It is hard for me to believe anyone takes such a notion seriously—except those who have a vested interest in the status quo—or perhaps those whose indoctrination has been so replete and whose pathology so cathected that they must embrace policies that harm not only their own lives, but also their own children’s. Must we look for a way for corporations to make some dough before we act as good stewards of the earth? Is being reckless what is called being conservative?
Businesses are in business to MAKE money, not to help people or to make the planet a good place for our children to live. There are profound limits to its uses and we shouldn't fetishize their value. With regard to health care expenditures, the U.S. spends more per capita than any U.N. member except for East Timor.
Currently a very large share of the U.S. health care budget goes to non-medical persons (primarily insurance companies) for their profits. The government Medicare program takes much less for its budget to administer health care. And it is a far cry from the most efficient international systems that we should try to emulate.
This does not even begin to examine the inhumane practices common in our market-driven system such as denying care to the sick for having pre-existing (don't we all?) conditions, or for not having the money. The system forces the indigent to go to emergency rooms and forces corporate taxes onto private citizens without their consent.
So why should we pay corporations, who do not care about the health of people per se, to make money from people's misfortunes. How long will Americans be such dupes?
John Campion
Oakland, CA
