literal Vampire capitalism

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 11:50am

From mintpressnews.com: ‘Harvesting the Blood of America’s Poor: The Latest Stage of Capitalism’, Blood has become big business in the United States and there is no shortage of corporations ready to exploit America’s most vulnerable populations in order to get a piece of the pie’, Alan Macleod, Nov. 3, 2019

All content at Mint Press News is Creative Commons, but here are some of the most salient & sickening outtakes of MacLeod’s lengthy exposé:

“For much of the world, donating blood is purely an act of solidarity; a civic duty that the healthy perform to aid others in need. The idea of being paid for such an action would be considered bizarre. But in the United States, it is big business. Indeed, in today’s wretched economy, where around 130 million Americans admit an inability to pay for basic needs like food, housing or healthcare, buying and selling blood is of the few booming industries America has left.

The number of collection centers in the United States has more than doubled since 2005 and blood now makes up well over 2 percent of total U.S. exports by value. To put that in perspective, Americans’ blood is now worth more than all exported corn or soy products that cover vast areas of the country’s heartland. The U.S. supplies fully 70 percent of the world’s plasma, mainly because most other countries have banned the practice on ethical and medical grounds. Exports increased by over 13 percent, to $28.6 billion, between 2016 and 2017, and the plasma market is projected to “grow radiantly,” according to one industry report. The majority goes to wealthy European countries; Germany, for example, buys 15 percent of all U.S. blood exports. China and Japan are also key customers.

It is primarily the plasma– a golden liquid that transports proteins and red and white blood cells around the body– that makes it so sought after. Donated blood is crucial in treating medical conditions such as anemia and cancer and is commonly required to perform surgeries. Pregnant women also frequently need transfusions to treat blood loss during childbirth. Like all maturing industries, a few enormous bloodthirsty companies, such as Grifols and CSL, have come to dominate the American market.

But in order to generate such enormous profits, these vampiric corporations consciously target the poorest and most desperate Americans. One study found that the majority of donors in Cleveland generate more than a third of their income from “donating” blood. The money they receive, notes Professor Kathryn Edin of Princeton University, is literally “the lifeblood of the $2 a day poor.” Professor H. Luke Schaefer of the University of Michigan, Edin’s co-author of $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, told MintPress News:

The massive increase in blood plasma sales is a result of an inadequate and in many places non-existent cash safety net, combined with an unstable labor market. Our experience is people need the money, that’s the primary reason people show up at plasma centers.”

Almost half of America is broke, and 58 percent of the country is living paycheck to paycheck, with savings of less than $1000. 37 million Americans go to bed hungry, including one-sixth of New Yorkers and almost half of South Bronx residents. And over half a million sleep on the streets on any given night, with many millions more in vehicles or relying on friends or family. It is in this context that millions in the red have turned to selling blood to make ends meet. In a very real sense then, these corporations are harvesting the blood of the poor, literally sucking the life out of them.

MintPress News spoke to a number of Americans who consistently donated plasma. Some of them did not want to be fully identified. But none were under any illusions about the system and how they were being exploited.” [snip]

“Zombifying America’s poor

Respondents all agreed that they were indeed being exploited, but in more ways than one. Desperate Americans are allowed to donate twice per week (104 times per year). But losing that much plasma could have serious health consequences, most of which have not been studied Professor Schaefer warns, stressing that more research is necessary. Around 70 percent of donors experience health complications. Donors have a lower protein count in their blood, putting them at greater risk of infections and liver and kidney disorders. Many regulars suffer from near-permanent fatigue and are borderline anemic.” [snip]

(A Maryland plasma center is shown in a promotional image for CSL Plasma, one of the largest corporations dominating the market)

Donors are publicly weighed to make sure they are heavy enough. Obese people are worth more to the bloodthirsty companies as they can safely extract more plasma from them each session (while paying out the same compensation). “They definitely turn you into a product in a very literal sense,” Watkins says; “It’s deeply exploitative and a symptom of just how far gone capitalism is.”

Many centers are enormous, with multiple rows of dozens of machines working in an attempt to appease the insatiable appetite of the vampiric corporation. And there is, according to Watkins, no lack of human “victims” willing to be treated like animals in battery farms, in exchange for a few dollars: “It was an assembly line to extract liquid gold from human mines,” he notes.” [snip]

Exploitation reaches new levels

“But the exploitation of humans has reached new levels in clinics on the U.S.-Mexico border. Every week, thousands of Mexicans enter the U.S. on temporary visas to sell their blood to for-profit pharmaceutical corporations. The practice is banned on health grounds in Mexico but is completely legal north of the border. According to ProPublica, there are at least 43 blood donation centers along the border that prey primarily on Mexican nationals in a legally ambiguous practice.

According to a Swiss documentary on the subject, there are precious few checks on the cleanliness of the blood these companies accept, with some donors interviewed admitting they were drug addicts. But all is sacrificed in the pursuit of dazzling profits, something donors were well aware of.

Andrew from Pennsylvania:

I know my plasma was worth thousands of dollars per donation [to others], because I’ve seen what a hospital in my city charged a hemophiliac for platelets, so the pittance that they pay is ridiculous, but there is only one buyer making offers at the human level. If you’re poor and out of other options, you’ll take $40 however you can get it. Any port in a storm.” [snip]

“Teenager blood is in high demand in, of all places, Silicon Valley, where anti-aging technologies are the latest trend. One company, Ambrosia, charges $8,000 per treatment to aging tech executives, infusing them with the blood of the young, turning these individuals into bloodsuckers in more ways than one. Despite the fact that there is no clinical evidence that the practice has any beneficial effects, business is booming. One committed customer is PayPal co-founder turned Trump surrogate Peter Thiel, who is reportedly spending vast sums of money on funding anti-aging startups. Thiel claims that we have been conned by “the ideology of the inevitability of the death of every individual” and believes that his own immortality may be just around the corner, a notion that has deeply concerned academics and commentators alike.

The new and booming blood market is the perfect embodiment of the late capitalist dystopia modern America has become. The dehumanizing process of harvesting the blood of the poor to fund the quixotic immortality dreams of the super-wealthy turns the former into walking, living zombies and the latter into vampires, feasting on the blood of the young; a true American horror story worthy of Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft. As Rachel from Wisconsin said:

It really is an industry where ‘squeezing blood from stones’ is about as literal as you can get.”

GrifolsPlasma on Twitter: ‘This account’s Tweets are protected. Only confirmed followers have access to @GrifolsPlasma‘s Tweets and complete profile. Click the “Follow” button to send a follow request.’

Their website: ‘Pride for Donors. Passion for Patients.’, grifolplasma.com/en

We can't believe that it's December already! The year 2020 is near, so let's celebrate by donating in December! pic.twitter.com/G6jsMnls0v

— CSL Plasma (@CSLPlasma) December 2, 2019

Cold Comfort: at least these Vampires can be seen in mirrors: The Swayback – ‘Vampires in the Mirror’

And more are about to go hungry: ‘Nearly 700,000 to lose food stamp benefits under new Trump Administration rule’, Meenakshi Jagadeesan, 5 December 2019, wsws.org [Read: new unitary executive fiat]

“From April 2020 onwards (when the new rule will take effect), only states that have an official unemployment rate of 6% or above can apply for work waivers. As a comparison, under the current system regions with unemployment rates as low as 2.5% were included in the waived areas. It is anticipated that the new rule will affect about 7% of SNAP recipients, those designated as “Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents” (ABAWD).

A couple things: 1) the official unemployment rates is usually half what the actual rate is; and ii) how many of the uber-poor even have the wherewithal to get to a medical care facility to prove they’re NOT able-bodied? Back to Jagdeesan:

“The rule aimed at limiting work waivers is tied to two other proposals—one capping deductions for utility allowances, and the other aimed at cutting SNAP benefits for working-class families. A study by the Urban Institute estimates these three proposals combined would cut 3.6 million people from SNAP benefits per month, reduce monthly benefits for millions more, and lead to 982,000 students losing access to reduced-cost or free school meals.”

All new rules to ensure that the currently unemployed can know the ‘dignity of work’.

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

Tags:

all capitalism is predatory

Vote

Comments

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 12:29pm

Nope, it's much, much worse. THIS is late-stage capitalism

Yes, these are real news articles.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2015/12/14/sell-organs/#5559b66826e4
https://www.therichest.com/rich-list/10-body-parts-you-can-legally-sell-...

In case you were wondering:

Bone Marrow (Up to $18,000)
Eggs ($24,000)
Womb (Up to $45,000)

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 3:23pm

lol; 'much worse',

@gjohnsit

and 'real news articles'. corporate news as opposed to mint press news?

organ sales are even worse? as to that i can't say, but selling part of a liver implies dire need, but livers regenerate. the forbes piece was global, your second one said:

In America, it's illegal to 'pay' people to donate blood, as some folks will lie to get the 'free cash'. However, most blood bank centers offer incentives to donors, including gift cards, entry into sweepstakes, free tickets to local shows etc. While this may not seem like much, a $20 gift card every 56 days, can earn you an extra $120 per year. When financed by local companies, some of these sweepstakes can be for up to $5,000.

ongoing needs to sell blood that weakens bodies, often makes them ripe for diseases to invade 'the host'...i won't hazard a guess as to which is worse. but thanks for bringing the links....

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 3:43pm

I wasn't making any judgements about your sources

@wendy davis

and 'real news articles'. corporate news as opposed to mint press news?

I only pointed out that these are real news articles because the headlines resemble a bad joke.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 5:14pm

it just sounded

@gjohnsit

so funny to my ears, lol. esp. the confluence of 'real news' and 'mint press news'.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 12:59pm

Capitalism has cannibalized the US

Jimmy absolutely nails it here at the end of his video. The USA is a failed state where 80% of its citizens are living paycheck to paycheck and going further into dept. No wonder people are selling their blood. And yeah the health risks are not something people should take lightly. Nor is this:

According to a Swiss documentary on the subject, there are precious few checks on the cleanliness of the blood these companies accept, with some donors interviewed admitting they were drug addicts. But all is sacrificed in the pursuit of dazzling profits, something donors were well aware of.

Twice a week with no time outs ever? Definitely not a sane practice even if it's just plasma and not whole blood. This industry needs regulating, but if it is how many more people will fall through the crack? Hopefully there is at least an age limit.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycM3eULgFiA]

Under Obama the people's economic lives continued to plummet while he was overseeing the greatest transfer of wealth to the upper class. $700 billion for his HARP programs for people to refinance their homes which just saw people get screwed anyway while $29 TRILLION went to the banks that crashed the economy in the first place while he continued to protect them from our pitchforks.

Obama on Mount Rushmore: Move Over Guys, Room for One More Con Artist

Recently there has been a lot of squeaking from the GOP in an attempt to put lipstick on the Trump pig, but the truly remarkable emailing has been coming out of the Democratic Party, which is desperately seeking to convince the public that it actually represents something.

Of more recent vintage among “traditional” Democrats is ex-president Barack Obama, who has been beatified by the media, and who has now dedicated himself to the task of removing Trump. It is an admirable goal surely, but for the fact that the Democrats have difficulty in finding a candidate and stitching together a platform that actually resonates with American voters.

Obama has always had a lot going for him. Being half-black meant that he got top marks from the Democratic Party Social Justice Warrior wing just because of what he was genetically when he was born. He is always presentable and well-spoken and does not seem interested in having sex with women other than his wife. He plays basketball, which demonstrated to ghetto voters that he had not lost his roots, even though he was raised by his mother in a largely white middle class environment.

But Obama’s actual achievements after eight years in office can be counted on the fingers of one hand. From a foreign policy perspective, one would include only the easing of restrictions on trade and travel with Cuba and the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, both of which have been rescinded by Trump. On the domestic side, his hallmark Affordable Care Act has ironically made insurance unaffordable for many. The president basically turned over medical care to a predatory and inefficient health care industry that raised premiums while also diminishing coverage for those Americans who actually had jobs to pay for their insurance. In the foundation I worked at when Obamacare came in group plan premiums doubled in the first year, doubled again in the following year and were about to go up another 25% when we decided that we could no longer afford health insurance. Sure, some Americans got free or subsidized health insurance but the rest of us paid for it and the heartless and soulless health care industry reaped the benefits.

As president, Obama approved military action in seven countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as well as special operations on a smaller scale all over the globe.

So what else did Saint Obama do? For starters, Under Obama, National Security Agency spying on American citizens accelerated using the authorities granted by the two Patriot Acts. The public would not know about the spying but for the actions of several whistleblowers, to include Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Obama declared “war on whistleblowers,” punishing more of them more severely than any other president.

“Obama is, in terms of influence, nothing more than a used-car salesman. His job is not to create policy, but to sell neocon ideas to the general public, but his lack of agency cannot excuse his lack of vision or morals. Under Obama’s notional leadership the world has moved to the very brink of self-immolation in the name of protecting American hegemony. Domestically America still crumbles. He had a nice smile, and a good turn of phrase. He was witty, and cool, and looked good in a suit…but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t just more of the same. He could say the right things, and sound like he meant them, but he was still a monster.”

Submitted by Daenerys on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 1:02pm

This is how the capitalists won

@snoopydawg By monetizing absolutely everything. It was never about helping people.

Jimmy absolutely nails it here at the end of his video. The USA is a failed state where 80% of its citizens are living paycheck to paycheck and going further into dept. No wonder people are selling their blood. And yeah the health risks are not something people should take lightly. Nor is this:

According to a Swiss documentary on the subject, there are precious few checks on the cleanliness of the blood these companies accept, with some donors interviewed admitting they were drug addicts. But all is sacrificed in the pursuit of dazzling profits, something donors were well aware of.

Twice a week with no time outs ever? Definitely not a sane practice even if it's just plasma and not whole blood. This industry needs regulating, but if it is how many more people will fall through the crack? Hopefully there is at least an age limit.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycM3eULgFiA]

Under Obama the people's economic lives continued to plummet while he was overseeing the greatest transfer of wealth to the upper class. $700 billion for his HARP programs for people to refinance their homes which just saw people get screwed anyway while $29 TRILLION went to the banks that crashed the economy in the first place while he continued to protect them from our pitchforks.

Obama on Mount Rushmore: Move Over Guys, Room for One More Con Artist

Recently there has been a lot of squeaking from the GOP in an attempt to put lipstick on the Trump pig, but the truly remarkable emailing has been coming out of the Democratic Party, which is desperately seeking to convince the public that it actually represents something.

Of more recent vintage among “traditional” Democrats is ex-president Barack Obama, who has been beatified by the media, and who has now dedicated himself to the task of removing Trump. It is an admirable goal surely, but for the fact that the Democrats have difficulty in finding a candidate and stitching together a platform that actually resonates with American voters.

Obama has always had a lot going for him. Being half-black meant that he got top marks from the Democratic Party Social Justice Warrior wing just because of what he was genetically when he was born. He is always presentable and well-spoken and does not seem interested in having sex with women other than his wife. He plays basketball, which demonstrated to ghetto voters that he had not lost his roots, even though he was raised by his mother in a largely white middle class environment.

But Obama’s actual achievements after eight years in office can be counted on the fingers of one hand. From a foreign policy perspective, one would include only the easing of restrictions on trade and travel with Cuba and the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, both of which have been rescinded by Trump. On the domestic side, his hallmark Affordable Care Act has ironically made insurance unaffordable for many. The president basically turned over medical care to a predatory and inefficient health care industry that raised premiums while also diminishing coverage for those Americans who actually had jobs to pay for their insurance. In the foundation I worked at when Obamacare came in group plan premiums doubled in the first year, doubled again in the following year and were about to go up another 25% when we decided that we could no longer afford health insurance. Sure, some Americans got free or subsidized health insurance but the rest of us paid for it and the heartless and soulless health care industry reaped the benefits.

As president, Obama approved military action in seven countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as well as special operations on a smaller scale all over the globe.

So what else did Saint Obama do? For starters, Under Obama, National Security Agency spying on American citizens accelerated using the authorities granted by the two Patriot Acts. The public would not know about the spying but for the actions of several whistleblowers, to include Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Obama declared “war on whistleblowers,” punishing more of them more severely than any other president.

“Obama is, in terms of influence, nothing more than a used-car salesman. His job is not to create policy, but to sell neocon ideas to the general public, but his lack of agency cannot excuse his lack of vision or morals. Under Obama’s notional leadership the world has moved to the very brink of self-immolation in the name of protecting American hegemony. Domestically America still crumbles. He had a nice smile, and a good turn of phrase. He was witty, and cool, and looked good in a suit…but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t just more of the same. He could say the right things, and sound like he meant them, but he was still a monster.”

—

This shit is bananas.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 3:53pm

it was unclear to me

@snoopydawg

whether some blood sales were whole blood, some was used to separate out the plasma, return the rest, to say the truth, so i let out this part, given i hadn't seen alan explain it earlier:

There is also little thought for the comfort of the patients. As Watkins explained, the thermostats are always turned down to around 50-60ºF for the plasma’s sake. Once the amber-colored plasma has been extracted, your cooled blood is re-injected in a painful process that feels as if ice is being inserted into the body. “Combined with the already cold air temperatures, this was maddening,” he notes.

but exemptions on the 'donation' day:

Rachel described the terrible Catch-22 many of the working poor find themselves in:

I got turned away twice – once for being too dehydrated and once for being anemic. Being poor created a shitty paradox where I couldn’t eat, and because I couldn’t eat my iron levels weren’t high enough to allow me to donate. That was a week of a pay cut, money I desperately needed for rent and bills and meds.”

but some must have simply been whole blood 'donations', peter thiel, et.al.

grifols plasma donation requirements:

Donation Requirements

Make Sure You're Eligible
To donate at a Grifols plasma donation center, you must:
weigh at least 110 pounds
be in good general health
be 18-69 years old
and bring your documents

(but 'fat is better than thin' as alan noted.)

yeah, the glib con-man obomba. one thing giraldi got wrong was 'at least the JCPOA'. big all reminded me the other day of tony cartalucci's 'which path to persia' as in: it was meant to fail. it was a good reminder, as i'd used it myself after big al had first brought it.

sorry, i just can't abide jimmy dore, glad he said it right.

Jimmy absolutely nails it here at the end of his video. The USA is a failed state where 80% of its citizens are living paycheck to paycheck and going further into dept. No wonder people are selling their blood. And yeah the health risks are not something people should take lightly. Nor is this:

According to a Swiss documentary on the subject, there are precious few checks on the cleanliness of the blood these companies accept, with some donors interviewed admitting they were drug addicts. But all is sacrificed in the pursuit of dazzling profits, something donors were well aware of.

Twice a week with no time outs ever? Definitely not a sane practice even if it's just plasma and not whole blood. This industry needs regulating, but if it is how many more people will fall through the crack? Hopefully there is at least an age limit.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycM3eULgFiA]

Under Obama the people's economic lives continued to plummet while he was overseeing the greatest transfer of wealth to the upper class. $700 billion for his HARP programs for people to refinance their homes which just saw people get screwed anyway while $29 TRILLION went to the banks that crashed the economy in the first place while he continued to protect them from our pitchforks.

Obama on Mount Rushmore: Move Over Guys, Room for One More Con Artist

Recently there has been a lot of squeaking from the GOP in an attempt to put lipstick on the Trump pig, but the truly remarkable emailing has been coming out of the Democratic Party, which is desperately seeking to convince the public that it actually represents something.

Of more recent vintage among “traditional” Democrats is ex-president Barack Obama, who has been beatified by the media, and who has now dedicated himself to the task of removing Trump. It is an admirable goal surely, but for the fact that the Democrats have difficulty in finding a candidate and stitching together a platform that actually resonates with American voters.

Obama has always had a lot going for him. Being half-black meant that he got top marks from the Democratic Party Social Justice Warrior wing just because of what he was genetically when he was born. He is always presentable and well-spoken and does not seem interested in having sex with women other than his wife. He plays basketball, which demonstrated to ghetto voters that he had not lost his roots, even though he was raised by his mother in a largely white middle class environment.

But Obama’s actual achievements after eight years in office can be counted on the fingers of one hand. From a foreign policy perspective, one would include only the easing of restrictions on trade and travel with Cuba and the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, both of which have been rescinded by Trump. On the domestic side, his hallmark Affordable Care Act has ironically made insurance unaffordable for many. The president basically turned over medical care to a predatory and inefficient health care industry that raised premiums while also diminishing coverage for those Americans who actually had jobs to pay for their insurance. In the foundation I worked at when Obamacare came in group plan premiums doubled in the first year, doubled again in the following year and were about to go up another 25% when we decided that we could no longer afford health insurance. Sure, some Americans got free or subsidized health insurance but the rest of us paid for it and the heartless and soulless health care industry reaped the benefits.

As president, Obama approved military action in seven countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as well as special operations on a smaller scale all over the globe.

So what else did Saint Obama do? For starters, Under Obama, National Security Agency spying on American citizens accelerated using the authorities granted by the two Patriot Acts. The public would not know about the spying but for the actions of several whistleblowers, to include Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Obama declared “war on whistleblowers,” punishing more of them more severely than any other president.

“Obama is, in terms of influence, nothing more than a used-car salesman. His job is not to create policy, but to sell neocon ideas to the general public, but his lack of agency cannot excuse his lack of vision or morals. Under Obama’s notional leadership the world has moved to the very brink of self-immolation in the name of protecting American hegemony. Domestically America still crumbles. He had a nice smile, and a good turn of phrase. He was witty, and cool, and looked good in a suit…but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t just more of the same. He could say the right things, and sound like he meant them, but he was still a monster.”

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:42pm

The whole blood donations are probably off book

@wendy davis

and Thiel and others are going around regulations I'm betting. I don't understand how people are becoming anemic since they get their red blood cells back after it's been separated from plasma. I used to be involved with blood donation collection when I was a wee kid many moons ago and the process was strict back then and has gotten much stricter from what my friend tells me. She is in charge of the hospital blood bank. It's computerized now so people can't give more often than they should.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 5:25pm

perhaps it is all off-book,

@snoopydawg

but alan's use of 'blood boosting for athletes' (i've heard of additional hemoglobin) and 'anemia', plus thiel...made me wonder if all the red blood cells, platelets, etc. were returned to the 'donors'. uh-oh; i have no idea what i'm talking about; you'll likely know:

here's the mayo clinic with several scenarios:

Platelet, double red cell or plasma donations

Submitted by ppnortney on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:54pm

Love

@snoopydawg

Love how he starts this piece:

I am on the emailing lists of both the Republican and Democratic Parties because I like to know what the enemies of the American people are up to.

Jimmy absolutely nails it here at the end of his video. The USA is a failed state where 80% of its citizens are living paycheck to paycheck and going further into dept. No wonder people are selling their blood. And yeah the health risks are not something people should take lightly. Nor is this:

According to a Swiss documentary on the subject, there are precious few checks on the cleanliness of the blood these companies accept, with some donors interviewed admitting they were drug addicts. But all is sacrificed in the pursuit of dazzling profits, something donors were well aware of.

Twice a week with no time outs ever? Definitely not a sane practice even if it's just plasma and not whole blood. This industry needs regulating, but if it is how many more people will fall through the crack? Hopefully there is at least an age limit.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycM3eULgFiA]

Under Obama the people's economic lives continued to plummet while he was overseeing the greatest transfer of wealth to the upper class. $700 billion for his HARP programs for people to refinance their homes which just saw people get screwed anyway while $29 TRILLION went to the banks that crashed the economy in the first place while he continued to protect them from our pitchforks.

Obama on Mount Rushmore: Move Over Guys, Room for One More Con Artist

Recently there has been a lot of squeaking from the GOP in an attempt to put lipstick on the Trump pig, but the truly remarkable emailing has been coming out of the Democratic Party, which is desperately seeking to convince the public that it actually represents something.

Of more recent vintage among “traditional” Democrats is ex-president Barack Obama, who has been beatified by the media, and who has now dedicated himself to the task of removing Trump. It is an admirable goal surely, but for the fact that the Democrats have difficulty in finding a candidate and stitching together a platform that actually resonates with American voters.

Obama has always had a lot going for him. Being half-black meant that he got top marks from the Democratic Party Social Justice Warrior wing just because of what he was genetically when he was born. He is always presentable and well-spoken and does not seem interested in having sex with women other than his wife. He plays basketball, which demonstrated to ghetto voters that he had not lost his roots, even though he was raised by his mother in a largely white middle class environment.

But Obama’s actual achievements after eight years in office can be counted on the fingers of one hand. From a foreign policy perspective, one would include only the easing of restrictions on trade and travel with Cuba and the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, both of which have been rescinded by Trump. On the domestic side, his hallmark Affordable Care Act has ironically made insurance unaffordable for many. The president basically turned over medical care to a predatory and inefficient health care industry that raised premiums while also diminishing coverage for those Americans who actually had jobs to pay for their insurance. In the foundation I worked at when Obamacare came in group plan premiums doubled in the first year, doubled again in the following year and were about to go up another 25% when we decided that we could no longer afford health insurance. Sure, some Americans got free or subsidized health insurance but the rest of us paid for it and the heartless and soulless health care industry reaped the benefits.

As president, Obama approved military action in seven countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as well as special operations on a smaller scale all over the globe.

So what else did Saint Obama do? For starters, Under Obama, National Security Agency spying on American citizens accelerated using the authorities granted by the two Patriot Acts. The public would not know about the spying but for the actions of several whistleblowers, to include Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Obama declared “war on whistleblowers,” punishing more of them more severely than any other president.

“Obama is, in terms of influence, nothing more than a used-car salesman. His job is not to create policy, but to sell neocon ideas to the general public, but his lack of agency cannot excuse his lack of vision or morals. Under Obama’s notional leadership the world has moved to the very brink of self-immolation in the name of protecting American hegemony. Domestically America still crumbles. He had a nice smile, and a good turn of phrase. He was witty, and cool, and looked good in a suit…but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t just more of the same. He could say the right things, and sound like he meant them, but he was still a monster.”

—

The smaller the mind the greater the conceit. --Aesop

Submitted by detroitmechworks on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 1:00pm

Welcome to the Shadows, Chummer...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRvPpOAyh4I]

And everybody thought I was nuts when I suggested that the ONE part of Shadowrun that would come true was organ harvesting and invasive cyberwear, coupled with corporate controls in them...

—

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:04pm

lol; and here i was...

@detroitmechworks

waiting for lyrics. but as sheldon wolin had noted, the US is an an inverted totalitarian nation, run by the corporations...for the corporations, and of course the largest one is War, Inc. exactly why boatloads of Green corporate profiteers have sprung up to 'manage' net-zero carbon' pledges, an empty phrase if there ever were one. very obomba-esque, in fact.

'We mean business' is my favorite, plus bill gates' geo-engineering schemes.

but organ sales aren't a new occurrence around the globe, by any means.

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:26pm

Geo-engineering is nothing to sneeze at

@wendy davis It's risky, sure, but is it really moreso than not doing so? It's not the sort of issue for which one just jumps on Bandwagon A-Against or Bandwagon B-Boosterist.

I've seen what's possible. I know what brilliant people are capable of accomplishing - the problem is that the achievements of genius are being stolen and driven into the ground by "macro-mediocrity" capitalist imbeciles, which in turn appears to vindicate the neo-Khmer Rougists, critical-theory cultists, and peasant slave-moralists...and the whole rotten cycle will start again. THIS DOESN'T NEED TO HAPPEN.

I have, in my brief time, seen and lived an infinitely better future than this; most people can't imagine, and when they do it's always in the context of crap like this. Don't let the future we deserve and are fully capable of (many of us, at least) die on the altar of a second-rate falsehood.

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by lizzyh7 on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:41pm

They are already doing

@The Liberal Moonbat @The Liberal Moonbat geo engineering. I see the planes go over and have for years. I always thought they were military somehow, and they are, but not what I thought. And honestly, why would a military plane leave a very visible contrail behind it? One that stays around and spreads out? Someone here posted a link to a site and once I read that I knew what those planes are and what they are doing. It is far worse than doing nothing, at least IMHO and according to that site. Our media likes to make it sound as if they are contemplating it but they already do it.

I hope my attempt to put in a link works. I will say it is a scary site to read in some ways, but he makes a point over and over again about using credible sources only. The comments are always interesting, because they spray those chemicals all over the country if not all over the world.

No link, I am tech challenged and it is operator error. Site is geoengineeringwatch.org

—

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:54pm

a very different sort

@lizzyh7

of geo-engineering, amiga. for instance: Geoengineering: Waging Weather Warfare On World Populations is a key theme.

there are myriad other examples i've brung here, but here's bill gates' and company's scheme. what could go wrong? ; )

okay, i chose the wrong explanation, but still.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 5:10pm

well, i'm on the no way side.

@The Liberal Moonbat

but we don't get to decide; here's some of the info i'd brung earlier: ‘a current climate chaos compendium: Part II: geoengineering’, wd, 06/21/2018

i don't remember if you'd been on the thread or not. capitalist profiteers for massive experimentation? ay yi yi. what could go wrong? and now, of course, the door has been opened again for nuclear power as part of 'net-zero carbon'.

Submitted by Ken in MN on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 2:52pm

This is nothing new...

...I was selling plasma back in 1985, in the middle of the Reagan "Boom" Economy. I got $10 for the first extraction in a week and $15 for the second extraction in a week. (You were limited to two in one week.) Then I went next door to the Best Steakhouse to cash the check and eat just enough so that I'd have the strength to drive to the gas station to put $5 worth of gas in the tank and then drive home to the 'burbs where I still lived with my parent. (Yes, plasma centers were "conveniently" located in the sketchy part of the big city. I wonder why?) Ahhh! The salad days! NOT! I'll forever carry the scars that make me look like an ex-junky to prove it. And it hurts like hell to have blood drawn from my left arm anymore...

—

I want my two dollars!

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 5:12pm

not new at all;

@Ken in MN

agreed. but did you read how large a booming bidness it is now? epic!

...blood now makes up well over 2 percent of total U.S. exports by value. To put that in perspective, Americans’ blood is now worth more than all exported corn or soy products that cover vast areas of the country’s heartland. The U.S. supplies fully 70 percent of the world’s plasma, mainly because most other countries have banned the practice on ethical and medical grounds. Exports increased by over 13 percent, to $28.6 billion, between 2016 and 2017, and the plasma market is projected to “grow radiantly,” according to one industry report

and sure, lots of hippies in kent, ohio sold their blood, even in the '60s.

on edit: P.S. what a great avatar image!

Submitted by aliasalias on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 3:46pm

How many people know hospital bills can be paid in blood?

Literally. A friend of mine worked in a collection agency, he was a good talker and made more money for that reason.
One day talking with someone about their hospital bill the guy said he had no job, no money and "you can't get blood from a rock", my friend shot back "oh yes we can Mr.Rock".
He told him the hospital would prize blood over money and not only could he donate on regular basis, he could/should get friends and family members to do the same to reduce the debt.

That aside, I remember back then that the Blood Banks seemed to be around the poorest areas of a city, or at least that was where I encountered them, with one exception I saw which was in Austin Texas where it was close to the University of Texas. In Fort Worth they were in shabby small offices in the poorest areas and all they did was check you for 'tracks' on your arms to see if you'd been shooting dope and then they asked if you are on any medication.

If the answer was no to both you were sent directly to the back room area, that's it and it's not like everyone doesn't know you can shoot dope a lot of other places than your arms, and anyone that desperate for money would surely lie, if need be, about taking medications which they knew they'd have to do or why bother showing up at the clinic.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:14pm

zo...your friend was

@aliasalias

a fast-talking, smooth-talkin' mohair sam comprador? quite a mini-vignette...

and around the college in austin makes me ping the opening graphic, of course. i was about to say: 'gawd's blood!', but that's a bit too close to the mark, no? ; )

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:08pm

If this is a booming business now...

...that people have come to depend on to survive...
...has anyone suggested a donor's union???

Also: Peter Thiel is starting to piss me off. He's giving Silicon Valley (my home) AND the visionary yet age-old desire for immortality a bad name! Just like the "wokies" he too quite naturally hates, he is embodying the very fallacy that keeps up trapped in the stupid, unwinnable, omnicidal endless ping-pong match between Ayn Rand and Mao Tse Tung.

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 4:59pm

the ether ate my response...

@The Liberal Moonbat

it was close to: i dunno what sort of donors' union you're imagining, but these folks need the bucks; who would pay them for their life blood?

thiel gives me the shivers, much like elon musk does, but in a different way. extending life; what a silly ego-maniac! 'it's not nice to fool mother nature!'

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 5:59pm

I suppose that means I would give you the shivers, too...

@wendy davis ...which, like I said, is why Thiel pisses me off: He's taking extraordinary, ancient, and worthy ambitions and dragging their reputation through the mud by falsely allying them with capitalism. I believe in hubris. I believe in transcendence. I believe in aspiring to godhood. This guy's an infuriating impostor, stealing and ruining the worthy name of those better than him like Shift the Ape from The Last Battle (sure, it's Narnia at its most blatant, offensive, and messed-up, but I've come to appreciate that book for featuring what I consider one of the most underrated villains in literary history).

As for a "blood donor's union", let's look at what we've got here:

- an industry that is evidently one of the few to still be "booming" in these United States (as one of my favorite professors used to call it/them)
- a self-aware and unhappy core stock of human cattle (making this truly 'capitalism' in the most literal and revealing sense, if you know the root of the word)
- 21st-Century telecom, which, while the negatives now far outweigh the positives, still has the whole "instant communication nearly worldwide" factor in its favor
- a very limited menu of places for this industry to go (thus screwing up multinational corporations' favorite trick for hobbling organized labor)
- an industry that is dependent upon a concrete natural resource that is aware of its own value
- the element of SURPRISE!

I bet I'm missing a few things, my mental health is shot and has been for years - but put that above all together, and don't you think they'd have something if they just seized the initiative and started demanding more for what they supply?

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 6:43pm

er...i can't possibly comment

@The Liberal Moonbat

on your fist paragraph, but perhaps your second i can address at least a part of it.

- 21st-Century telecom, which, while the negatives now far outweigh the positives, still has the whole "instant communication nearly worldwide" factor in its favor
- a very limited menu of places for this industry to go (thus screwing up multinational corporations' favorite trick for hobbling organized labor)
- an industry that is dependent upon a concrete natural resource that is aware of its own value
- the element of SURPRISE!

first, the homeless and destitute couldn't be expected to unionize at all; but as to this:

- a very limited menu of places for this industry to go (thus screwing up multinational corporations' favorite trick for hobbling organized labor)

CSL plasma: Our Donation Centers:

We have more than 170 collection centers throughout the United States, Germany and Hungary. Our plasma collection centers are committed to the highest standards of quality and safety. Our work ensures that tens of thousands of people are able to live normal, healthy lives. We are committed to our work because people’s lives depend on us.
https://www.cslplasma.com/about-csl-plasma/our-donation-centers

Grifols plasma centers: find a location:

scroll down the state lists; there must be many hundreds of 'donation' centers. no, hardly and industry captive to donor unionization and demands.

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 7:11pm

a short, TRUE story about politically organizing the homeless

#6.1.1.1
In Santa Barbara, CA, there is a tree in a park...with its own postal address.

Why, you ask? Kooky "tree-huggers"? A goofy prank? A spiteful clerk? Comically inept civil engineers? Druids? Hardcore furries?

No - that tree has a mailing address because the homeless of Santa Barbara CA organized to have it given one, so that they could use it to meet the bureaucratic requirement of a legal place of residence so they could vote.

It is possible. Most things are.

I'm not claiming to be an expert in labor activism, but it struck me as an obvious thing to bring up (I guess I missed the part about these people being homeless - it's certainly no requirement for being desperately poor). As Linus Pauling said, "the best way to get a good idea is to have a lot of ideas" - and one thing I see FAR, FAR too much of, something that I know, e.g., separates good schools and shitty schools (to say nothing of good/shitty students within both types of schools) is the habit of discouraging ANY ideas at all, for fear that even one should be torn down.

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 9:57pm

oh, dear;

@The Liberal Moonbat

your comment has nothing to do with my response to you, nor did you seem to have read my link upthread on the perils of all sorts of geoengineering which you'd seem to have been championing. given that, i'll bow out.

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Fri, 12/06/2019 - 3:37am

It should; I intended it to

@wendy davis

I was responding to this:

the homeless and destitute couldn't be expected to unionize at all

I replied with a factual instance of precisely such individuals successfully mobilizing for a common good - and they weren't just content with the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy, either!

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 12/06/2019 - 10:01am

when in fact,

@The Liberal Moonbat

i'd been trying to deconstruct your 'collective bargaining by unionization' (or close: higher pay from the capitalist vampire 'donor' collectives here. i'm embarrassed to still being willing to engage with you on this non-sequitur silliness.

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Fri, 12/06/2019 - 4:45pm

Yes, I saw that;

@wendy davis You're starting to get rude - and I'm normally the last person to recognize rudeness (for one thing, the meaning of the word seems to be far too broad and flibby-flobby the way most people use it).

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

*literal* Vampire capitalism

Comments

literal Vampire capitalism