise which actually bothers to study treatments for their cost effectiveness.
About that figure, $200 billion. That is in the same ballpark as the profits generated by the combined U.S. health and life insurance industry in that same year. The health care industrial complex in this country is huge. And under Trump, it will doubtless get even larger---and our health indicators like life expectancy (which recently went down for women in the US) and infant mortality will continue to move in the wrong direction.
How Dead Veterans Can Make the Koch Brothers Money
The Veterans Administration, which oversees veterans health care and burial has an annual budget of over $100 billion. The Koch Brothers---whose family sire got rich drilling oil for Stalin in the USSR and who graze their cattle on private land and who cut trees for Georgia Pacific using public resources---want that money. Or, at least, a big chunk of it. But how does a family known for feeding at the public trough---they accepted a big chunk of change from the federal government to stockpile oil under Bush-Cheney---how do they plan to get rich from an agency that administers health care? Are they hoping to snag a contract for toilet paper and feminine hygiene products? Maybe they want to make all those sterile paper gowns, masks and shoe covers that the surgeons wear. Or maybe they are more interested in a little discussed section of the Veterans Affairs Administration, the National Cemetery. Maybe they are not interested in keeping our veterans healthy. Maybe they want to make money off our veterans' deaths.
Here is a link to National Cemetery Administration's budget and statistics. There are 22 million Americans who may one day be buried at federal government expense. Right now, the allotment for the coffin or urn has not kept up with inflation, but that could change. We could soon see the federal government paying $2000 per dead veteran for coffins. Coffins made of wood. And who manufactures the most wood products in this country? The Koch Brothers' own Georgia Pacific.
http://www.independentbudget.org/2014/08_nca.pdf
Georgia Pacific is having a hell of a time competing with Asian imports. So why not take over the Veterans Administration and offer every Veteran a $2000 wooden coffin made by Georgia Pacific? With 22 million veterans that would make....$44 billion in sales! Of cheap, compressed wood pulp textured to look like the real thing. Made in America, of course.
I started looking for links between Georgia-Pacific and the funeral industry. Here is a piece by Dan Saunders, who used to be a plant engineer at Georgia Pacific and who now runs a funeral business. Read about how America wants--no, make that needs--wooden caskets made in America.
http://www.cfsaa.org/news/268367/Dont-Get-Left-Behind-in-a-Changing-Industry.htm
Why waste money keeping people who have outlived their usefulness to the oil industry fighting foreign wars for oil alive at taxpayers' expense, when the Koch Brothers can make a hefty profit from their deaths? No one cares if the paper with which they wipe their ass comes from Asia, but I am betting these scam artists will be able to sell a lot of overpriced "Made in America" caskets and call it patriotic.
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