October 20th, 2009
Who is really in charge?
The answer to that question should be obvious.. the mighty dollar. Or rather the person or people who have the most of the dollars. This goes beyond buying the fancy clothes and cars, the big houses, or anything else you might think you need to make you happy. That’s the things people who don’t have money dream about. The greatest things that those greenbacks can get you is power and influence. If you have that, you don’t need anything else.
Following that logic it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out who in this country has the real power and influence. Anyone who thinks its the President or the Congress is unfortunately very mistaken. They’re just players in a game they have no real control over. Our exalted politicians often talk a big and tough game.. but in the end they’re just as powerless as the rest of the population.
This article from the Guardian is a few weeks old, but it brings up a great, great point. The piece, written by Chris McGreal, discusses the role the American health insurance providers, along with the drug companies and hospitals, have in the continuing tar pit that is the health care overhaul. While there is slow progress being made, neither the liberals nor the conservatives are happy with the effort. The liberals feel that too much is being sacrificed, with the public option taken off the table, while conservatives do not want government controlling health care. The question that remains is what is our best course forward?
The answer to that question isn’t that easy, because here is where the views conflict. I am not referring to the clashes between the conservatives and liberals in the population, but rather the American public versus the American Corporations. According to the Guardian:
“The industry and interest groups have spent $380m (£238m) in recent months influencing healthcare legislation through lobbying, advertising and in direct political contributions to members of Congress. The largest contribution, totaling close to $1.5m, has gone to the chairman of the senate committee drafting the new law.”
That is absolutely mind numbing amount of cash being spent to convince us that healthcare overhaul is bad! Yes this number is insignificant when compared to the recent passed stimulus. But think of the recent presidential election and the money the candidates spent to get elected. They really don’t want that healthcare overhaul do they? And unfortunately their money isn’t being wasted, per Guardian:
“Reform groups say vast spending, and the threat of a lot more being poured into advertisements against the administration, has helped drug companies ensure there will be no cap on the prices they charge for medicines ‑ one of the ways the White House had hoped to keep down surging healthcare costs.”
and:
“Insurance companies have done even better as the new legislation will prove a business bonanza. It is not only likely to kill off the threat of public health insurance, which threatened to siphon off customers by offering lower premiums and better coverage, but will force millions more people to take out private medical policies or face prosecution.”
Scared yet? I am. Because it only gets better. Our elected Senators, the men and women we entrust with fighting for us now and shaping the future of our country, are busy offering paid fishing trips to the lobbyists. Another little gem from the Guarding:
“Baucus holds dinners for health industry executives at which they pay thousands of dollars each to be at the table, and an annual fly-fishing and golfing weekend in his home state of Montana that lobbyists pay handsomely to attend. They have included John Jonas, who represents healthcare firms for Patton Boggs, widely regarded as the top lobbying firm in Washington. Jonas, who formerly worked on the congressional staff, acknowledges that political contributions are intended to buy influence and says it works.”
And what about Barack Obama, our President, what can he do in all of this? Not much:
“Robert Reich, the labour secretary in the Clinton administration, says the Obama White House, mindful of how the health industry killed off Clinton’s attempts at reform, has grown so fearful of industry money that it has quietly reached agreement to pull back from price caps and public health insurance.”
In the end I think we will get what is realistic in our democracy. A healthcare bill that benefits only a portion of the population and all the wealthy players in the corporate world.
