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The greed for money and power undermines those in the power structure, from politicians to big business and trade negotiators, and even police. While they may view greed as a strength – it drives corrupt politicians and big business to consistently push for more power and money – it can also be a weakness by leading them to overreach and expose their corruption. We cannot count on those in the power structure to always undermine themselves, but when they do, we need to be there to point it out and help their mistakes ensure their defeat.
Trade Stalls, Pushing TPP Into the Election Year
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators in Hawaii were met by protesters (https://www.
The negotiators did not reach the conclusion they had promised as major areas of disagreement remain between the big economies of the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, particularly because of the aggressive positions of the US negotiators. The US is insisting on provisions that will protect the profits of pharmaceutical and other medical corporations and that will destroy some of the best healthcare systems in the world (Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). The US is using its bully power to force the failed and abusive US market model of privatized healthcare on countries that have strong public health systems. Many other big issues remain, among them are trade-related dairy and autos, biologic’s patent exclusivity periods, the role of Internet service providers regarding copyright and details of investor-state dispute settlement provisions.
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“Your career is toast” protest in Senator Wyden’s office.
As a result, negotiators left Hawaii without a schedule for a next meeting. Elections are complicating progress, with Stephen Harper in a close re-election race, Shinzo Abe (https://www.
The election year is an opportunity for the movement against trade rigged for big business to make the TPP a national issue and to push for a new direction for trade that puts protection of people and the planet before profits. Join us in organizing to stop the TPP and the other corporate treaties, the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). Click here to take the TPP action pledge (http://www.flushthetpp.org/
On Medicare’s 50^th Birthday, Healthcare in the US Changing for the Worse
While Medicare’s 50th Birthday was celebrated across the nation (https://www.
The new slogan of the single payer movement is “Medicare for All: American as Apple PIE” with PIE standing for Protect, Improve, Expand. But, the reality is that we know Medicare is under attack, constantly facing cutbacks and privatization, and this attack is bi-partisan in nature showing the truth of the saying that the difference between Republicans who overtly want to dismantle Medicare and Democrats who are privatizing Medicare is Republicans stab you in the front while Democrats stab you in the back.
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On the broader healthcare issues the United States, already the most costly in the world, is the concern that the private health insurance industry is becoming more concentrated (https://www.
At the same time private hospitals and vulture fund investors are seeking to buy up physician practices (https://www.
“If a for-profit, publicly traded or privately held venture-capital fund owns these doctors, what’s their fiduciary duty to the patients?”
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A protest in San Francisco against Sovaldi’s price. Credit AIDS Healthcare Foundation
The end of private, independent medical practices is going to be one more step in the destruction of healthcare in the United States. Add to that one more trend – the incredible increase in the price of pharmaceuticals (which as we note above the US is trying to push on the world). The cost of cancer drugs has doubled over the last decade, some new drugs cost as much as $1,000 per pill making it impossible for patients to take the medicine they need. Doctors are complaining (https://www.
So, as we celebrate Medicare’s fiftieth birthday there are lots of problems and challenges. It is the job of the movement to organize people to ensure that when the wheels fall off the Obamacare bus, the people are organized to demand the only solution – improved and expanded Medicare for All. The time may come sooner than we expect.
Inspiring Protests Against Shell Arctic Drilling Raise Public Awareness
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delay (https://www.
Shell is desperate to turn their finances around. “The protests coincide with Shell’s second quarter earnings report, which shows a $2.3 billion drop in profits (https://www.
Shell and other oil companies are experiencing opposition to their continued extreme extraction practices because of immediate threats to the environment and because each additional project pushes the globe closer to the climate tipping point. The industry is under attack by concerned citizens and is trying to figure out how to respond, but at the same time prices for oil and gas are dropping and the reality of climate change and the demand for policies to address it are increasing.
While one participant expressed sadness – a day of tears – when the ice breaker went out to sea, and we share that disappointment, we also know this is part of an ongoing campaign and that people are working to stop carbon fuels in so many ways: fossil fuel divestment (https://www.
movement gets stronger as the greed of the industry becomes more evident and the impact of their actions (https://www.
Police Violence Against Communities of Color and Poor
Another area related to greed is the police violence and abuse that has become more evident against communities of color, not only Blacks but the Indigenous (https://www.
racism.https://www.
At her funeral Sandra’s mother told people that she had a calling to challenge racism and issued a call to action for others (https://www.
them. We are also strengthened when we see protests resulting in police indictments (https://www.
As we look toward the upcoming anniversary of the death of Michael Brown (https://www.
(https://www.
Consensus Growing for Radical Change Not Mere Reform
Christian Parenti writes (https://www.
Police force is the foundational tool of the power structure to keep people hopeless, confused and divided. But, divisions are becoming evident as those in power see they are part of a corrupt system. More politicians (https://www.
The consciousness of the country is changing. People who used to be reformers, stuck inside the limits set by the two parties, are breaking out and realizing the deep corruption that is system-wide from the police on the street to senators, judges and presidents. No longer is it enough to be a “liberal” or a “progressive,” the times requires more (https://www.
The radical transformation that is needed is not on the agenda of anyone running for president in either the Democratic or Republican primary. The reality is that nothing offered by mainstream politics will achieve the transformational change that is needed. A normally mainstream Democrat, Robert Kuttner writes (https://www.
Consciousness is rising and with that so will the demands and actions of an organized populace. Sometimes it will take the shape of protests, other times a rebellion, sometimes cities will be shut down and there will be riots. The system is not responding to the reasonable demands for social, economic, racial and environmental justice. The failure to respond will result in uprisings and at the root will be the greed for money and power by those in the power structure who ignored these realities.
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