It’s bad enough that a minor cable network picked up the moneygrubbing LIV tour without ESPN touting it as a “good” sign. It’s a terrible confirmation what we already knew.
Morality? Right and wrong? Ethics? They’re for suckers. It’s the money stupid.
Medicynical Note: A devil inspired murderous medieval misogynist, theocratic monarchy is buying it’s way into the public consciousness. Buying businesses, athletes, sports franchises, properties and souls.
Shame on Kornheiser.
I’m not a golfer and could care less whether LIV golf is successful. But I do think we should understand the motivation of the Saudi government sponsor. In the case of LIV, the Saudis are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to buy, I’m told, top golfers and to sponsor golf tournaments. Yes, the same government involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Turkey is bringing us LIV. (a bit ironic to say the least)
“Saudi officials said the journalist was killed in a “rogue operation” by a team of agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom, while Turkish officials said the agents acted on orders from the highest levels of the Saudi government.”
Now, just a few years later the oil-wealthy Saudi’s are attempting to distract the world from it’s past by sponsoring sports events, and golf is not their only target.
“Saudi Arabia has proved to be an alluring hub for sports events over the past few years, having signed a 10-year, $650m deal for a Formula One motor racing event, having invested millions in a Saudi International golf event, and hosted some of the biggest boxing showdowns in recent memory. The kingdom has also hired the Boston Consulting Group to help lobby its interest in hosting a World Cup event in the not-so-distant future.”
But the assassination of Khashoggi was not an isolated killing for the Saudis. It’s more the tip of an iceberg of killings and disappearances within Saudi Arabia.
Medicynical Note: it’s depressing. Sports icons such as Messi and Ronaldo and the prominent golf pros sell themselves and participate in events sponsored by an amoral and murderous regime. We watch and participate. We think nothing of going to the World Cup in Russia or Qatar. If we have no conscience we might even watch an obscure LIV golf event. We watch as the icons of world sport sell themselves and while they’re playing, people die.
Posted in current events, Ethics, General Cynicism, Uncategorized
Tagged Greed, Sportwashing
America has a system of revenue generation that it calls healthcare. Many of it’s “healthcare” corporations work more diligently to improve revenue and income than on improving patient access, affordability and outcomes. That’s American private healthcare even if the company involved is supposedly “non-profit.” This article documents some of the actions of a large non-profit church run hospital system. In reality it is a cash cow that launders hospital income into huge privately held investments.
As noted in the article “But The Times this year has documented how large chains of nonprofit hospitals have moved away from their charitable missions.”
“Some have skimped on free care for the poor, illegally saddling tens of thousands of patients with debts. Others have plowed resources into affluent suburbs while siphoning money from poorer areas.’
And: “Today, Ascension operates in 19 states, mostly in the South and the Midwest. It serves about six million patients.”
“By many measures, Ascension is rich.”
“In addition to its billions in cash, it runs an investment company that manages more than $41 billion. Last year it paid its chief executive, Joseph Impicciche, $13 million.”
“Because of its nonprofit status, Ascension avoids more than $1 billion a year in federal, state and local taxes, according to the Lown Institute, a health care think tank.”
Medicynical Note: In large areas of the country, because of the tax advantage from their non-profit and church related status, hospitals like Ascensions’ have become the only provider of health care, dominating both inpatient and outpatient services. Besides scrimping on staffing and services to maximize return they also enforce health care religious proscriptions on their non-practicing patients and staff.
In the end America has a revenue generating rather than a health generating system of care. It’s interest is more in income than outcomes. Sad but true.
Posted in Ethics, General Cynicism, Health Economics
Tagged American capitalism, Greed, health care
Medicynical Note: Given the politicization of the military it’s only a matter of time before we learn of active duty types being compromised by monied political types…… it may have happened already given the sordid Retired General Flynn’s track record.
Each of these generals has a retirement package from their thankful government that is better than that available for 99.9% of the U.S. public. They do not need the money. But in America it appears that everything and every one ……. is for sale. Including our feckless Supreme Court who made it all possible and is destroying America one ruling at a time.
Thanks to our mostly “conservative” insular and isolated Supreme Court the slaughter of innocents in America continues. There have been 532 mass shootings here so far this year.
“We have doubled our determination now to end senseless gun violence that has its grips on our country and now on our city,” Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. “I know that brings us all sadness and anger. We have to do something.”
Medicynical Hint: The answer is not thoughts and prayers. The answer is not more guns. The answer is not fewer doors. The answer is not mental health counseling.
The Answer: FEWER GUNS
There have been many analyses of the vote in the last presidential election. Our former President claims it was a landslide in his favor and that he was defeated by voter fraud. That claim seems once again to have been debunked. The only fraud is Trump himself.
Medicynical Note: Many republicans including those on FOX news have supported Trump’s claim of voter fraud.
Turns out that there was very little fraud in the last election. What republicans really appear to be concerned about is ALL people voting. Imagine that, a so-called democracy, once the leading democracy in the world, under threat because one of the two major parties opposes the concept of universal sufferage.
You may recall: (from Wikipedia) Democracy (Greek: δημοκρατία, dēmokratiā, from dēmos ‘people’ and kratos ‘rule’) is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (“direct democracy”), or to choose governing officials to do so (“representative democracy”).
Procuring and paying for healthcare in the U.S. is an exercise more opaque and yes, potentially even more expensive than buying a new car. Ever try and get a firm price for healthcare services? You’ll find that no one can give a total price and guarantee that’s what you’ll be charged.
We have a system of revenue generation not healthcare. Your doctor in modern America is an employee and has little to no control over his office. And doctor’s fees it turns out are only a small part of the total cost.
Adding insult to injury our non-system of healthcare is set up to charge the neediest the most.…..unless they are fortunate enough to have insurance of some type (Obamacare policies, Medicare, Medicaid or private coverage). In the wealthiest (maybe) country on earth we have a system of health care revenue that charges those with the least, the most.
Medicynical Note: I’m an elderly retired M.D. and am well covered by insurance. This year so far my Medicare/Medicare Advantage policy was billed $5,954 for services. Because they have agreements with providers they paid only $2,210.34 for the services with me paying a very modest $10/visit co-pay. Not a bad deal if you have the coverage.
If I were one of the un-insured the providers would charge the entire $5,954……ironically or perhaps by design charging those least able to pay, the most. It’s really an absurd way of paying for health care and is the only such faux health care system/revenue generation system in the industrialized world.
Health care costs in the U.S> are among the leading causes of bankruptcy. Such bankruptcies are unknown in other parts of the world.
Posted in Ethics, General Cynicism, Health Economics
Tagged American capitalism, Greed, health care, Health Insurance
“Last week, we learned that Merck is planning to charge Americans 40 times its cost for a Covid drug whose development was subsidized by the American government. The situation spotlights two sets of facts that have also gone largely unmentioned in the legislative debate over whether to let Medicare negotiate for lower drug prices.”
“Fact one: Americans are facing not merely expensive drugs, but prices that are examples of outright profiteering.”
“Fact two: in many cases, the medicines we are being gouged on are those that we the public already paid for.”
Medicynical note: It’s safe to say that we, in the U.S., pay more for medications than any other country in the world. We consider newly developed medications akin to new inventions and offer generation long monopoly like patents, having ceded our financial interests to the companies in the 80’s and 90’s.
Drug companies are not part of the health care community. In fact they care more about revenue and the exhorbitant pay of their executives and the price of their stock (stockholders wealth) than the health and well being of their customers.
They benefit from a system fixed in their favor. They do this in part by financially supporting numerous congress people to forestall congressional oversight and then charge U.S. customers whatever they wish–no discounts to offset previous taxpayer support and no negotiation with their largest customer (Medicare) to assure reasonable pricing and profits on U.S. sales.
In fact, we pay more than any other locale in the world because we let them charge us more. Do we have any right to complain?
Posted in Ethics, General Cynicism, Health Economics, Patents
Tagged Greed, health care
“The 48-year old CEO of Tesla has been bickering on social media with California and Alameda County officials about reopening Tesla’s Fremont, California electric car manufacturing plant, on which the electric carmaker is unusually dependent, since its only other auto manufacturing plant is the newly-opened Gigafactory outside Shanghai. Recently, Musk took to Twitter to threaten to take his company and go home, if by home, he means new digs in either Nevada, or locations where Tesla is reportedly scouting locations for a new Cybertruck plant, Austin, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
Medicynical note: Musk is a brilliant innovator who is also a Trumpist. He, like Trump, is willing to sacrifice his employees/people’s lives for his own “greater good.” His money appears to come before……… before everything else.
Back in the 50’s and 60’s Volvo made it as a luxury/euro car alternative to the popular well engineered German brands…..I.e. Benz and BMW. in that period many avoided the German cars because of the association with Hitler’s Germany. Volvo emerged as a quality alternative.
Given Musk’s erratic money grubbing behavior I’m beginning to look for the alternative to Tesla…..though I personally will, likely, not be buying it–because of my age.
In case you were wondering, drug companies business plans are designed to separate you from your money—not assure access to medications; provide value or promote good health. In the case of medicine in the 21st century in the U.S. it truly is your money or your life. This was again graphically illustrated by Turing Pharmaceuticals when it raised the cost of a 62 year old medication from $13.50/ pill (over priced at that) to $750/pill.
The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Turing’s price increase is not an isolated example. While most of the attention on pharmaceutical prices has been on new drugs for diseases like cancer, hepatitis C and high cholesterol, there is also growing concern about huge price increases on older drugs, some of them generic, that have long been mainstays of treatment.
And
While some price increases have been caused by shortages, others have resulted from a business strategy of buying old neglected drugs and turning them into high-priced “specialty drugs.”
Medicynical Note: Kind of pathetic but that’s what happens when companies use their leverage on the sick and dying.
It leads me to conclude that “medical ethics” and what was once known as the “ethical pharmaceutical industry” no longer exist. It’s really all about money.
Posted in Ethics, General Cynicism, Health Economics, Patents
Tagged Drug companies, Greed
Medicynic 