Bill Maher
By Bill Maher
July 26, 2009
How about this for a New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. It used to be that there were some services and institutions so vital to our nation that they were exempt from market pressures. Some things we just didn’t do for money. The United States always defined capitalism, but it didn’t used to define us. But now it’s becoming all that we are.
Did you know, for example, that there was a time when being called a “war profiteer” was a bad thing? But now our war zones are dominated by private contractors and mercenaries who work for corporations. There are more private contractors in Iraq than American troops, and we pay them generous salaries to do jobs the troops used to do for themselves – like laundry. War is not supposed to turn a profit, but our wars have become boondoggles for weapons manufacturers and connected civilian contractors.
Prisons used to be a non-profit business, too. And for good reason – who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition you’re going to have trouble with the tenants. But now prisons are big business. A company called the Corrections Corporation of America is on the New York Stock Exchange, which is convenient since that’s where all the real crime is happening anyway. The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money. That’s why America has the world’s largest prison population – because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line.
Television news is another area that used to be roped off from the profit motive. When Walter Cronkite died last week, it was odd to see news anchor after news anchor talking about how much better the news coverage was back in Cronkite’s day. I thought, “Gee, if only you were in a position to do something about it.”
But maybe they aren’t. Because unlike in Cronkite’s day, today’s news has to make a profit like all the other divisions in a media conglomerate. That’s why it wasn’t surprising to see the CBS Evening News broadcast live from the Staples Center for two nights this month, just in case Michael Jackson came back to life and sold Iran nuclear weapons. In Uncle Walter’s time, the news division was a loss leader. Making money was the job of The Beverly Hillbillies. And now that we have reporters moving to Alaska to hang out with the Palin family, the news is The Beverly Hillbillies.
And finally, there’s health care. It wasn’t that long ago that when a kid broke his leg playing stickball, his parents took him to the local Catholic hospital, the nun put a thermometer in his mouth, the doctor slapped some plaster on his ankle and you were done. The bill was $1.50, plus you got to keep the thermometer.
But like everything else that’s good and noble in life, some Wall Street wizard decided that hospitals could be big business, so now they’re run by some bean counters in a corporate plaza in Charlotte. In the U.S. today, three giant for-profit conglomerates own close to 600 hospitals and other health care facilities. They’re not hospitals anymore; they’re Jiffy Lubes with bedpans. America’s largest hospital chain, HCA, was founded by the family of Bill Frist, who perfectly represents the Republican attitude toward health care: it’s not a right, it’s a racket. The more people who get sick and need medicine, the higher their profit margins. Which is why they’re always pushing the Jell-O.
Because medicine is now for-profit we have things like “recision,” where insurance companies hire people to figure out ways to deny you coverage when you get sick, even though you’ve been paying into your plan for years.
When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you could do for your country, ask what’s in it for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
If conservatives get to call universal health care “socialized medicine,” I get to call private health care “soulless vampires making money off human pain.” The problem with President Obama’s health care plan isn’t socialism, it’s capitalism.
And if medicine is for profit, and war, and the news, and the penal system, my question is: what’s wrong with firemen? Why don’t they charge? They must be commies. Oh my God! That explains the red trucks!
Bill Maher is the host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
The Hunger Site
July 27, 2009 at 1:18 pm
The big corporations are out of control in the U.S. and have been for more than 100 years. They are responsible for decimating the natural environment, stifling small businesses, exploiting workers, and poisoning consumers.
Ironically, many laws already exist on the books that would correct these abuses. But they are not enforced. Both Democrats and Republicans are afraid to rise to the occasion. The big corporations have their hooks in them.
On the other hand, so-called “nonprofits” can also be oppressive and corrupt. We see that situation in SF.
A powerful nonprofit political complex has arisen here. The city feeds it $500 million a year, with little oversight and few performance standards.
The local nonprofit political complex manipulates politicians behind the scenes, especially the supes, as effectively as the military-industrial complex manipulates members of Congress.
In the past two years, the local nonprofit political complex has become especially worrisome because of its burgeoning alliance with the cannabis capitalists.
These are drug dealers who pretend they run nonprofits that provide cannabis to patients with acute medical conditions that cannot be treated with prescription drugs. It’s turned into a big scam.
Let’s confront all institutions that have muscle because of their money, and that are unaccountable and dishonest.
That means standing up to both traditional corporations and the more recently evolved nonprofits.
July 26, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Firemen did charge,
They were all slaves too. First recorded fire companies were in places like Rome and they were private concerns who pulled up to the fires with their equipment and slaves and started bargaining with the owner for how much the place was worth. As the fire grew the price went down.
We could get single payer health if the networks would all play ‘Sicko’ every night for a week. They won’t cause it would interfere with all the drug commercials.
h.