The Price Of Corrosive Corporate Power

[marmar]

from the Working Life blog:



The Price Of Corrosive Corporate Power
by Jonathan Tasini

Thursday 13 of August, 2009


There are two examples today that make it crystal clear how our society is damaged by corporate power. The first comes in the increasingly depressing arena of health care reform:

Behind the scenes, however, Mr. Obama and his advisers have been quite active, sometimes negotiating deals with a degree of cold-eyed political realism potentially at odds with the president’s rhetoric.

Last month, for example, hospital officials were poised to appear at the White House to announce a deal limiting their industry’s share of the costs of the overhaul proposal when a wave of jitters swept through the group. Senator Max Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman and a party to the deal, had abruptly pulled out of the event. Was he backing away from his end of the deal?

Not to worry, Jim Messina, deputy White House chief of staff, told the lobbyists, according to White House officials and lobbyists briefed on the call. The White House was standing behind the deal, Mr. Messina said, capping the industry’s costs at a maximum of $155 billion over 10 years in trade for its political support.

This is what happens when you make a decision to negotiate with people who do not care about the American people. They care only about profits. The above scenario was almost a guarantee once our leadership decided not to be clear that the end was coming for the insurance industry and the corporate interests who made money off the health and welfare of people. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.workinglife.org/blogs/view_post.php?content_id=14445

[KT2000]

1. Have another one for you

there once was a chemical company that made lots of products including pesticides that have been implicated in breast cancer. No problem - they bought a cancer drug pharmaceutical company!! THEN they started a ridiculous pink ribbon campaign that collects money for research and has cancer survivors run/walk a grueling event. First aid tents are stup along the route.
Wonder where all those research dollars that are donated go? better believe it is not to environmental causes of cancer.

Corporate america does not give a crap about health - they care about money which can be made off the sick in a system they already control.

It is called cannabalism - the last gasp of capitalism.

[marmar]

2. "It is called cannabalism - the last gasp of capitalism"

Indeed.

[CrispyQ]

3. Do you have a source for this?

Not that I don't believe you - I don't put anything past our blood sucking mega-corps, but I would like to see a source.

Thanks!

[KT2000]

4. I will get it for you but give

me a few minutes.

[KT2000]

5. Here is one of many:

http://www.alive.com/2002a5a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=167

this one offers a pretty good synopsis. Barbara Ehrenreich also wrote about this in Harper's a few years ago. It has been known and written about for a long time but the pink ribbon campaign is such a darling of the media it is never discussed.

Here is another discussion with terrific links - this one is better:
http://www.eves-best.com/pink-ribbon-products.htm

Anyway, if you google the company name with "pink ribbon" there will be many references to this.
A good book that looks at the involvement of corporations in the breast cancer awareness movement, including the company mentioned is:

Life's Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer by Janette D. Sherman MD
Taylor & Francis.
probably out of print, but that is too bad - terrific book.

(This is by a woman who always went to bat for her patients - even when she faced a phalanx of corporate lawyers in the courtroom.

[CrispyQ]

6. Wow.

I consider myself fairly well informed & I had never seen this. I've finished the first article, which is terrific & I think I'm going to spend a good amount of time on that second site!

I really appreciate your taking the effort to retrieve this info for me!

:yourock: