Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The high cost of private profit in health care

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The high cost of private profit in health care

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog, Systemic Disorder.

This author, activist, and journalist specializes in analysis of major issues so that ordinary people can understand them.

Each U.S. citizen’s annual share of wasteful, excess spending on health care — excess spending that goes into the coffers of some of the country’s largest corporations among the many industry profiteers — amounts to $3,846. Business leaders, their lavishly funded think tanks and pressure groups, and the public-office officials who represent them continually assert that private enterprise is always more efficient. It would seem that the efficiency lies in extracting money and wealth. [my emphasis]

Well, of course! That is what capitalism is all about: wealth (and power) accumulation by capitalists! What could be easier to understand? What is more difficult to understand is why the 99 Percent put up with it.

And, Diane Ravitch reports on capitalists looking to charter schools for more profits in her article entitled, "How to Make Big Money in Education".