America Is a Country - Not a Business!

America is, increasingly, no longer a country; instead, we're being run like a business, and in some cases it's literally killing us.

Take for example, the ongoing problem of foodborne illnesses like Salmonella, which infects over a million Americans every year.

One of the most common ways of contracting Salmonella is by eating eggs. According to the FDA, 79,000 people get sick every year from eating Salmonella-contaminated eggs, and of those 79,000 people, 30 actually die.

This is a type of preventable problem that pretty much doesn't exist across the pond anymore.

Ever since the United Kingdom started requiring chicken farmers to vaccinate their hens against Salmonella, reported cases of the disease have plummeted, and I mean really plummeted.

There were almost 15,000 egg-related Salmonella cases in 1997 when the immunizations began; now there's close to none.

The FDA actually considered implementing a similar vaccine mandate here in the US, but decided not to in 2010, basically because chicken farmers didn't want to spend the extra money on the vaccines and they could buy lobbyists.

This is what it looks like when your country ceases to become a country and becomes something else -- a business, or maybe just another asset in a corporate portfolio.

How many lives could have been saved if the FDA had decided to look out for the public first and Big Ag second?

How many costly emergency room trips could have been prevented?

How many recalls avoided?

We'll never know for sure.

Which is just insane, because preventing things like Salmonella outbreaks is the whole reason we have a government in the first place.

When the founders created this country, they did so in the interest of the public good.

It's literally right there in the opening passage of the Constitution, which reads "We the People of the United States, in Order to... promote the general Welfare... establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Those words, which authorize the government to take action to protect "We the People" against factions like corporations are the true heart and soul of the American political tradition.

They're what gave us the New Deal, the Great Society, and everything else that makes life in America bearable despite the overwhelming power of corporations and the wealthy.

But ever since Reaganomics, we've followed a different mantra, and that's the idea that government isn't the solution, it's the problem.

This is the kind of bumper sticker slogan that sounds great the first time you hear it, but it's the source of pretty much everything wrong with this country.

By waging war on government, which they call the problem, Reagan and his modern-day followers in the Republican Party have sold us out to big business.

You can find evidence of this everywhere you look.

It's why we Americans pay more for healthcare than anybody else in the world, from drugs to eyeglasses to dental work, and why we are the only developed nation in the world that allows for-profit corporations to offer primary health insurance.

It's why you have banks like Wells Fargo ripping off their customers by opening up accounts in their names.

It's why you have Salmonella outbreaks every year even though they stopped being a real problem in Europe years ago.

It's why you have corporate farms spraying glyphosate basically everywhere, even though European countries are banning it.

The list goes on.

Thanks to Reaganomics, we have nearly lost our country.

It's been sold off to the highest bidder, and until we repudiate the free market fundamentalism that has infected our public discourse, we'll not get it back.

Comments

Hephaestus's picture
Hephaestus 6 years 24 weeks ago
#1

Fascism!

Now you have it!

We fought 2 world wars against it!

And, now you embrace it!

dianhow 6 years 24 weeks ago
#2

Indeed 30 + yrs of trickle down, deregulation, cuts in education, lack of safe guards to protect our planet, GOP trying to end the EPA FDA etc Keeping us poorly education, unable to think critically, to reason ( that helps GOP get more votes ) GOP will allow huge corps to dump toxins into air & water. making us sicker, NOT labeling country of origin on products that we consume or put on our bodies. China fool s lots of consumers... From ROC means Republic of China ! . China has put lead in our toys, poisoned our pets. Why should we Trust Communist Gov't on anything ? There must be a tariff charged to China on all the cheap crap they sell in US. Japan on all the cars sold here. . Trump is unstable...but he made 2 good points.... Disasters NAFTA , TPP . Free UN regulated Trade agreements that Wall St hustler Alan Greenspan , Summers, & GOP pushed Clinton into - Bill caved pure and simple. I hope Hillary will be much more Progressive than either Bill or Obama.although I know Obama did his very best after arrogant old coot Mitch McConnell & pals swore to block him on everything & make Obama fail.. IF thats NOT treason or derelection of duty Then what IS ? Next President must Repeal Citizens United Cap interest rates by pay day lenders. Its obscene . bring back Glass Steagal Add a small transaction fee to Wal St trades. Even 50 cents will raise billions VOTE Blue every 2 yrs to countact the erratic, irrational, ill informed, racist, misoginist GOP & Trump followers. Like David Duke...

cccccttttt 6 years 24 weeks ago
#3

US is no longer a traditional nation state.

Instead think CORPORATE OLIGHARCHY.

That change of perception will reveal the pattern behind

endless wars for profit,

cheap foriegn labor flooding country,

soldiers who sign only for $30K,

NAFTA and TPP

banking bailouts and unpunished scams

What rational citizen would risk death to defend such a system?

ct

Hephaestus's picture
Hephaestus 6 years 24 weeks ago
#4

Underlying here is "fractional reserve" banking

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -- Thomas Jefferson

timallard's picture
timallard 6 years 24 weeks ago
#5

Funny Thom would bring up Roundup, glyphosate, it kills bacteria disproportionally favoring Salmonella and E. Coli over more common soil communities, do those ring a bell?

So using Roundup's glyphosate is causing perhaps 80% of the infections over what would happen in organic-natural soils, it's patented as a biocide, kills anything, eh?

Following the money it's not just the chicken farmers affecting the decision a distinct probability, eh?

This is the mandatory video on the biological pathways altered by Roundup that cause so many health problems; with Jeffery restating the complexity so we can get what Stephanie explains technically:

"The Health Dangers of Roundup (glyphosate) Herbicide. Jeffrey Smith & Stephanie Seneff"; 1:05:42; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_AHLDXF5aw

ikeberltersen's picture
ikeberltersen 6 years 24 weeks ago
#6

Government provides the framework in which businesses and corporations operate. It's come to the point where business doesn't want government telling them what they can or cannot do, in other words, setting limits on behavior yet they want all the good things that government provides. All of us operate within limits, yet corporations, which claim to be persons when it is convenient, don't want any limits imposed on them. They want to have their cake and eat it too. It's about time the tail stopped wagging the dog. For too long Republicans have pushed this narrative that government is an enemy and any regulation for the good of society is unfair to business. It's nonsense.

Uncle Ralph's picture
Uncle Ralph 6 years 24 weeks ago
#7

You're right, America is not a business; it is a commodity to be acquired and traded at a profit by businesses owned and run primarily by despots. Our duty is, as is the duty of all of the peons of our planet, to defer to the Despots, to make sure they always get what they desire at a competitive price and to not rock the boat. To inconvenience a Despot is just wrong and we all know it; there is no more selfish or sinful--yes sinful--act a peon can commit. Let us pray to God to grant us the timidity to defer always to the will of the nearest Despot. Amen.

2950-10K's picture
2950-10K 6 years 24 weeks ago
#8

Here's what United States citizens get from the country being run like a business:

"In the United States the minimum wage is just 37 percent of the median wage. In a comparison of 28 countries we ranked 26th, above only Mexico and the Czech Republic." Politifact

BTW: The United States is the wealthiest counrty on the planet!

Trump has repeatedly said that "wages are too high" in the United States, and he may get elected President because of low wage Red State voters. ....just shoot me!

Thom's Blog Is On the Move

Hello All

Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.

Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.

From Cracking the Code:
"No one communicates more thoughtfully or effectively on the radio airwaves than Thom Hartmann. He gets inside the arguments and helps people to think them through—to understand how to respond when they’re talking about public issues with coworkers, neighbors, and friends. This book explores some of the key perspectives behind his approach, teaching us not just how to find the facts, but to talk about what they mean in a way that people will hear."
to understand how to respond when they’re talking about public issues with coworkers, neighbors, and friends. This book explores some of the key perspectives behind his approach, teaching us not just how to find the facts, but to talk about what they mean in a way that people will hear."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann seeks out interesting subjects from such disparate outposts of curiosity that you have to wonder whether or not he uncovered them or they selected him."
Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, producer, and environmental activist
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Through compelling personal stories, Hartmann presents a dramatic and deeply disturbing picture of humans as a profoundly troubled species. Hope lies in his inspiring vision of our enormous unrealized potential and his description of the path to its realization."
David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy, The Great Turning, and When Corporations Rule the World