Mammon category archive
The Abandoned 0
Alternet reports on the growing incidence of deaths of working class American from suicide, alcoholism, and substance abuse and suggests that they are symptoms of a larger sense of despair from having been left behind abandoned by the economy, even as the rich get richer and richer. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest.
To make matters worse, Leonhardt and Thompson assert, the U.S. suffers from “by far the world’s most expensive health care system”— which “acts as a tax on workers” and “fails to keep many people healthy” either physically or mentally.
Health Care in a Health Scare 0
David discusses the financial implications facing individuals as regards coronavirus testing and treatment in our predatory for profit health care system.
How Stuff Works, Gypsy-Cabs-with-an-App Dept. 0
At NJ.com, Edward Escobar explains the con behind the gagged “gig” economy. A nugget:
Hoist on the Elmer Gantry 0
Keith Franklin, in a letter to the editor of The Roanoke Times, exposes the con.
Marketing Moments 0
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Aside:
The other day as I was driving to a local recycling center, I stumbled over our local R&B station and decided to listen a bit.
I heard a Bloomberg ad clearly directed at the expected demographic of an R&B station’s audience. I totally get (as the kids say) this cartoon; the ad was warm with smarm.
Image via Job’s Anger.
Fly the Fiendly Skies 0
NJ.com’s Jerry Schneider is reclined (figuratively) to give Delta’s CEO a lecture.
Paying the Health Care Ransom 0
In The Denver Post, Colorado Lieutenant Governor Diane Primavera explores the high cost of American health care and argues that it really doesn’t have much to do with the cost of caring for persons’ health. A snippet:
(snip)
So if all the money we spend on health care isn’t making us healthier, then where is all the money actually going?
The short answer is that it’s going to the middlemen — insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals — whose business model is to act as a tollbooth standing in between patients and caregivers like doctors and nurses.
Follow the link for her evidence.
And, in related news . . . .
Doing It Buy the Book 0
Afterthought:
Back in the olden days when I was in college, when college was affordable for normal middle class families, before the middle class started to disappear and before massive college loans became the norm, I paid $100 to $150 per semester for books. And I was a history major with usually six or seven books (one text and several additional reading) per class.
Origins Issues 0
David and Robert Larson explode the myths about the origins of Silicon Valley corporations.
The Environmental Pollution Agency 0
The gutting of environmental protections by environmental predators continues apace.
The attorneys general say the rule not only violates the Clean Air Act, but also eliminates key safety measures for such explosions, fires, and poisonous gas releases. New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin all signed on to the suit filed in U.S. District Court, as did the District of Columbia.
The New Know-Nothings 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Robert McCauley discusses a recent New York Times report about the Trump Administration’s attempt to sideline science. A snippet:
They also document a variety of ways in which the current administration has moved to discourage, if not eliminate, the application of scientific findings, standards, and methods to empirical questions pertaining to a variety of public policy issues.