Fáilte
Welcome to The Village Oak Tree for December 18th.
This was a relatively unplanned episode because I had originally planned to read stories and poetry this week. Once again, I was caught up in world events and also, I had a little push from a friend, Frances A. Chiu, Ph.D., to say something about corporate greed.
Please watch as I offer a little history on western corporations, the wreckage they have caused across the planet in the last five hundred years, and how the west is starting to wake up to the damage they have and are causing in all of our lives right now.
After the break, I bring you another chapter of The Priest. Once formerly known as Bob by Michael Campi. Warning, this chapter has some adult language in it.
I have a bunch of news stories from around the world laid out, ready for another episode when my friend published a couple of articles about corporate greed and the latest thing in U.S. news about the health care CEO getting murdered. When I responded to her articles, she nudged me to write my responses in an article of my own.
I thought about it for a bit and decided to say something in a podcast. The results of my thoughts are on display in the video above.
What I came up with, is some basic history of western corporations from the last five hundred years, primarily from Merry ‘ole England and how the U.S. copied their model and made it their own.
Which is on full display all over the world. The U.S. came into their own in a big way after world war two and now, we see how that business model has pretty near wrecked the planet, both in human relationships and the ecosystem.
The U.S. insurance scam has been on display these last couple of weeks after the media frenzy over this murder. It didn’t help matters when the murdered CEO was outed in the news for being under investigation for securities fraud, and his company being outed as one of the worst for not paying out medical claims. The real kicker for the working class was the revelation about this man’s salary and stock bonuses he received in compensation for all of the denied claims he saved his company. Which is typical for western corporate executives these days.
Also in the video, I talk about the insurance industry as a whole and how they’re taking advantage of people’s miseries. How global corporations have become somewhat autonomous and now control national governments like the United States.
I think the corporations have so much power over the largest economy in the world now that the only way out from under this mess for the American people is to burn it all down and start over again. This time, without the corporations being able to wield so much power.
As I mentioned before, my original plan for this week was to read stories and poetry but the news stories got ahead of me. I still have a list that I haven’t even talked about yet that will be old news by the time I get around to them. With everything happening so quickly on the worlds stage these days, I’m sure there will be no shortage of major news stories to cover when I get around again.
My next commentary I think, will be about what the Canadians are doing to try and hold off Trump’s tariff threat. Their government is running around like a kicked over chicken coop right now and I’m watching to see what’s going to happen up there over the next couple of weeks.
There are a couple of big western European governments crashing right now, which I talk a little bit about in the video, so I’ll be reading the news from Europe to find out as much as I can about that in the next few weeks. What happens there will have an effect on things here in North America so stay tuned to find out how that may affect everyone.
Watch the video as there is a lot more in it than what I have outlined here. If you like it, share it with anyone you know that may also have an interest in what’s going on outside of mainstream media. I try to dig up things that the American or western news media won’t touch. I don’t worry about where the stories come from, as long as they are relevant to what is happening currently around the world. If anyone reading this wants to point me to other news sources that might align with what I present here, feel free to let me know and I’ll check them out.
My sources come from other Substack journalists, independent journalists and news media from the U.S., the middle east, Europe and Russia. I like to try and put it all together in an attempt to make sense of it all for myself and any viewers. As always, I welcome healthy discussion on anything someone finds here, as long as it’s constructive and not abusive. Differing opinions are welcome.
I have a busy schedule later this week so I am not sure if I will be able to manage any story and poetry reading. I will try though as I feel like this is just as important for a healthy psyche as anything else we read or listen to these days. Until next time, Sláinte
References:
Rule Britannia and the NHS: A Case for Medicare for All
Our healthcare industry suffers from a capitalist, corporatist cancer
“Power Games at Play”: Luigi Mangione’s criticisms of healthcare
The US is “the sick man” of the world
The Priest
formerly known as Bob (part 20)
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