Showing posts with label Health Insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Insurance. Show all posts

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Oligarchs, Propaganda, & Fascism

This all is not unique to the USA; it's a worldwide phenomenon in the developed world... at least, in general.  Perhaps a country such as Norway, for example, is not yet Fascist...really, I don't know.  As usual, I'm using FDR's and Mussolini's definition of Fascism:  the power of the State married to the power of BIG Business.  And as always, I maintain that none of it is a "conspiracy"; most of it is out in the open for all to see.  First, though, we have to stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid.

Let's take a tiny example of that Kool Aid; it's here in the USA and goes by either of two names--- Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  It should be called, the Affordable Insurance Act.  As the Roosevelt Institute points out, the ACA is a "bonanza" for private health insurance companies.  It bails them out.  Apparently, people were dropping their policies or switching to cheaper, "catastrophic care" coverage.  Contrary to what some may think, insurance premiums have not decreased with the ACA; our Gov't is making up the difference...a bailout.  The availability of health CARE has not increased, and the COST of health care has not decreased.  Before the ACA, there already were long lines of folks at clinics with cash in hand.  Obamacare is not health care reform... instead, it's a bailout of private health care insurers, who now are even more entrenched in our health care system.

Notice that the Corporate Media here in this country rarely, if ever, speak of any of the above; rather, they focus on the "need" for the ACA, or on the basically unimportant fiasco regarding tech problems of the website.  Is their lack of coverage of what's really relevant a "conspiracy"?  No, I don't believe so.  It's more like individuals and groups with similar interests and mutual goals working sometimes individually, sometimes together, to promote BIG Business.  It's no more a conspiracy than is that of AT&T working to maximize profits.  Corporations are required by law to maximize profits for their shareholders.  It wasn't always that way, but that's another story.  [Google:  How did John D. Rockefeller change the rules for corporations.]

What are the "similar interests and mutual goals" of the Oligarchs?  Rather than repeat it, I refer you to Item number 4. in my November 2 post, "The New World Order...Again".  David Rockefeller stated it quite well...in 1991.

For two startling and brief depictions of more Propaganda in America (and the world), do a YouTube Search for each (separately) of these videos:  Political Fraud; and, Financial Crime.  They're both by ClassWarFilms, and each one is only about ten minutes in length.  They're somewhat shocking, but right on the mark.  The History of the USA is quite different from the History of the People of the USA, the former being to a large degree, nothing but propaganda...geared to benefit the Powers-That-Shouldn't-Be.  :)

Some Inconvenient Realities---
1.  In 1998, the richest 1% of this country owned 30% of the wealth; today it's between 40 & 50%.  [Estimates vary within that range.]  That's not because the other 99% of us are lazy...the game has been engineered in favor of the one-percenters.
2.  Capitalism has been replaced by Financialization...credit derivatives and other inventions of Wall Street that do not involve any production of goods.  The only true capitalists left in the world are owners of SMALL businesses.
3.  Most all mega corporations are owned & run by Crony Capitalists, aka, Fascists.  The Crony Capitalists don't influence elections here; they own them.
4.  We're in the largest class war in U.S. history, and as Warren Buffett lamented, "unfortunately, my class is winning."...he's correct.
5.  Taxpayer bailouts go to Wall Street, not Main Street.  Most of those who receive such bailouts do NOT use them to create jobs...and they're not required to do any such thing.  The game is rigged.
6.  Propaganda is viewed by the Oligarchs as both a necessary & beneficial component of any democracy...and obviously, the same is true of any totalitarian society.

I'm not a Republican or a Democrat.  I view them both (those at the top of each heap, anyway) as branches of the same, un-named political party:  the Mega Transnational Corporatist Party.  I'll give them this much, they surely know how to put forth the Propaganda.

Just my opinion.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

King Barack's Deal

The following is from a preview of PBS's Frontline show, Obama's Deal, which airs on April 13th. The preview can be viewed online by going to http://www.pbs.org/ and then accessing the Frontline page, and finally the page listing all 90 of Frontline's online shows. Or, simply Google "Obama's Deal" and sift through the results.

How did Obama get the support of the health insurance industry for the new health care law? He made a backroom deal: their support in exchange for the requirement that all Americans be forced to buy health insurance from private companies, with no public option allowed. In the Senate, the lobbyists for the health insurance companies actually wrote the bill. [By the way, that's a common practice in politics---having industry lobbyists write legislative bills.] That's why the Progressive Democrats in the House tried to bypass the Senate Bill completely. They were only partially successful.

Both Democrats and Republicans need to understand something about the above scenario. It is not an example of Socialism; instead, it is an example of Fascism. It is mega-corporations joining with government to force something on the People, most of whom don't want it. Fascism, according to Mussolini, is the perfect marriage of mega-corporatism and the State; it is private ownership but government control.

King Barack enlisted Max Baucus, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to hold hearings on the health care bill. Progressives were not allowed to testify because they were in favor of the public option. Lobbyists from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, as well as moderate Democrats, were allowed to testify; they favored private ownership, but government control.

So you see, my Republican and Conservative friends, the situation is not quite the way you portray it. This is Fascism, not Socialism. And to my Progressive Democrat friends: you have been outwitted and outmaneuvered by the Fascists again. Finally, to Americans in general: please stop squabbling about Conservatives and Liberals. The enemies are Fascists. Mega multinational corporations and their government cronies are destroying the REPUBLIC of the United States of America. Notice that I said, "Republic", not Democracy. The difference between the two is important.

"Don't Believe Him"

The Nazis in the 1930's and 1940's used exactly the same propaganda tactic as is used by Trump:  repeat a lie over & over, and m...