I am watching, with utter fascination, as events unfold in Washington, D.C. re: the stimulus program and the politics surrounding it. In the background lurk the denizens of the financial industries with their insatiable appetites for more and more of the largesse from the national treasury, being aided and abetted by those suffering from the common malady of greed.
I wrote off the theory of trickle-down economics and free-market purists a long time ago as a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites who will screw the common man at every opportunity while they lace their own pockets with the spoils of their skullduggery. After what they did to this country during the last twenty plus years, their pathetic attempts to claim any credibility ring hollow. What they consistently fail to acknowledge is that, for such a system to work, everyone has to be squeaky-clean honest. The human race simply isn’t wired to that standard.
I really want to see Barack Obama succeed, but I have long had a haunting doubt as to where he really stands and who is likely to benefit the most from his programs. Given that he has only been in office for a little over a week, it is too early to tell, but I am not at all optimistic that those who need help the most are likely to receive the lion’s share of any stimulus package. What causes me to have these haunting doubts? The resurrection of members from the Clinton Administration brought in to fill so many key positions in Obama’s Administration. Some are the ones who, before leaving office, were party to setting the stage for the wholesale plundering of the treasury by the Bush Administration through de-regulation of the financial industriesoffice. Why does Billy Boy still get a free pass for this, plus NAFTA and CAFTA? The Harvard goon squad seems to be firmly ensconced and I am not so sure it will accrue to the benefit of the common folks of this country.
I don’t see that the barons of the financial industries have changed their stripes very much since this crisis was dumped into the laps of the American taxpayers. They are just as brazen as they ever were and seem to be getting away with it, save the token sacrifice of a 50 million dollar corporate jet and other lavish screw ups, when the heat is ratcheted up by the press. Mind you, nothing they do is a matter of conscience. Rather, it is whatever the traffic will bear.
The industry that irks me almost as much as the money men are the key players within the broad spectrum of those subsumed under the banner of healthcare. They are just as bad if not worse, in some instances, than the high-profile ones in the financial business. They are still screwing our economy and the consumer public with nary a hint of shame. They aren’t bad. They are absolutely obscene. Every licentious opportunity that was given to them by Billy Boy and Georgie Porgie are still intact and they are raking in untold millions of dollars they don’t deserve, all at the expense of a society (and indeed the world) so badly crippled by their antics.
The most glaring example of greed is on the part of the drug companies. The most recent example is the buy-out of Wyeth by Pfizer. There doesn’t seem to be any problem with getting the money they need to consummate this deal. And who will benefit the most from this move? You can bet your bippy it isn’t the consumer!
And where does Obama stand on all this? How compromised is he through his association with the high-powered associates of his wife, who was recently in a high-profile position at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics? Is that why he seems less than enthused at the notion of a single-payer national health plan? Rather, he seems to favor something short of that which will keep the “private” sector comfortably in the healthcare business?
I regard our healthcare system as one of the most self-serving and corrupt within the arena of our national economic structure. Talk about greed! They share the national spotlight with the bankers in that regard. Drug companies, hospital management companies, managed health care plans, etc. bleed the consumers for all they can get. And the most egregious accomplices to all this are senior executives in all sectors of the healthcare economy, making high six-figure salaries or more, all based on their “entrepreneurial” skills, and their ability to screw their victims without benefit of kiss.
Amid all this are what I regard as the most insidious and self-serving of the whole bunch - those esteemed practitioners of medicine - the good old doctor. They have come a long way since the days of driving a black Buick, carrying a black bag and making house calls. They have long maintained effective control over members of their elite club in order to ensure the viability of their own financial interests. They have manipulated private hospitals through their economic and political power. They have a history of an unhealthy relationship with drug companies by favoring and promoting brand-name drugs that are much more expensive than their generic equivalents. They scratch each other’s backs through their network of referrals to other physicians and healthcare practitioners. They do a damned good job of looking out for themselves, all the while basing their actions on what they profess to be “in the best interests of their patients.” Give me a break. Watch what they do when one of their patients falls on hard times, goes on Medicaid or Medicare or suffers some other financial misfortune. If these patients don’t have the money or insurance to pay full tab, the doctor dumps them as if they had the plague. My experience has been that damned few doctors give one hoot in hell about anyone except the patients who have the means to pay full price for the cost of the medical miracles they render. They do a good job of talking in lofty and noble terms. However, what they care most about is a healthy return on their revenue-generating capabilities.
Have you noticed, when you visit a doctor, a dentist and, yes, even your veterinarian, they all seem to have gone to the same charm school on how best to “market” their services and garner as much money as the traffic will bear? The first questions asked are most often those having to do with your ability to pay for their services. They all have the same phony lingo and fake sincerity that makes one want to rush to the nearest vomitorium!
Mind you, not all doctors are bad. There is a whole host of doctors and other healthcare professionals who are genuinely dedicated to helping suffering humanity. Unfortunately, most of them ply their skills outside the affluent environs of metropolitan practices, in government owned and controlled hospitals, in less than desirable geographical areas, inner-city clinics, etc., that pay far less than what they could command in a lucrative urban group practice. But, who said dedication is worth much in this industry? In the eyes of their cohorts who have made it in the profession and are regarded as the professional elite, these types don’t count for much and wield very little political and economic power within the circles of their profession.
As tattered as those at the bottom of the food chain may be, without the dedication of those who really do care and those who have given their lives in the service of humanity, I cannot imagine how much worse their lot in life would be.
Those who I hold in very high regard are the ones who live and work in the tier just below that of our esteemed medical practitioners. It is they who work with and enable the doctors to ply their trade. They are often the ones who catch the mistakes and who discreetly bring them to the attention of the “attending physician,” so he/she can continue to appear to be one in good standing among the lofty paragons of medical perfection. They are the nurses, the pharmacists, the therapists, the technicians, etc. who make up the bulk of the team that takes care of us when we seek medical care. And, from my perspective, they get far less in terms of money and recognition for all they do and what they genuinely deserve.
Those who have traditionally been the staunchest advocates for patients are nurses. Anyone who thinks they continue to play an active role in their profession for any reward other than their dedication isn’t very well informed. I have known damned few nurses whose primary reason for working was to make money. God knows they have had a long struggle towards economic equality, but through it all they have never abandoned their role as advocates for patients. They still hang in there despite the extent to which they have been taken for granted by medical practitioners, healthcare managers, boards of directors, etc. At the end of the day, they make them look far better than the majority of them deserve.
There is an urgent need to rectify the excesses that have created what seems to be a bottomless pit in the escalation of costs in the “healthcare industry.” It isn’t going to come about by allowing those who feed must gluttonously at the trough of unbridled greed in order to manipulate and control the system. Their rewards for “service to humanity” stand proudly with those of their financial counterparts on Wall Street. To continue with a fragmented healthcare system will only allow them to find new opportunities in their continued efforts to exploit the system for their own personal gain. It is like trying to squeeze a hand full of mercury. It can’t be done.
There are significant numbers of physicians who are actively supporting a national single payer healthcare system. They are to be commended for their tireless efforts in this regard. Unfortunately, they are still very much in the minority among their more conservative colleagues. After all, the AMA is probably one of the strongest unions and most powerful lobbying organizations in the country. As we all know, money and power talk - big time!
It is time for serious consideration of a single payer healthcare system. The California Nurses Association has recently put one of the best proposals on the table that I've seen. Not only will it improve access to the system, but it will create a huge number of new jobs that will serve to improve the economy at a time when we desperately need it. It deserves the attention and study of our political elites in Washington, D.C. As of this writing, I have seen precious little attention paid to it within the hallowed halls of our nation’s capital. It will pump billions of dollars into our economy. It will remove the burdensome cost of healthcare from the backs of industry and commerce, thereby enabling them to regain a more competitive edge in the international world of business and commerce.
All the while keeping an eye on them, the time has come to take some of our focus off Wall Street and shift it to the excesses and self-serving practices going on within our healthcare industry. It has been said of lawyers and physicians that they have purged two words from their vocabularies; ethics and economics. They have instead combined the two into just one word: Ethinomics!
Mind you, there are a lot of good and decent physicians out there who genuinely care about the issues of the day, and who are active in national healthcare agendas. However, those are not the ones with whom I am concerned. The ones who I regard as the most insidious are those who are members of the “club” that regularly meets in the doctor’s lounges and country clubs. As for those of us who are on the receiving end, persistence, good oversight and sound regulation are the only remedies we have. Otherwise, the fox will continue to guard the chicken coop at our collective peril.
Cowboy Bob
January 30, 2009
I wrote off the theory of trickle-down economics and free-market purists a long time ago as a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites who will screw the common man at every opportunity while they lace their own pockets with the spoils of their skullduggery. After what they did to this country during the last twenty plus years, their pathetic attempts to claim any credibility ring hollow. What they consistently fail to acknowledge is that, for such a system to work, everyone has to be squeaky-clean honest. The human race simply isn’t wired to that standard.
I really want to see Barack Obama succeed, but I have long had a haunting doubt as to where he really stands and who is likely to benefit the most from his programs. Given that he has only been in office for a little over a week, it is too early to tell, but I am not at all optimistic that those who need help the most are likely to receive the lion’s share of any stimulus package. What causes me to have these haunting doubts? The resurrection of members from the Clinton Administration brought in to fill so many key positions in Obama’s Administration. Some are the ones who, before leaving office, were party to setting the stage for the wholesale plundering of the treasury by the Bush Administration through de-regulation of the financial industriesoffice. Why does Billy Boy still get a free pass for this, plus NAFTA and CAFTA? The Harvard goon squad seems to be firmly ensconced and I am not so sure it will accrue to the benefit of the common folks of this country.
I don’t see that the barons of the financial industries have changed their stripes very much since this crisis was dumped into the laps of the American taxpayers. They are just as brazen as they ever were and seem to be getting away with it, save the token sacrifice of a 50 million dollar corporate jet and other lavish screw ups, when the heat is ratcheted up by the press. Mind you, nothing they do is a matter of conscience. Rather, it is whatever the traffic will bear.
The industry that irks me almost as much as the money men are the key players within the broad spectrum of those subsumed under the banner of healthcare. They are just as bad if not worse, in some instances, than the high-profile ones in the financial business. They are still screwing our economy and the consumer public with nary a hint of shame. They aren’t bad. They are absolutely obscene. Every licentious opportunity that was given to them by Billy Boy and Georgie Porgie are still intact and they are raking in untold millions of dollars they don’t deserve, all at the expense of a society (and indeed the world) so badly crippled by their antics.
The most glaring example of greed is on the part of the drug companies. The most recent example is the buy-out of Wyeth by Pfizer. There doesn’t seem to be any problem with getting the money they need to consummate this deal. And who will benefit the most from this move? You can bet your bippy it isn’t the consumer!
And where does Obama stand on all this? How compromised is he through his association with the high-powered associates of his wife, who was recently in a high-profile position at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics? Is that why he seems less than enthused at the notion of a single-payer national health plan? Rather, he seems to favor something short of that which will keep the “private” sector comfortably in the healthcare business?
I regard our healthcare system as one of the most self-serving and corrupt within the arena of our national economic structure. Talk about greed! They share the national spotlight with the bankers in that regard. Drug companies, hospital management companies, managed health care plans, etc. bleed the consumers for all they can get. And the most egregious accomplices to all this are senior executives in all sectors of the healthcare economy, making high six-figure salaries or more, all based on their “entrepreneurial” skills, and their ability to screw their victims without benefit of kiss.
Amid all this are what I regard as the most insidious and self-serving of the whole bunch - those esteemed practitioners of medicine - the good old doctor. They have come a long way since the days of driving a black Buick, carrying a black bag and making house calls. They have long maintained effective control over members of their elite club in order to ensure the viability of their own financial interests. They have manipulated private hospitals through their economic and political power. They have a history of an unhealthy relationship with drug companies by favoring and promoting brand-name drugs that are much more expensive than their generic equivalents. They scratch each other’s backs through their network of referrals to other physicians and healthcare practitioners. They do a damned good job of looking out for themselves, all the while basing their actions on what they profess to be “in the best interests of their patients.” Give me a break. Watch what they do when one of their patients falls on hard times, goes on Medicaid or Medicare or suffers some other financial misfortune. If these patients don’t have the money or insurance to pay full tab, the doctor dumps them as if they had the plague. My experience has been that damned few doctors give one hoot in hell about anyone except the patients who have the means to pay full price for the cost of the medical miracles they render. They do a good job of talking in lofty and noble terms. However, what they care most about is a healthy return on their revenue-generating capabilities.
Have you noticed, when you visit a doctor, a dentist and, yes, even your veterinarian, they all seem to have gone to the same charm school on how best to “market” their services and garner as much money as the traffic will bear? The first questions asked are most often those having to do with your ability to pay for their services. They all have the same phony lingo and fake sincerity that makes one want to rush to the nearest vomitorium!
Mind you, not all doctors are bad. There is a whole host of doctors and other healthcare professionals who are genuinely dedicated to helping suffering humanity. Unfortunately, most of them ply their skills outside the affluent environs of metropolitan practices, in government owned and controlled hospitals, in less than desirable geographical areas, inner-city clinics, etc., that pay far less than what they could command in a lucrative urban group practice. But, who said dedication is worth much in this industry? In the eyes of their cohorts who have made it in the profession and are regarded as the professional elite, these types don’t count for much and wield very little political and economic power within the circles of their profession.
As tattered as those at the bottom of the food chain may be, without the dedication of those who really do care and those who have given their lives in the service of humanity, I cannot imagine how much worse their lot in life would be.
Those who I hold in very high regard are the ones who live and work in the tier just below that of our esteemed medical practitioners. It is they who work with and enable the doctors to ply their trade. They are often the ones who catch the mistakes and who discreetly bring them to the attention of the “attending physician,” so he/she can continue to appear to be one in good standing among the lofty paragons of medical perfection. They are the nurses, the pharmacists, the therapists, the technicians, etc. who make up the bulk of the team that takes care of us when we seek medical care. And, from my perspective, they get far less in terms of money and recognition for all they do and what they genuinely deserve.
Those who have traditionally been the staunchest advocates for patients are nurses. Anyone who thinks they continue to play an active role in their profession for any reward other than their dedication isn’t very well informed. I have known damned few nurses whose primary reason for working was to make money. God knows they have had a long struggle towards economic equality, but through it all they have never abandoned their role as advocates for patients. They still hang in there despite the extent to which they have been taken for granted by medical practitioners, healthcare managers, boards of directors, etc. At the end of the day, they make them look far better than the majority of them deserve.
There is an urgent need to rectify the excesses that have created what seems to be a bottomless pit in the escalation of costs in the “healthcare industry.” It isn’t going to come about by allowing those who feed must gluttonously at the trough of unbridled greed in order to manipulate and control the system. Their rewards for “service to humanity” stand proudly with those of their financial counterparts on Wall Street. To continue with a fragmented healthcare system will only allow them to find new opportunities in their continued efforts to exploit the system for their own personal gain. It is like trying to squeeze a hand full of mercury. It can’t be done.
There are significant numbers of physicians who are actively supporting a national single payer healthcare system. They are to be commended for their tireless efforts in this regard. Unfortunately, they are still very much in the minority among their more conservative colleagues. After all, the AMA is probably one of the strongest unions and most powerful lobbying organizations in the country. As we all know, money and power talk - big time!
It is time for serious consideration of a single payer healthcare system. The California Nurses Association has recently put one of the best proposals on the table that I've seen. Not only will it improve access to the system, but it will create a huge number of new jobs that will serve to improve the economy at a time when we desperately need it. It deserves the attention and study of our political elites in Washington, D.C. As of this writing, I have seen precious little attention paid to it within the hallowed halls of our nation’s capital. It will pump billions of dollars into our economy. It will remove the burdensome cost of healthcare from the backs of industry and commerce, thereby enabling them to regain a more competitive edge in the international world of business and commerce.
All the while keeping an eye on them, the time has come to take some of our focus off Wall Street and shift it to the excesses and self-serving practices going on within our healthcare industry. It has been said of lawyers and physicians that they have purged two words from their vocabularies; ethics and economics. They have instead combined the two into just one word: Ethinomics!
Mind you, there are a lot of good and decent physicians out there who genuinely care about the issues of the day, and who are active in national healthcare agendas. However, those are not the ones with whom I am concerned. The ones who I regard as the most insidious are those who are members of the “club” that regularly meets in the doctor’s lounges and country clubs. As for those of us who are on the receiving end, persistence, good oversight and sound regulation are the only remedies we have. Otherwise, the fox will continue to guard the chicken coop at our collective peril.
Cowboy Bob
January 30, 2009
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