Save the Rich!

No, I really mean it... Save the rich.

Rich people are dying. Rich people are dying and our Government isn't doing enough to help. Ironically, because some greedy rich people scam those tax monies that could have gone towards saving the rich. Allow me to explain. Even the best health care available in America is far from as good as it could be. Therefore; rich people are sick, and even dying, from lack of exceptional health care. (Of course, the rest of us are dying too.)

Our health “care” system is failing us – all of us – even the rich. America is 33^rd in life expectancy on the planet. Moreover, our system for finding cures for diseases is crippled by mismanagement, profit motive excluded cures, and missing Federal funding.

Most of us don't really think about how damaging such an inefficient and corrupt government as ours really hurts us in the long run. But (without profit incentives) if government money doesn't make it to the scientists, it's not likely there will ever be a cure for whatever ails you (or someone in your family).

Our for-profit health care system has brought us Rogaine and Viagra, but not a cure for much anything. Great. Now we'll have rich people dying with hairy erections. That's not what we really wanted. We wanted to save someone we love... But ironically, what we now have is a junkie/pusher relationship with our health “care” system. It didn't have to be this way.

Our “free-market” government experiment has failed us. But we knew that would happen. It was just a system of required bribes and unworthy giveaways. Our nation's resources have been squandered to benefit the off-shore bank accounts of those greedy enough to buy off our “representatives.” And our elected representatives more or less have had no choice but to accommodate them or lose the next election. America's wealth is being siphoned off. Which means America's creativity and productivity have been stunted. This hurts everyone.

Consider this; some of those billions of tax dollars that were wasted on stuffing greedy companies' pockets could have been spent on saving the rich who actually run those greedy companies. But that wouldn't have been as good for those greedy companies' bottom line. So the rich continue to die – and the greedy companies just hire a new CEO every few years.

What would you call this? Self-oppression? I just call it bad judgment. The captains of industry are so devoted to their income streams that they essentially neglect to invest in living.

It's hard to believe that in a country with trillions of tax dollars to spend can't seem to afford to pay scientists to study saving lives... But of course, the U.S. Government could; but the health “care” industry isn't really all that motivated to want healthy Americans. The drug companies, the hospitals, the medical device industry, and even the health care workers all secretly want (at least some of) us sick; so that we have to pay them for “treatments.” They're not necessarily evil. But nobody wants to lose their income stream. So they evidently don't put that much effort into actually curing people. And we put up with that, as long as the health care industry doesn't actually hold back good ideas – which they don't appear to be doing directly (much). However, by charging so much for health care, there isn't enough money left to look for cures.

...And rich people continue to die.

A rational government would be doing everything it reasonably could to save the lives of its citizens – especially its most powerful citizens. But that's not how a corporatist state (dis)functions. In America, government monies get allocated to the highest bidder. And scientists (even scientists who save lives) don't have any money for lobbyists, so they end up at the back of the line.

Out of America's 3.7 trillion dollar budget, only 31 billion dollars gets spent on science, technology, and space exploration. And only a fraction of that gets spent on finding cures for diseases.

I realize that throwing money at a disease doesn't guarantee a cure, but in our economic system; not funding health science guarantees that there won't be a cure.

Many American scientists are going without funding – especially now with the budget sequester. The talents of scores of American scientists are being wasted. Apparently, America doesn't have enough money to save lives.

But that's OK... America now has the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet! And after 8 years of delays and $167 billion in cost overruns, they still can't fly in combat. No really! If this were fiction no one would believe it. How could our government possibly have such bad judgment? (Hint; private profits matter more than pubic good - see photo.)

Ask anyone; what we need are cures to diseases, not $137 million fighter jets to frighten poor people on the other side of the planet. Nonetheless, Washington somehow just doesn't seem to get it – even though they too are dying before their time.

Too many American scientists have been left to beg for charity. But fortunately, there is some. The January 2014 issue of Life Extension magazine boasted about how they were filling the void in government funding for biomedical research. The article mentioned seven scientists they awarded grants of tens of thousands of dollars each to. I commend them for that. But Life Extension Foundation shouldn't have to do this. We pay taxes for this. I don't want crappy fighter jets. I want scientists studying how to save lives. Yes, I want my tax money to save rich people's lives.

And rich people do have the most to lose here. Whatever cures are discovered; they will likely, at least initially, be expensive. Which means rich people would be the first to benefit from any scientific breakthroughs.

One of the scientists mentioned in the Life Extension article was John Schloendorn, PhD (molecular biology). I'll quote:

“we derived immune cells from mouse progenitor cells, and were able to use those cells to save the lives of mice that had been administered what would otherwise have been fatal infectious pathogens. There were no immune system incompatibilities, and no immunological matching was required... The next step... would have been human clinical trials. But this would have required $15 million, a sum of money we ultimately failed to raise.”

So here we have a scientist who may have discovered a way to reduce illness – and nobody in the health “care” industry or our government cares?

...What?!

This would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic – and likely so common.

• If this had been a drug that treated the condition (but did not cure it), the drug companies would have been interested.
• If this had been a new way to kill people, the military/industrial complex would have been interested.
• If this had been a way to save the lives of only conservatives, the Republicans would have been interested.

But this idea, like who knows how many more, sit on the back burner until some private organization throws them a bone. Life Extension Foundation donated $50 thousand to John Schloendorn's project – far short of the $15 million he needed for the human clinical trials.

Rich people, who might have lived many years longer, are dying.

So why aren't rich people up in arms? Where are the protests?

Apparently, rich people figured out how not to pay taxes, and that isn't their tax monies being wasted. So consequently, unlike the rest of us, they don't feel as cheated. And if they speak up – well, the rest of us might insist the rich help pay to save the rich... Forget about it.

But seriously:

• The rich in the health “care” industry are raking in billions. They don't want to rock the boat.
• The rich in the military/industrial complex are raking in billions. They don't want to rock the battleship.
• The rich in government are raking in (at least) millions. They don't want real change.
• And the rich in the entertainment industry are just actors, so they don't really know what they're talking about (with the exception of Ronald Reagan, of course.)

This is a sign. This is a sign that the takers in Washington have more power than the rest of us. Pork barrel boondoggles abound. Especially in the military/industrial complex.

American taxpayers have, are, and will be paying for generations for the greatest killing machine ever to have existed in history (ironically, without any significant enemies). American military spending is more than the next 10 countries combined! But apparently, we need to spend that much money because so much of it gets wasted (translation; pocketed). Astonishingly; we don't even know how much of our tax dollars actually gets wasted, because evidently the Pentagon doesn't actually keep audit-able books. (How convenient – for the beltway bandits.)

Example: One quarter of the $1.6 trillion being spent on major weapons systems come from “unexpected” cost overruns. That's $403 billion that defense contractors essentially con out of the U.S. taxpayer. (Yes, I use the term “con.” How would you feel about a home repair contractor who always charged you 25% more than they quoted? You'd feel conned. And you'd have every right.)

So, to top all of that corruption and mismanagement off, I'll ask; what does the military/industrial complex actually accomplish with all of that money? Are we winning any wars? And for the answer to that, I will refer my readers to the video documentary Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill. I highly recommend this documentary.

The way America fights wars has changed. There are no armies left to fight. There are no countries left to stand up to us. All that is left are a few angry civilians we call terrorists.

Without a Hitler, without a Khrushchev, without even a Osama bin Laden; America's secret military government still wants us to believe we have dangerous “enemies.” But these enemies are beginning to look more and more like ghosts – even fabrications.

In one scene of the documentary Dirty Wars; Jeremy Scahill reports about a Muslim Cleric, who, immediately after 9/11 sided with America. But after years of watching America invade Muslim countries, spoke out against America. Consequently, he went into hiding. And the hunt was on. Eventually; America's secret army, JSOC, hunts him down and kills him – and his American son.

Now wait a minute... Our secret government is willing to kill an American for the “crime” of being related to someone who spoke out against America. That's nonsense. They may as well have just pulled somebody's name out of a hat... And who knows. Maybe they do.

Think about it. Even spying is effected by the marketplace. Even analysts deep within the bowels of military “intelligence” get paid. They have careers. They probably even compete amongst each other for promotions. And they know that if they don't find any “terrorists,” some other analyst will. The pressure to come up with names is likely intense. Moreover, if any analyst were to say; “it looks like we got all of them,” they would likely be treated with disdain. That comment would imply that all the analysts were no longer necessary – and they could all lose their jobs.

It is said that “you get what you pay for.” And the U.S. Government wants names.

We all know how the market works – they'll get their names – even if it's on the flimsiest of evidence.

And once they get those names, there comes a responsibility.

Once this person is on this list, the U.S. Government is somewhat responsible for their actions. If this person really were an active terrorist, and nothing is done, the blame for any attack would eventually fall on those who posses the list. Consequently, it is very likely that someone in power in our secret government might be convinced that the prudent thing to do (politically) would be to kill the “terrorists” before they act.

...This is effectively a hit list.

...And it has no oversight.

If someone is added to this list, it no longer matters what they've done – or what they're planning to do – or even if they just spoke out against America. There's no way of getting off the list. And they will likely never know they were on the list... Just like a hit list.

Only this hit list continues to exist and grow long past its usefulness – because of predictable market reactions – because of money. People are getting paid to put names on this list – and they likely wouldn't get paid if they didn't.

The analysts have jobs. The bureaucrats have jobs. The soldiers have jobs. And they're all just doing their jobs. This is the worst example of a systematic failure I have ever seen.

So, my point is simple:

We are allowing rich people in America to die so that we can kill poor people on the other side of the planet.

WTF?!!!