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POPSUS is slipping toward Plutocracy: Money rules
Latest example is healthcare reform. In the second quarter of 2009, the health industry spent $133 million on lobbyists, reckons the Center for Responsive Politics. That doesn’t count lobbying by associations. The US Chamber of Commerce alone spent $26 million on lobbying in the first half of this year, “a good chunk” on the health issue, says Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the center. Polls show the public wants healthcare reform and a public-insurance option. So the health-insurance industry is pretending to be in favor of reform while trying to kill it through campaign contributions, ads, and lobbying, says Wendell Potter, who until recently led corporate communications at CIGNA, a major health-insurance company. Moreover trade unions provide some balance of power to the might of business and wealth. In Sweden, 85 percent of the labor force is organized; in other major nations 35-40 percent. Compare with 7.4 percent of workers in the private sector in the US.
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POPSMexicans break World's 'Thriller' Dance Record "He transcends borders," says Fabiola Aguilar, decked out in the red get-up that Michael Jackson wore in the original video. She crouched over, next to her 9-year-old son in an identical outfit, and both simulated arising from the dead, as they rehearsed moves they'd practiced for two weeks. "Dancing brings us all together." Birthday celebrations and memorials across the globe came as Jackson's June 25 death was officially ruled a homicide. Mexico City's event had the full backing of the capital, which marveled at the spontaneity of a grassroots effort turned mega. "Many of these kids weren't even alive when Thriller came out," says the head of the city's youth institute, Javier Hidalgo, sporting a white glove.
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