Bill Maher: Whhen Did Making a Profit Become the Only Reason to Do anythingthing?

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Donna Jodhan

Greetings!  I’m Nico Trimoff, manager of transcription and accessibility services
at
www.sterlingcreations.ca
.
I have a very thought provoking article to share with you today.  One that aims at
the heart of our well being and asks a very potent question.
Please take a few minutes to read on.
I wish you a great day.

 
Bill Maher: When Did Making a Profit Become the Only Reason to Do Anything?
      By Bill Maher,
Huffington Post
      Posted on July 27, 2009, Printed on July 28, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.huffingtonpost.com//141577/
      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, 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.
      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!
      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.
      Bill Maher hosts “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
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About Donna Jodhan

Donna Jodhan is an award winning blind author, advocate, sight loss coach, blogger, podcast commentator, and accessibility specialist.
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