Free… It’s FREE! What’s free? This is free!

Free thought association…

On the third day of the eighth month in the fifth year of our LORD Ich’bin-Ein Berliner, came the jelly doughnut, a minute triceratops of a man, swimming freely in the oceans’ waters, basking in every bubble from the aerator around which the goldfish swam, as he peered outside its cavernous steel bars into the cat lounging on the spaghetti Bolognese, seeing clearly into its heart, lungs, and digestive system, while fueling the top fuel dragster from which he was born.
🤠

I don’t have opposable thumbs.

Both my thumbs have always worked in conjunction with all my other fingers, and with each other. And, they are in harmonious union with the palms… which should in no wise be conflated with date palms, Palme d’Or, iron ore, wooden oars, Cannes, Campbell’s soup cans, Andy Warhol, or else.

—————

The food we eat (that is to say, the food proffered to us in supermarkets, brands often advertised on teevee, print, and radio, in turn owned by mega-globally-traded behemoth transnational corporations) is largely factory-processed, made nutrient-deficient, hyper-preserved, sodium-laden — for additive preservative purpose — which nether creatively increases flavor, nor improves taste, is shelf-stable practically into perpetuity, and is all done so for one motive exclusively: Profit – to get more money.

Their interests and loyalties are NOT to you, nor to their customers, neither to your family, friends, and loved ones, but rather, are beholden to their corporate shareholders upon whom they openly ingratiate themselves, and to whom they, first and foremost, through a strong sense of obligation via stock ownership or other requirement, owe a substantial share of the profit, and in some cases, the “first fruits.”

And therefore, they work to achieve, or exceed, the expectations of the financial prognosticators and market soothsayers by obeying the edicts of the corporate overlords and executives in all details of business operation. So, when employees of the company’s various stores in select locales complain about employee mistreatment, and low wages combined with decreased hours — EVEN THOUGH the company made $24.6 BILLION in PROFITS for 2023, which in turn, effectively meant that all of its 400,000 employees could have been given an $11,000 raise and STILL have at least $20 BILLION in profit. Instead, the employees must rely upon tips for survival. That company is

Energy Information Administration data shows HOW BIG OIL is ABUSING CONSUMERS.

The
EXCLUSIVE REASON
WHY GAS PRICES ARE HIGH
is because
OIL COMPANIES HAVE CLOSED REFINERIES
&
REDUCED REFINERY INPUTS.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s website (https://www.eia.gov/) has a page dedicated to “Refinery Utilization and Capacity” (https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pnp_unc_dcu_nus_a.htm) which shows that, NOT ONLY have BIG OIL companies CLOSED REFINERIES, they have also DECREASED OIL PRODUCTION (Gross Inputs to Refineries) — BOTH which have contributed EXCLUSIVELY to hyper-inflated gas prices, and bank-busting profits for BIG OIL & their stockholders.

In other words, they’ve also “capped oil wells.”

One way to INCREASE PROFITS is to PRICE GOUGE, another is to MANIPULATE THE MARKET.

BIG OIL companies are doing BOTH.

Refineries — which are owned by oil companies — have been CLOSED BY THE OIL COMPANIES, despite making bank-busting RECORD PROFITS.

Why Russian Oil Should Be Sold Worldwide

I’ve done a 180º on the matter of selling Russian Crude Oil & Natural Gas (NatGas), and placing economic sanctions upon that nation.

I think that President Biden (POTUS BIDEN) should even consider INCREASING importation of those Russian fossil fuels.

Further, I think that we should be pursuing “business as usual” within Russia.

Matter of fact, so should the peace-loving world, particularly and especially all European nations.

Why?

Number one, embargoes, economic sanctions and other physically non-violent means are

Canada’s Cannabis Legalization Is Lowering Crime, Increasing Tax Revenue, Private Profit

The gap between legal and illicit cannabis markets in Canada continues widening, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada, the national statistical agency.

Household spending on adult-use cannabis products in legal, regulated channels, grew to $918 million Canadian dollars (US$800 million) in the 4th quarter 2020, which was CA$204 million more than the estimated amount spent on illicit cannabis in the same period.

For the first time, in the previous quarter, spending on legal recreational cannabis in Canada exceeded the value of illegal transactions, with regulated expenditures exceeding estimated illicit sales by CA$59 million.

Canada’s legal, taxed, and regulated, cannabis market benefited significantly from

What Is Inflation?

An inflation is defined as when prices in general go up. Not every price, and not each price the same amount, but a general rise in prices is all that the word “inflation” means. Goods and services, in general, go up in price. Number one.

Number two: Simple. The people who decide on prices are employers – the people who own and operate businesses – ’cause that’s where most goods and services come from. And under a private enterprise system, the individuals who set the prices are the owners, operators, chief executives of corporations. So the first question to understand, first point, is that, if you have a general rise in prices, it’s the business community that’s doing that.

Now, the next question: Why would the business community do it?

Well, the first answer again, is simple – is because it’s profitable. It’s the easiest, quickest, and best way to make more profits – which is to take whatever it is you’re producing, and charge more for each unit of it that you sell. In other words, to raise the price. So in many cases, there’s an inflation because businesses are raising prices to make more profits.

But of course, business

Why Alabama Can’t Have Nice Things, Including Internet Service

Why Can’t Alabama Have Nice Things?
-or-
Why FCC’s Net Neutrality Repeal Could Be Good For Alabama’s Economy

Already, following quickly on the heels of GOP FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s (a former corporate lawyer for Verizon) Net Neutrality repeal, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) such as Comcast, Cox Communications, and Frontier Communications have announced increased costs starting January. see: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/12/19/comcast-cox-frontier-net-neutrality/

<sarcasm>I suppose the “savings” regular families get from the GOP’s Tax Scam bill will offset any additional costs.</sarcasm>

Now, here’s the (easy to understand) “deal”:

Those firms want to increase sales, and by extension, increase profits. Not merely margins. In order to do that, one must TRULY compete on a “level playing field.”

But, let’s consider another thought, that being of service. There are, even now, many areas in our nation WITHOUT ISP, or options. It’s VERY “close to home.”

For example, I can drive 30-45 minutes and be in a VERY remote area… which, until this point, had NO ISP, save for satellite service. At my urging, relatives, whose example I am referencing, began to collaborate with their neighbors to get ISP to “lay line” to their, and others’ residences.

They (area residents) were already paying for a service (satellite ISP) which quality was poor, unreliable, and costly. The “wire line” ISP (falsely) claimed that to extend service to that area (even though it was already nearby – at the road), would not be “profitable.” I demurred, urged and encouraged them ALL THE MORE to

BIG INSURANCE Companies Fear Single Payer For ONE Reason

A friend had shared the opening paragraph, upon which I remarked.

My response follows.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, I feel compelled to note that insurance companies do not exist to provide health care. They exist to make money. Big money. Big money at your time of greatest vulnerability. This happens by raising income as much as possible and limiting “risk” as much as possible. Now go ponder the implications.”

—/—

And that is the single greatest reason why a

“Too Big To Fail” Banks Get Bailout, Gave Customers The Shaft

Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021
NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

DONALD V. WATKINS
Register Number: 36223-001
Age:	72
Race:	Black
Sex:	Male
Located at: Oklahoma City FTC
Release Date: 01/10/2024

Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama
FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO PRISON IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/father-and-son-sentenced-prison-multimillion-dollar-investment-fraud-scheme

Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download

See also: Donald Watkins, Son Sentenced For Federal Fraud Convictions
Updated Jul 16, 2019; Posted Jul 16, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/07/donald-watkins-son-to-be-sentenced-for-federal-fraud-convictions.html

See also: Donald Watkins’ $1.5 Billion Question: Was It Ever Real?
Updated Feb 23, 2019; Posted Feb 23, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/donald-watkins-15-billion-question-was-it-ever-real.html

---

Chalk One Up for the Working Man

By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 18, 2016
Used with permission

On Thursday, I tried a case for a close friend on mine in the Jefferson County, Alabama District Court in Bessemer, Alabama. My friend is a hard working Bessemer resident and family man whose world was turned upside down when Citibank sold his credit card account to San Diego-based junk debt buyer, Midland Funding, LLC. He is one of millions of bank credit card customers each year whose accounts are bundled in loan pools and then sold to junk debt buyers without the customer’s knowledge.

Midland Funding is one of several mega junk debt buyers in America. This group of financial sharks buys unsecured bank debt for pennies on a dollar and then strong arms debtors who miss one or more of their monthly payments. Midland is part of a multi-billion industry of shady financial predators.

In my friend’s case, Citibank sold his account to Midland Funding. The balance on the account was $6,800. My friend paid his credit card monthly on a regular basis, but had an unexpected hiccup in his monthly cash flow a couple of years after he opened the account. As a result he failed to make a couple of his payments on time. When this occurred Citibank sold my friend’s account to Midland, and Midland eventually sued my friend. This is how my friend became my client.

Remember, Citibank had a similar hiccup during the Great Recession of 2008. The bank requested and received a total of $181.6 billion in federal bailout assistance to keep from collapsing. In fact, Citibank led the banking industry’s “welfare queens” by receiving more financial bailout assistance than any big bank in the U.S.

Citibank’s “Thank You” to the taxpayers like my client, whose tax dollars made the financial bailout possible for these big banks, was the low-down act of selling his credit card account to a shark like Midland Funding. The big banks were quick to take taxpayer-sponsored financial assistance, but slow to give taxpayers similar financial assistance in return.

[Editor’s Note: Alamerica Bank, which is

End ObamaCare’s Health Insurance Monopoly

Fact is, “ObamaCare” – which is properly known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA for short – though it’s monikered with POTUS Obama’s name, was largely a Republican brainchild from the über-conservative Heritage Institution.

The cornerstone of the act is predicated upon two items which are the very heart of the act: 1.) Guaranteed Coverage, and; 2.) Community Rating.

In was, in essence

Preys Geebus!

Purveyors of False Profit

Because Geezus died and was resurrected for businesses, free enterprise, and the profit motive.

There is NO SUCH THING as a “Christian” business. I’d rather visit a

Historical Audio: Reagan supported increased wages & labor protection

Seems as if everything old is news again.

Of course, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

—

GOP Panics As Audio Emerges Proving Their Hero Reagan Would Oppose Current GOP Policies

Author: Rika Christensen April 9, 2014 6:49 pm

A 1948 audio recording of Ronald Reagan shows that he would have opposed the GOP’s policies today. In fact, if the GOP actually knew anything about Reagan’s history, they’d wonder how he even ended up in the party to begin with. The right-wing lunatic fringe runs today’s GOP. Back when this recording was made, Ronald Reagan sounded far more like one of today’s liberal Democrats than a Republican. The difference is astonishing.

Ronald Reagan on the 1946 GOP’s plan to increase people’s real incomes:

“The profits of corporations have doubled, while workers’ wages have increased by only one quarter. In other words, profits have gone up four times as much as wages. And the small increase workers did receive was eaten up by rising prices, which also bored into their savings.”

Gee, that sounds an awful lot like what’s happening now. Soaring corporate profits should mean that workers’ wages go up, also. Instead, more people than ever live paycheck to paycheck, and fewer have any savings to speak of, let alone enough to pay six months of living expenses in case of an emergency. But the stock market has reached record highs several times. So everything’s cool, at least as far as the GOP is concerned.

Ronald Reagan on the “free market” and rising prices:

“High prices have not been caused by higher wages, but by bigger and bigger profits. The Republican promises sounded pretty good in 1946. But what has happened since then? Since the 80^th Congress took over? Prices have climbed to the highest level in history, although the death of the OPA was supposed to bring prices down through ‘the natural process of free competition.’”

So, even back then, the Republican ideal of the free market didn’t work the way they insisted, and Ronald Reagan could see that. These days, they still want the government to stay out. They want competition to work for lowering prices and creating jobs. However, the so-called “free market” that they want tends toward monopolies and/or price collusion, which both drive prices up. These two situations prevent new businesses from entering the market to compete, and hurt consumers and workers, while driving profits sky-high.

Ronald Reagan on working Americans:

Offshoring American Enterprise: Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

I may step on a few toes with my next remark, but I can always apologize, and ask forgiveness if it so be the case that my remarks are found offensive.

However, suffice it to say, that our nation’s Congress, has, for at least the past 20 years, or so – and even moreso in the past decade plus – embarked upon a very

Another Example of how Corporate Greed Killed American Jobs

This time, it’s Hawaiian Pineapple Production.

And, it’s an old story.

—

Del Monte to End Pineapple Production in Hawaii

Last Crop Will Be Harvested in 2008

By John Fischer, About.com Guide

Pineapple Growing in Central Oahu;
Photo by John Fischer

Sugar and Pineapple – those two words used to be synonymous with Hawaii. In a year where Hawaiians of Filipino decent are celebrating their 100th anniversary in the islands, one of the two cash crops which brought them to Hawaii along with immigrants from China and Japan is facing another long-time grower abandoning the islands for cheaper production elsewhere.Where once sugar cane and pineapple fields were strewn across most of the Hawaiian islands, now you’ll find housing developments, resort hotels and condominiums and more often, just barren fields.

Del Monte to Cease Pineapple Production in Hawaii

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. announced last week that after 90 years in Hawaii, they will plant their last crop of pineapple on Oahu this month and will cease all operations by 2008 when that crop is harvested.Citing the expense of

Big Business Profit Model Harms Long Term Profitability

Perhaps the most telling rationale, or motivation for the course upon which corporations have set is explained in this statement by ANDREW SMITHERS: Yes, the current way in which managements are rewarded is perverse from an economic viewpoint. Adam Smith pointed out that some characteristics of human beings such as greed, which are often unpleasant at a personal level, can nonetheless bring social benefits. But this is not necessarily the case under current remuneration systems; greed is increasingly the cause of harm rather than help to the economy.

The long and short of it, is greed. And in that paragraph is the solitary mention of the word or practice.

Philosophically, this time, this period in our nation’s history – and in the history of the world, and in the greater, long term picture of humanity – is yet another prime example, and case in point illustrating why and how the selfishness of greed is unsustainable and genuinely evil.

—

Capital Wins, Labor Loses, But Andrew Smithers Says It Can’t Go On

MAKING SENSE — December 26, 2012 at 4:48 PM EDT

BY: PAUL SOLMAN

Warehouse manager at operations desk on computer. Photo courtesy of John McBride & Company Inc.

Paul Solman: Jon Shayne is not just the world’s No. 1 econo-crooner, belting out economics tunes of his own invention under the stage name Merle Hazard at his own website and for the PBS NewsHour audience on inflation, on the Greek debt crisis, on the euro crisis in general, on too-big-to-fail banks, and most recently, on the fiscal cliff.

No, Shayne/Hazard is no one-trick pony. He is also a noted money manager, recently highlighted by Forbes magazine for his perspicacity in stock-picking. Wrote Forbes: “If you follow the stock market, Jon Shayne is worth a good, long listen. Especially now.”

Having listened to Jon plenty over the past few years, I agree, especially with his emphasis on the increasing share of national income commanded by the owners of capital, in contrast to labor. This angle is the focus of Forbes’ story as well.

So I asked Jon to elaborate for the Making Sen$e audience. He has done so by interviewing the person who inspired his thoughts on the subject, British economist Andrew Smithers, who formerly ran the asset management business of S.G. Warburg, and now

Digital divide? What digital divide? We don’t need no stinking “digital divide”!

“Digital divide?”

What “digital divide”?

We don’t need no steenking “digital divide”!

Funny, ironic, and true.

Haves, meet Have-Nots.

—

How the digital divide developed in New Orleans & what that means for the future of news there

by Tracie Powell Published July 5, 2012 4:00 pm Updated July 5, 2012 7:03 pm

Come September when changes at The Times-Picayune take effect, not only will New Orleans become the largest city without a daily newspaper, its residents will likely become some of the most disconnected in the country.

New Orleans lags behind the rest of the U.S. when it comes to broadband Internet service connections, according to an investigative report produced by the nonprofit journalism organization The Lens in conjunction with the Center for Public Integrity and the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. About half of Louisianans subscribe to broadband services while the national average is 60 percent. Those who do subscribe to broadband Internet service tend to be white and in higher income brackets, the report shows.

Only 43 percent of Americans who make less than $25,000 a year have home Internet access, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce study. “It’s clear that, in the midst of moving toward digital news, many people still need access to information that doesn’t require a computer,” Jesse Hardman writes in the Columbia Journalism Review.

This is especially true in New Orleans, where half the residents make less than $35,000 a year and The Times-Picayune will emphasize digital products, Hardman states. The concern should not be about a business decision, “but on how the citizens of New Orleans are going to get important information if they are not online,” he writes.

Poorer, more African American areas of New Orleans, such as the Lower 9th Ward, have broadband subscription rates between 0 and 40 percent while those living in more rural parts of the area account for subscription rates between 0 and 20 percent, Matt Davis writes in The Lens.

It’s harder to profit from the investment in broadband infrastructure in rural areas where fewer residents live further apart. Among poorer residents, broadband – and even newspaper subscriptions – tend to be luxuries for job seekers or people who are still trying to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina nearly seven years ago. The Picayune’s decision to print only three days a week means fewer newspapers will get passed around local barber shops, beauty salons, cafes and convenience stores — places where many people who don’t have broadband access at home often go to exchange information about what’s happening in their neighborhoods.

At the same time, private business executives and public officials seem to be in denial. They aren’t planning for a diminished newspaper presence and are holding out hope that a hero will swoop in and buy The Times-Picayune, even though the paper isn’t for sale. They also continue to support policies that favor the telecom industry rather than working to make broadband more affordable.

The other primary sources of information for poorer residents, television and radio, will have to step up their game to fill in the gap once the Picayune ceases daily publication, media observers say.

Why the Digital Divide

New Orleans is one of the most digitally divided cities in the country. The Lens’ report contains

“Will that be cash, or charge?”: Many hospitals & doctors offer cash discount for care

Regular readers will recall the entry entitled “Q: Why do hospitals charge $75 for aspirin? A: Because they can.,” which was posted Wednesday, May 2, 2012.

In another venue, I had posted the following remark in response to the exorbitant healthcare costs, “It’s a simple concept, really. Anytime anyone gets in between you & who you’re buying from, it costs more. Insurance does that.”

And it’s true.

It’s not trite.

Let’s consider this example: You’re at the grocery store in the check-out line, about to pay for your groceries which have already been bagged and placed in your shopping cart. When the clerk announces the total, you have some strange feeling because the total is about ten times as much as you imagined.

When you double check the price of milk you find the sticker says $2.50/gallon, but your clerk rang up $25. You double check the price of frozen spinach. The sticker price says $1.37, but the clerk rang up $13.70. The chocolate was $4.50, but the clerk rang up $45.00. And the lean ground beef, instead of the posted $2.60/lb, the 5lb chub was… $130.00.

Talk about sticker shock!

You are aghast at the price, and in frustrated terms exclaim that “there is obviously some gross mistake!” – to which the clerk replies, “Let me check with your Food Insurance Agent,” picks up a phone beside the register, presses one button, and whispers into the receiver. 

Suddenly, out of a door leading to an inside office,

Q: Why do hospitals charge $75 for aspirin? A: Because they can.

It was once a long-standing joke that hospitals charged outrageous prices on medicines.

It’s not a joke anymore.

Once, a healthcare joke went like this:
Q: What’s the difference between a HMO, a PPO and the PLO?

A: You can negotiate with the PLO.

It’s not a joke anymore.

It should also be noted that a study conducted 26 years go by Jack D. McCue, Charles Hansen, and Peter Gal entitled “Hospital Charges for Antibiotics” found that:

“Hospital charges for intravenous antibiotics were obtained in a survey of 71 hospitals in 25 U.S. cities. Only 56.3% of the hospitals used their actual drug acquisition cost to calculate patient charges; the remainder used a base price derived from one of the wholesale price guides, which often seriously overstate the cost of antibiotics. Sixty-eight percent added a markup, averaging 134.5%, and 63.4% added a dispensing fee, averaging $5.47. A relatively high-dose, single-antibiotic regimen costs patients $50-$150 per day, independent of dose-preparation charges (average, $9.09 per dose) for a piggyback-type system or intravenous line-related charges. Antibiotics were least expensive in large hospitals and in those located in the northeastern United States. Charges for antibiotics are often inconsistently calculated, vary enormously among hospitals, and may be unfair to patients and confusing to physicians. Cost-conscious prescribing of antibiotics by physicians would be facilitated by a more consistent relationship between charges and true costs.”

That 1985 study may be found here.

The reader should also understand that in a hospital, ALL medications are administered by prescription only… even aspirin.

—

Cost Spotlight: A 443% Markup on Prescription Drugs

Posted on April 30, 2012 by AHIP Coverage

Kaiser Health News/USA Today shines a spotlight on increasing hospital costs specifically the price markup of over-the-counter and prescription drugs hospitals administer to patients.  The story examines

Rand Paul, Conscription, Slavery, & Health Insurance Reform

Recently, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, a “TEA Party” Republican from Kentucky, and ophthalmologist specializing in cataract and glaucoma surgeries, LASIK procedures, and corneal transplants, was quoted as saying that “a right to healthcare… means you believe in slavery.”

Dr. Paul is the ranking member of the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging subcommittee, and made his comments at a Wednesday, May 11, 2011 hearing about emergency room use in American hospitals.

He said that, “With regard to the idea whether or not you have a right to health care you have to realize what that implies. I am a physician. You have a right to

Insurance costs and health-care reform: Are health insurers making huge profits?

Are health insurers making huge profits?

Mar 5th 2010, 14:15 by M.S.

YESTERDAY Barack Obama dropped in on Kathleen Sibelius‘s meeting with executives of America’s top five health insurers and read a letter from a constituent. Natoma Canfield, a self-employed house cleaner, had carcinoma 16 years ago; it has been in remission for 11 years. Last year Anthem Blue Cross, who provide her with a high-deductible ($2,500) individual plan, raised her premiums 25%, to $6,075. This year they’re raising them another 40%, to $8,500. Ms Canfield  closes her letter, “Please stay focused in your reform attempts as I and many others are in desperate need of your help.”

There’s no doubt that the Obama health-care reform bill would

You Wall Street Mother Fucking Sons of Bitches!

Brian Williams has reported Thursday, December 17, 2009 on the NBC Nightly News that,

“New York state finance officials said today Wall Street is on track to shatter all profitability records this year.

Profits came in at just under FIFTY BILLION dollars

– that’s profit for the first three quarters of 2009 –

and that is much more than was expected for the entire year,

and a stunning TWO-AND-A-HALF times more than the previous record set back in the year 2000.

Bonus payments for bankers and traders could be as much as FORTY percent HIGHER than last year.”

Download the New York State Comptroller‘s report – Review of the Financial Plan of the City of New York, December 2009,  Report 16-2010, by Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller –  here:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/osdc/rpt16-2010.pdf

See NBC Nightly News video here:

http://www.videonewslive.com/view/404951/video_wall_street_sees_recordbreaking_profits

-AND-

here:

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/wall-street-sees-record-breaking-profits/60a1dyr

WWJD Health Care: “Will this make your life better?”

I regularly contribute commentary to a blog entitled “OFFAir & ONLine,” by Tim Lennox. Mr. Lennox is a Viet Nam veteran and print/broadcast journalist of some years’ experience, and readers will see a link to his blog on this blog. His name or face maybe most recognizable from his 11-year tenure as News Anchor/Host of Alabama’s only statewide news program “For The Record,” broadcast on Alabama Public Television (APTV).

After APTV essentially deep-sixed the award-winning program, and its highly respected Host – calling long distance to bear bad news while he was attending a relative’s funeral almost half-way across the country – Mr. Lennox has quite fortunately again found gainful employment in his field.

Recently, Mr. Lennox cited a news item and posed a question to his readers, which was a reiteration of the same question asked by the subject of a news story to which he linked, and which was, “Will this make your life better?”

It’s said that there are two motivations for people: 1.) Love, and; 2.) Money.

If a person doesn’t do a thing for love, they then do it for money. And there is a word used to describe those whom do things exclusively for money: it’s called “prostitution.”

In that light, I composed the following response:

Fear mongering certainly seems to be Republicans’ political stock in trade.

I write that after reading the inane comments of Republican Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns in the linked story.

Concerning “government delivered healthcare,” the only comment I have, is that it certainly seems to work quite well for our Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen!

But this issue is NOT about government delivery.

It IS however, about deciding whether our nation can and should continue on the path we’ve been embarked upon for nearly three generations (post WWII era).

That being, whether we shall continue to allow for-profit, Wall Street mega-billionaires and their über-wealthy insurance companies to call the shots on our healthcare by the power of their purse.

They have made their fortunes upon the backs of the suffering, and in the process, because of lack of regulation, caused and increased unnecessary suffering among untold Americans’ lives.

Among other unconscionable and inhumane acts, they have refused to pay for procedures, medications and treatments that healthcare professionals have deemed necessary.

They have refused to pay for treatments after services were rendered after they cashed checks, claiming a “cap” or “incorrect date” was on the check. They’ve constantly changed the “rules of THEIR game,” even in the middle of the “game,” forcing the insured to dance to the tune of THEIR piper… like it or NOT! (Yeah, it’s a mixed metaphor… but it works!)

And these are but two egregious examples. There are countless, and untold MILLIONS more.

One significant reason why healthcare costs in this nation are so out-of-control are because of insurance companies.

It’s a very simple-to-understand idea: 

Anytime anyone gets in between you and the check-out stand, you’re gonna’ pay more.

Analogously, why would you pay me to pay your fuel costs for your automobile? Why would you pay me to pay for your groceries?

We’ve done similarly with our healthcare in this nation for so long (since post WWII) that we’ve become accustomed to it, and act as if it can’t be changed.

Perhaps that “genie can’t be put back into the bottle.”

I don’t know.

But, we can darn sure (and should) do something about the environment in which it is allowed to operate!

Besides… if competition is good (and it is), why would the insurance companies (private enterprise) NOT want competition from the government?

It just doesn’t make sense… like most of what insurance companies say and do.

Whatever they say, I’m disinclined to do, simply because they proven time and time and time again, that they CANNOT be trusted.

They’re in it to make money.

They DON’T give a damn about you.

Take away their profit motive and what do they have left?

No reason for existence.

They’re NOT charitable organizations… like hospitals have historically been.

Christian charities have operated hospitals for longer than health insurance companies have peddled health insurance.

And they did a darn sight better when those whose filthy lucre turned it into a den of thieves stayed out.