Author: R J Adams

According to Liam Fox, Britain’s Minister for International Trade, “Britain is too lazy and too fat with businessmen preferring golf on a Friday afternoon to trying to boost the country’s prosperity…”

Judging from the belly hanging over that trouser belt, I guess it takes one to know one – as they say. Except, according to Innocent Drinks co-founder Richard Reed, Fox has never done a day’s business in his life:

“”He is a representative of us, of this country, and he turns round and slags us off, calling us fat and lazy,” he said on BBC Radio 4’s Today. “He’s never done a day’s business in his life.”
“He’s talking about business people here who were absolutely clear in saying that we want, and do export, and that’s why we do want to remain in the EU… I just think: ‘how dare he talk down the country that he damaged, how dare he’.
“He’s a terrible, terrible voice for British business.”
Mr Reed added that he’d “never played golf in [his] life”. ^[1]

It would seem that Theresa May’s government is in some disarray following her appointments of Boris Johnson, Liam Fox, and David Davies (all ardent supporters of the Brexit campaign) to government departments: the Foreign Office (Johnson), and two that never existed before – ‘International Trade’ (Fox) and ‘Exiting the European Union’ (Davies).

Fox and Johnson are already at each other’s throats over a letter sent by Fox to Johnson demanding the Foreign Office hand over some of its responsibilities (economic diplomacy) to Fox’s International Trade Department. Prime Minister May’s had to step in and separate them.

Liam Fox has been hand-in-glove with corporate interests in the United States for many years. His involvement with the now (ostensibly) defunct ‘Atlantic Bridge’ “charity” caused his forced resignation from David Cameron’s government in 2011:

In a speech to Atlantic Bridge members in New York in November 2002, Fox warned “the natural desire to avoid conflict has been reinforced by an innate pacificism in many sections of western society, especially in continental Europe”. He told his audience: “For too many, peace has come to mean simply the absence of war. We cannot allow that corrosive view to go unchallenged.”

Fox also used the speech to criticise the NHS, which he said had “responded to a funding increase of almost 11% with only a 2% increase in activity”.

He was preaching to the converted. The Atlantic Bridge’s addresses and conferences were all about promoting market liberalisation. A typical theme of one conference, held in both Los Angeles and Pittsburgh in July 2006, was entitled “Killing the Golden Goose – How Regulation and Legislation are Damaging Wealth Creation”. An earlier address in 2003 asked: “How Much Health Care Can We Afford?”

Members of the Galen Institute, a thinktank which promotes “freemarket ideas in health”, attended its conferences while the failed bank Lehman Brothers, sponsored at least one event, as did the powerful neocon thinktank the Heritage Foundation.

But in 2007 the Atlantic Bridge’s relationship with big business entered a new realm, one that threatens to pose uncomfortable questions for Cameron and his party. The organisation signed a special partnership with the American Legislative Council (Alec), whose motto is “Limited government, free markets, federalism”. ^[2]

^{Liam Fox addressing members of Atlantic Bridge – 2011}

Many other Tory powermongers were embroiled with ‘Atlantic Bridge’ (Margaret Thatcher was once its patron). As the Guardian article from 2011 continues:

Admittedly, senior Tory cabinet ministers had been scrambling to distance themselves from the Atlantic Bridge long before the scandal brought Fox down. The organisation’s website – and that of its sister charity across the Atlantic – has been dismantled. But old caches of the site reveal that, while [they were] shadow ministers, George Osborne [Brexit], Michael Gove [Brexit], Chris Grayling [Brexit] and William Hague [Eurosceptic, but U-turned in the home straight] were all on its advisory council alongside Fox, its UK chairman. All four stood down as awkward questions over its political activities, which contravened charity laws, resulted in the organisation being wound up. [my bold] ^[2]

One can only wonder why, given his past record, Theresa May allowed Liam Fox back into government. Unless, of course, she agrees with his views and is following a Thatcherite agenda.

It isn’t difficult to understand why Fox was so supportive of Brexit. He no doubt stands to be rewarded handsomely if he opens the door to American corporate interests in the U.K.. The National Health Service is a prime example. Its government man-in-charge, Jeremy Hunt, is just as keen on American privatization of the service as the U.S. insurance and medical services wolves slavering at the gate in anticipation of future financial killings within the U.K..

The British people might care to remember that in 1948 the Tory Party, then in opposition to a Labour government led by Clement Atlee, voted en masse against the establishment of the National Health Service. It’s taken nearly seventy years, but now they finally seem to be getting their way.

While ‘Atlantic Bridge’ is officially dead, ex-members are still busily working to fulfill its aims, both in Britain and the United States. U.K. and U.S. politics are tumbling headlong into the chasm of corporate power.

At this stage one can only wonder just how much worse it can all get.

^{[1] “Britain ‘too lazy and fat’, says Trade Secretary Liam Fox” BBC, September 10th 2016}

^{[2] “Liam Fox’s Atlantic Bridge linked top Tories and Tea Party activists” Guardian, October 15th 2011}

It’s a busy time for world leaders, especially those from European nations. Not only has the annual G20 summit beckoned, but immediately prior was a special private meeting – a sort of European equivalent of Davos – organised by the European think tank, Ambrosetti.

While other world leaders were gathering in the Chinese resort of Hangzhou…

…Merkel, Hollande, and the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, among others, were ensconced at the rather fabulous Villa d’Este, on the shores of Italy’s stunning Lake Como.

Hmmm, nice gardens!

It’s unlikely there was much time for these European elites to relish the delights around them, given that two days later they were off to the G20, and yet another sumptuous display, this time provided by China’s Xi Jinping. But a lot can be discussed in two days and without doubt the chief topic was Britain’s stab-in-the-European-back, known colloquially as ‘Brexit’.

Britain wants to severely restrict the free movement of people into the country while continuing to trade freely with its European neighbours. To put it another way: Britain wants to have its cake and eat it. European leaders are determined that’s not going to happen. After all, rules are rules and ‘free movement across borders’ was one of the prime directives (to coin a phrase from the sci-fi series, ‘Star Trek’) of the Union right from the start. And, as we all know from ‘Star Trek’, a prime directive can never be broken. In this particular case it would undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the European Union.

Is it possible that this is exactly what Britain and the United States would like to see happen? While there’s no solid evidence, there are indications of the possibility. Call this writer an old conspiracy theorist if you like, but the whole ‘Brexit’ thing evolved just a little too smoothly to be totally unplanned:

The lack-lustre campaign of the ‘Remain’ group, headed by prime minister Cameron; Cameron’s super-quick exit after the result was announced; the ‘Leave’ campaign’s top man, Boris Johnson, ducking out of the prime minister’s job just minutes before he was due to stand; a long list of would-be Tory prime ministers conveniently fading away to leave Theresa May as the only candidate for the job; politician Liam Fox, once ousted from the government for serious indiscretions and the foremost player in the ‘Atlantic Bridge’ think tank that linked top Tory politicians with the U.S. Tea Party, brought back into government as (of all things!) Minister for International Trade; the known fact that the referendum was declared by Cameron to be “only advisory”; Theresa May vetoing any parliamentary debate on the issue; Barack Obama telling Britain they’d be ‘at the back of the queue’ if they left the E.U., but now repudiating that by stating:

“I’ve committed to Theresa that we will consult closely with her as she and her government move forward on Brexit negotiations to make sure we don’t see adverse effects in our trading and commercial relationship. Obviously there is an enormous amount of trade that already takes place … That is not going to stop. And we are going to do everything we can to make sure the consequences of the decision don’t end up unravelling what is already a very strong and robust economic relationship…” ^[1]

It all rather smacks of pre-planning.

“The British People have spoken,” and, “Brexit means Brexit,” are two mantras so often repeated by senior U.K. politicians of late that one wonders if they’re having trouble convincing themselves. This shouldn’t be surprising, given that the British people certainly didn’t speak with one voice on the subject, were grossly misled due to a series of downright lies by the ‘Leave’ campaigners led by Boris Johnson (now elevated by May to Foreign Secretary!), and only won the day by one and a quarter million votes out of a total of thirty-three million five hundred and fifty-one thousand nine hundred and eighty-three – or, 3.8%.

Obama is still pushing to complete his pet projects, the secretive and corporate-friendly ‘trade’ agreements he’s spent the last two years persuading world leaders to accept. He’s finding European leaders hard going on the subject. As one, they’re formidable. Split up, they’d likely prove easier to persuade. Of course, Obama’s not stupid and knows he won’t be on the world throne by the time that split might occur, but no doubt his backers have already primed his successor on the subject. After all, they’ve gone to enough trouble to ensure, via their media outlets, that Donald Trump won’t be that person.

Obama still hopes for European success before he leaves office. The continuation of his quote above, reads:

…“But first things first. The first task is figuring out what Brexit means with respect to Europe. And our first task is making sure we go forward on TTIP negotiations in which we have already invested a lot of time and effort.”

And that was surely the second most important topic under discussion by Merkel, Hollande, and the other European politicians and business leaders at Villa D’Este, on the shores of beautiful Lake Como in Italy.

^{[1] “Theresa May joins G20 summit to face Brexit warnings from US and Japan” Guardian, September 4th 2016}

Walter Cronkite got it wrong. America’s health care system is both healthy and caring, and it’s a system that works beautifully – but it only benefits the wealthy and powerful medical barons who run it: the drug and insurance companies, the private medical companies who own the infrastructure and staff, and the huge (often international) pharmaceutical chains who dole out the drugs and accessories at enormous profit, that benefits them all.

During my thirteen years in the United States I received various medical treatments and required certain drugs. The one prescribed the most was Lansoprazole, a proton pump inhibitor for acid reflux. My doctor supplied a three-monthly prescription for this generic of Prevacid, which was filled at our local Walgreens store.

Every three months I would collect my prescription and pay the co-pay. It varied, but averaged around $35-$40. The explanation conveniently stapled to the package by Walgreens contained one piece of information I always took note of. It read: “Your insurance has saved you $xxx.”

The amount of ‘$xxx’ was never less than $350, and on one occasion came close to $500. In total, with the co-pay, this generic drug would have cost between $385 and $585. That’s a lot of money for ninety small capsules filled with a bit of white powder. The cost of one capsule, at its cheapest, was more than $4, and at its most expensive, $6.50. Thank you, insurance company, for paying so much of the cost for me. Surely, it was worth the $450 monthly fee we paid for coverage?

Or, was it?

Two factors would cross my mind each time I collected my prescription: how could anyone without medical insurance ever afford this drug, and, would a similar amount of cocaine be anymore expensive? Probably not.

Recently, I had reason to refill my Lansoprazole prescription in France, having moved there permanently. My French doctor supplied me with a similar three monthly prescription and I took it to our local pharmacy to be filled.

I was dreading the cost. In France I had no medical insurance. We had applied for the French Carte Vitale allowing us to use their public health system, but at that time had not received it. Consequently, my wife and I had to pay full price for drugs and medical treatment.

I proffered my prescription to the pharmacist with some trepidation. He gave me the ninety capsules and asked if I was a member of the health service. I told him: No. In that case, he said, I would have to pay in full for my prescription the sum of 25 euros and eighty centimes – the equivalent of $29.

The full retail price of this drug in France was substantially less than the co-pay demanded by our insurance company for the exact same drug in the United States.

To obtain this prescription I had to visit a French doctor. When I visited a doctor in the U.S. the fee was generally $120. The insurance paid 90%. I paid the remaining $20. A specialist was usually about double – $240.

Prior to leaving my doctor after obtaining my prescription, I asked how I should settle his account. He responded that, without French health insurance, I must pay him 23 euros ($26) cash. That was the amount he received for every consultation, which incidentally lasted for thirty-five minutes, not the fifteen allowed to me by U.S. health services.

French doctors have no imposed time limit on their consultations. They take as long as is necessary. Of course, this means that often there can be a long wait to be seen (we’ve waited up to an hour in the ‘salle d’attente’, even with an appointment) but assured with the knowledge the doctor will listen carefully to your problem, take time to make an assessment of your condition, and definitely not be hammering away at his/her computer keyboard while you’re describing your symptoms.

Here, it seems, is clear evidence that U.S. drug companies, in cahoots with U.S. insurance companies, are grossly inflating the price of their products. It also seems likely that national pharmaceutical chains, like Walgreens, are in on the deal.

Private medical companies now run most of the hospitals and doctor services in America. Patients are being squeezed more and more for that extra buck and doctors are under ever-increasing pressure, required to hear a patient’s symptoms, diagnose, and prescribe treatment, all while entering this information into the medical records database, and all within an imposed time limit of fifteen minutes, or less.

The American people are being ripped off by their health services and insurance companies. Somebody is making an enormous profit. It could even be considered racketeering.

Perhaps it’s time someone blew the whistle on America’s medical mafia.