Pick Ten

This post is for the band.

Death Panelling

We already have death panels deciding who gets medical care and who doesn't. They are called insurance companies. And they make a profit, in part, by denying coverage to people who are just about to need expensive care.

Are Americans so satisfied with corporations having this life-and-death role in their lives? Why are Americans so readily willing to give over their lives to corporations? Why are we grateful to save pennies at Wal-Mart when we know that Wal-Mart kills the Main-Street small-town businesses that we claim to yearn for? Low prices require low wages. Low wages devalues labor, and degrades the soul. What is it that corporations promise that makes us so forgiving of their tactics and processes?

OK, without corporations we wouldn't have computers, airplanes, or ibuprofen. But do we need to get our food, news, and medical care from a corporation, an entity whose chief goal--by law--is not to serve its customers, but to maximize profit for its investors? It would be nice to experience an America in which corporations didn't control and influence so many aspects of our lives. Would it look like a pastoral communal paradise, or would it be Beyond Thunderdome?