Bill Maher: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit

[Ben]

New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit

by Bill Maher

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 last week, 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.

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.

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!

© 2009 Huffington Post
Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher airs live tonight at 10pm

[trish]

Bravo Bill Maher

[AmericanDream]

Thats my man, I love Bill Maher.

[sucka4chix]

Wow, there is still some wisdom out there. To bad we're in love with folly.

[Realgirls4me]

mammonism: The greedy pursuit of riches. The pursuit of material wealth and possessions, especially a dedication to riches that is tantamount to devotion.

... i.e.,When the dispensing of health care coverage becomes a commodity, and therefore becomes available only to those that have the means to pay for it, it worships at the alter of Mammon.

[sucka4chix]

mammonism: The greedy pursuit of riches. The pursuit of material wealth and possessions, especially a dedication to riches that is tantamount to devotion.

... i.e.,When the dispensing of health care coverage becomes a commodity, and therefore becomes available only to those that have the means to pay for it, it worships at the alter of Mammon.

YESSSS!! So many people claim to worship no one, but are to foolish to see that money is their god!

[Sulka_bewitched_me]

Bill Maher is my HERO!!!!!! I mourned the day his Politically Correct show was cancelled on ABC because of his statements regarding 911 and how America deserved what they got because of their foreign policy in the Middle East. Maher was just speaking the truth and it was too raw and real for people to deal with. Anyone on here see Religulous? Bill Maher at his witty,analytical best.

[SarahG]

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.

I wonder if he realizes just how accurate that part of the essay was.

The reason why so many pharmaceutical and hospital corporations are on board with the proposed health care reforms, is because they see it as a way to get an (imho illegal) "trust" hold of the market place.

The argument goes, that under the proposed reforms it would stifle competition and make it harder for new players to enter the industry. Some small doctor-owned hospitals have themselves stated to the press recently how lethal of a blow it could be to their type of health organizations.

As if giving these greedy corporations an unethical death-grip hold of the American health care field was bad enough, as many as a dozen democrats (to say nothing of the republicans) have already come forward saying that they will refuse to vote for any health care system that would cover the cost of abortions (presumably they will feel the same way about contraceptives, trans health care, reproductive system modifications, and similar socially volatile health care issues). Thus if your employer stops offering private health care (knowing you can just get a tax credit from the feds to buy it on your own), you could end up not being able to use that tax credit on any police that covers such health care options.

...do we really want DC trying to play "morality enforcement" with our health care coverage? Do we want them to play doctor in deciding what patients should or should not get, instead of the patients & doctors themselves?

Because that's what many politicians are already (publicly) stating they intend to do.

[peggygee]

I was watching him last night, at the top of the show he was mentioning to
the head of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano, how he smuggles his
pot.

At the end, he dropped another one of his spot on "new rules."

"He the man."

[ilovetgirls36]

thats what most of the girls in here like..men with money