Combating US Capitalism's Moral Blinders

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/20



s US capitalism now mired in a moral cesspool? Consider the following:

Richard Eskow, senior fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, comments: “Jamie [Dimon] did know that the London Whale scheme had cost his bank billions, even as he told investors on a phone call that it was just a 'tempest in a teapot.' If that’s not prima facie evidence of criminal stock fraud, conducted by The Man himself, it’s hard to know what is.”

While we may think banks are uniquely evil that appears to be hardly the case. Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein, quoting an international health insurance trade group spokesperson: "In my view, health is a business in the United States in quite a different way than it is elsewhere. It's very much something people make money out of. There isn't too much embarrassment about that compared to Europe and elsewhere."

Klein argues: “Unlike in other countries, sellers of health-care services in America have considerable power to set prices, and so they set them quite high. Two of the five most profitable industries in the United States - the pharmaceuticals industry and the medical device industry - sell health care. With margins of almost 20 percent, they beat out even the financial sector for sheer profitability.”

[PETRUS]

1. K&R

The author mentions "new forms of ownership" and "full employment policies."

[marmar]

2. k/r