The trillion-dollar election is closer than you think.

Extreme wealth has corrupted our politics.

Extreme wealth has corrupted our healthcare too. And our first trillion dollar election now seems possible and likely, justified by what’s at stake for the healthcare industry alone. Like pharmaceuticals and health insurance, 75% of American industries have consolidated in the last few decades, according to former labor secretary Robert Reich. That includes oil & gas, shipping & airlines, baby diapers & formula, meat & poultry processing, broadband & news media, and even soda. Just as Starbucks dominates coffee, Pepsi and Coke dominate today, giving them monopoly power over purchasing, pricing, and wages.

Billionaires and wealthy corporations are right to worry about a backlash, with recent talk about strengthening antitrust enforcement to strengthen capitalism with more competition. There’s also talk of breaking apart monopolies, repealing President Trump’s tax cuts, instituting a wealth tax, and making the tax code much more progressive. This directly threatens the collective wealth of billionaires and corporate CEOs as

While I fear a future trillion dollar election, few others even consider it. That might be because they don’t understand large numbers. So, what does one trillion dollars actually look like? Watch this short video to see.

My writing here at Modern Health Talk is focused on healthcare. And as I’ve said before, the healthcare profit motive has grown from disease into a full-blown epidemic, spreading like a cancer that threatens our entire economy if unconfined. So has the underlying politics preventing health reform. The powerful US Chamber of Commerce pledged to fight any efforts by Congress to move toward single-payer. So have other organizations representing the healthcare and insurance industries:

• American Medical Association,
• Federation of American Hospitals,
• American Hospital Association,
• America’s Health Insurance Plans,
• Partnership for America’s Health Care Future,
• the nation’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans,
• the National Retail Federation,
• the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and
• the pharmaceuticals lobby.

The question is WHY? For the answer, just follow the money.

The medical industrial complex (i.e. cartel) wants to protect its perverse profits – profits that reached $3.65 trillion/year in 2018 and are now over $4 trillion. They fear single-payer and see that as an important step toward reforms that could bring US costs in line with other advanced nations – nations that spend half as much but have better longevity and outcomes even as they cover everyone.

Reforms that match the average healthcare spending of other rich nations would save our nation more than $2 trillion/year but cut industry revenue in half. Think of what a democratic society could do with that money if invested strategically, and what industry executives might do to prevent that. That’s why I expect a fight – a big one.

Even a one-time investment of $1 trillion during a single election cycle is financially justified if it prevents a loss of $2 trillion/year. To hell with savings for the rest of us.

Extreme wealth has corrupted our culture too.

“Look, a squirrel,” they may say. But don’t be distracted. Follow the money instead and ask about intent. As billionaires mount a class war to protect and grow their wealth, Republican lawmakers are mounting a culture war to deflect attention away from it. It’s about increasing their power and becoming even richer while the rest of society languishes, even with high productivity.

How is it that the biggest corporations are able to raise prices even with record profits? And why do they have such an outsized influence over public opinion and culture? It’s largely do to their expertise in advertising, market research and focus group testing. They’re pretty damn good at finding just the right message and echoing it over and over across different media until we all come to believe it. Democrats, there real people’s party, have nothing like that to compete with. Their messages often seem wildly disjointed as they try, to appeal to everyone in the bottom 99%, often unsuccessfully.

In my view, Extreme Inequality is the primary source of political corruption and the current culture wars. That’s a direct result of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which gave corporations the same free speech rights as citizen people. As shown in this “lightning round game” that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) played with the House Oversight Committee, that SCOTUS decision unwittingly legalized political corruption and allowed campaigns to accept unlimited dark money.

Now there’s nothing to prevent billion dollar “investments” in political influence. But why stop there? The 2018 Trump tax cuts gave the Koch brothers a return of over 1,500%. Their strategic investments in conservative think tanks, conservative media, conservative judges, and conservative politicians paid off handsomely. And it taught other billionaires that there’s almost no other investment they can make with greater ROI.

The Political Corruption applied to Healthcare

Democratic Presidential candidates have been talking up different versions of Medicare-for-All, but a single-payer system is just part of the solution. To achieve the trillion dollar savings goal I write about requires greater knowledge of “Why American Healthcare is SO Expensive” to begin with.

Since founding Modern Health Talk, I have become more political, and more progressive, but this site didn’t start that way. It was founded in 2010 to share my perspectives as an IBM technologist, market strategist, futurist, and digital home consultant, with the idea of promoting independent living so the elderly could live safely in their own home and avoid the higher cost of institutional care.

I quickly learned, however, that fixing our broken healthcare system requires fixing our politics, and requires fixing our broken politics and the widening wealth gap behind the corruption. I also learned about the hidden agendas of Republican politicians, and that progressive policies were more in line with my views of progress and consumer advocacy.

This article was inspired by two social media posts (below) and is expanded with a list of some of the most influential conservative, liberal, and nonpartisan think tanks, as well as a list of related articles with short descriptions of each.

Here’s the Situation in The USA

This section by Jacob Santa, with my minor edits

We do not live in a democracy. We do not live in a republic. We live in a corporatocracy run by dynastic plutocratic families, corporate oligarchs, and international banksters, many of whom are Zionists and/or members of secret societies, who are rooted in self-interest, greed, and power…not Love and Wisdom.

Even though they are merely a fraction of 1% of the population, they presently own at least 40% of the wealth here in the USA ($26 trillion). With their immense wealth, they dominate the politicians, the mainstream media, the financial system, the legal system, and the corporations.

They get the politicians to pass laws that favor their agendas. They use the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, Homeland Security, the legal system, the police and the military to enforce their will. They use mainstream media, including movies and music, to program us from cradle to the grave.

They foster religious, racial, and ideological divisions among the people as a Divide and Conquer strategy. They’ve been wreaking havoc upon the People both here and around the world and Gaia Mother Earth for centuries.

From stealing from and killing Native Indians, to present-day political genocide and a “holocaust” of people in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, they are responsible for more deaths and unnecessary suffering than any other group of people on earth.

Plutocracy Regains Control, Puts Democracy in Chains

This section by Hazel Weathers (Final rant as President of WOW Dems, but not my last.)

I read an eye-opening book over the holidays that helped me understand why people vote against their own interests: Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, by Nancy MacLean. The author explains that since the mid-fifties, when ‘Brown v. Board of Education’ ruled out ‘separate but equal’ and called for integrating schools, think tanks were formed to study how to use ‘language’ and techniques to return America to an oligarchy protecting only the rights of ‘property owners’ by which they mean, the wealthiest Americans. One of the earliest such think tanks was formed at the University of Virginia (yes, the same one where the white supremacists’ march resulted in a white nationalist killing of Heather Heyer).

What they learned is that they can’t say what they really mean, but must couch their true sentiments in terminology that seems innocuous. Why? Because the overwhelming majority of Americans will not knowingly give up power. They must be deceived. Since then, dozens of Libertarian and Conservative think tanks have been funded by millionaires and billionaires like the Koch brothers. And corporate-funded ALEC was created to craft and push extreme conservative laws through state legislatures. These include ‘Stand Your Ground’ legislation, discriminatory voter ID laws, rollbacks of environmental protection, and more. Republicans, representing the “party of big money and corporations,” happily took up this charge. Most of this is no surprise to you. But what surprised me is learning the true intent of these groups and the full extent of what they would do to strengthen their power and reduce yours:

• Elimination of Public Education
• Disenfranchisement of Voters
• Crippling Unions and labor movements
• Disempowering ‘grassroots rights’ movements of any kind (Civil, LGBTQ, Senior, etc.)
• Elimination of ALL Taxes, except to support national defense and police
• Elimination of Government Assistance of any kind, including: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, health care, transportation, even public parks
• Returning our Democratic/Republic form of government to an Oligarchy controlled by the wealthiest Americans

To meet these goals, the ThinkTanks teach lessons on their revolutionary goals and how to use fear and manipulation to fool people into going along with their strategies to achieve them, even while undermining the very people who support them. They use carefully constructed language to hide the true meaning of words. When they say “property rights must be protected,” they don’t mean “homeowners,” they mean the wealth of the 1% who they see as the “makers.” When they say. “Liberty means a society where nobody has power over the other,” they mean the majority should not be able to control the 1%. They consider the wealthy to be “victims” of tax policies used to support the exploiters or “takers” who should pay more, not less in taxes. They think individuals should pay for their own children’s education and health care, not the government. They believe in a society where capitalism is on steroids, only the wealthiest have power, and government is only needed for national defense.

Even though the “Koch Brothers of the world’” are more likely to be atheists, they mobilized white evangelicals for political action, leveraging their fear of “other” and desire to preserve white and male supremacy. Despite the contempt they must feel for “the average Joe/Jill,” they used their fear of blacks, browns and Muslims to oppose immigration. They convinced Tea Party radicals that taxes support “social programs for the lazy undeserving 47%,” not programs they personally benefit from like: Social Security, Medicare, clean air/water, public schools, roads/bridges, preventing old-age poverty, safe foods/drugs, affordable health care and more.

They promote “individual rights and liberty” as the reason to oppose government regulation or human/equal/labor rights, without clearly articulating whose rights are being protected and whose are being destroyed. After all, don’t we have a right to breathe clean air that doesn’t give our kids cancer and drink water that is not lead-contaminated?

So they are able to successfully promote deregulation, school vouchers, tax cuts for the wealthy, union busting, opposition to “government healthcare,” and climate change denial — all in the name of protecting “individual liberty” and “property rights” with full support from the very people hurt by those policies. And folks who have trouble keeping a job that pays a living wage, roof over their head, and ability to see a doctor when they are ill will support a tax reduction for corporations and the wealthy and elimination of the “death tax” affecting only those with net assets that exceed $5.45 million!

What disturbs me most is that the wealthy oligarchs are NOT trying to save Democracy, but to destroy it. Majority rule does not serve their needs! Only a government where the power is concentrated in the hands of a few, a true oligarchy, will ensure maximum preservation of their wealth. So we must continue the resistance. We are fighting to preserve Democracy, the rule of law, and the will of the majority. We made great progress in the 2018 election! And in 2019 and 2020, we will continue the resistance and we will win!!

Influential ThinkTanks

ThinkTanks often generate policy research and analysis and are affiliated with advocacy groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and universities. While many are ideological, others strive to be independent and nonpartisan. Here’s a selected list, showing which are Nonpartisan (N), Conservative (C), or Liberal/Progressive (P). Please let me know in the comments if there are any important ones I’ve missed.

• American Enterprise Institute. Conservative (C) think tank addressing government, politics, economics and social welfare.
• The Brookings Institution. Conducts nonpartisan (N) research on ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global levels.
• Cato Institute. Libertarian/Conservative (C) think tank “dedicated to the principles of personal liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.”
• Center for American Progress. Progressive (P) research and advocacy organization “dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action.”
• Center for Immigration Studies. Conservative (C) organization advocates for ending illegal immigration and lowering legal immigration levels.
• Economic Policy Institute. Nonprofit, nonpartisan (N) think tank created to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions.
• The Federalist Society. Libertarian/Conservative (C) think tank promoting free enterprise, limited government, individual liberties, and a strong national defense.
• FreedomWorks. Conservative (C) organization promoting property rights and free markets through less government, lower taxes, and more economic freedom.
• The Heritage Foundation.  Think tank with a mission is to formulate and promote Conservative (C) public policies.
• Hoover Institution. Conservative (C) think tank at Stanford specializing in economic policy and international affairs.
• National Bureau of Economic Research. Private, nonprofit, nonpartisan (N) organization dedicated to conducting economic research.
• Pew Research Center. Nonpartisan (N) institute conducting public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
• Public Citizen. Nonpartisan (N) consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest and works to protect our Health, Safety and Democracy.
• Public Policy Institute of California. Seeks to inform and improve public policy in California through independent nonpartisan (N) research.
• RAND Corporation.  Nonpartisan (N) research on security, health, education, sustainability, growth, and development for public & private grantors and clients.
• Resources for the Future. Independent nonpartisan (N) organization conducting economic policy research concerning natural resources and the environment.
• Russell Sage Foundation. Nonpartisan (N) organization that works on improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.

Related Videos & Articles

(click on the titles to open each article)

AOC Calls Out Political Corruption
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) challenged the House Oversight Committee to a “lightning round game,” shedding light on the US financial system and legalized political corruption.

The Brainwashing of My Dad

This Must-See documentary helps explain why Republican voters can support radical policies and vote against their own best interest. The film chronicles grandpa’s severe change of personality when he got hooked on conservative talk radio and Fox News. Surprising was how quickly grandpa returned to his friendly, fun-loving, and accepting self after his radio broke and grandma programmed their new TV without Fox on the favorites list. He started watching NPR, PBS, BBC News, and National Geographic instead.

The Corporation

This award-winning documentary helps us understand why so many big corporations, including hospitals, insurance companies, drug companies, testing companies, and medical supply companies, behave like a psychopath. If we’re to look at them as “persons,” as the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision suggests, then we might ask, what sort of persons are they?  This film presents a history of the modern corporation and how its operational principles and legal mandate to serve shareholders can give them an anti-social “personality.” But while corporations can mimic the human qualities of empathy, including caring and altruism, they don’t suffer from guilt and can’t be jailed. So they tend to use their wealth and political clout to avoid regulation and reform.

The Monopolization of America

In this 11 min video, Robert Reich describes a monopolization trend that is especially disturbing when combined with the sociopathic behavior of large corporations with a legal mandate to serve the investment interests of shareholders above all else.

Income Inequality, Healthcare and the Economy.

People have no real idea what inequality actually looks like. This big picture of income inequality shows how it leads to political inequality and threatens our democracy – with video infographic, documentary, debate, solutions, and related reference links.

Healthcare as Voter Suppression.

Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare are partially motivated by their racist hatred of Obama, our first black President, and partly due to their fear of losing political control amid changing demographics. CBO analysis says the Republican Sabotage of Our Health Care System has already added to the deficit and overall healthcare costs. And Harvard Medical School researchers have found a 25% higher risk of mortality for the uninsured compared with the insured, after adjusting for various factors. If we apply that mortality risk to CBO scoring of 32M people likely losing health insurance under Republican plans, the likely result would be 8M deaths. That’s over 100 times more than those killed in Vietnam, and 2,000 times more than killed by terrorists. But don’t worry; they’re mostly the low-income blacks and Hispanics who likely vote for Democrats (when they can vote at all). That leads me to describe Republican healthcare policies as Political Genocide, a cruel but effective form of voter suppression.

Survival of the richest: The wealthy are plotting to leave us behind.

I found this incredibly thought-provoking CNBC article to be an overlap of two disturbing trends with implications for healthcare and humanity: (1) the Exponentially Accelerating Pace of Tech Innovation, with concerns over how humans will be able to control and govern whatever technology brings us, AND (2) the Widening Wealth Gap, which worsens the corrupting influence of big money in politics.

What Billionaires Want: the Secret Influence of America’s 100 Richest

A new study reveals how the wealthy engage in Stealth Politics: quietly advancing unpopular, inequality-exacerbating, highly conservative policies