Title: Corporate%20Control%20of%20Public%20Health:%20Case%20Studies%20and%20Call%20to%20Action
1Corporate Control of Public HealthCase Studies
and Call to Action
2Am I Stoned?
- A 1999 Utah anti-drug pamphlet warns
- Danger signs that your child may be smoking
marijuana include excessive preoccupation with
social causes, race relations, and environmental
issues
3Corporations Dominate the Global Economy
- Almost 6 million corporations
- 90 of transnational corporations headquartered
in Northern Hemisphere - 500 companies control 70 of world trade
4Corporations Dominate the Global Economy
- 53 of the worlds 100 largest economies are
private corporations 47 are countries - Wal-Mart is larger than Israel and Greece
5The Stock Market
- The top 1 of Americans owns 35 of all stocks,
bonds, and mutual fund assets - Consequences of Differential Stock Ownership
- Corporations are answerable to their shareholders
- Governments are answerable (at least in theory)
to their citizens (either through elections or
revolutions)
6Corporations
- Internalize profits
- 2.1 trillion (2013)
- Externalize health and environmental costs
7Corporate Taxation
- Corporations shouldered over 30 of the nations
tax burden in 1950 vs. 8 today - Nearly 1/3 of all large U.S. corporations pay no
annual tax
8Corporate Taxation
- Big business claims that U.S. corporations pay
the highest corporate taxes in the world (35) - FALSE The rate actually paid, after foreign
governments get their cuts, money sent to foreign
subsidiaries, loopholes, etc. 2.3 (U.S.
Treasury Department)
9Reasons for Inadequate Corporate Taxation
- Corporate tax breaks/loopholes
- Corporate welfare
- Cheating and under-payment common
- Offshore tax havens shelter capital
10Ugland House, Cayman Islands18,000 Corporations
Registered Here
11Job Creators?
12Corporate Taxation
- 2004 Bush administration offered temporary tax
holiday on foreign earnings - 300 billion in profit repatriated
- 92 went to dividend payouts, stock buybacks, and
corporate coffers - Only 8 went to R and D, new factories, and hiring
13Exorbitant CEO Pay
- The average CEO makes 373X the salary of the
average U.S. worker (1960 - 41X) - Mexico 451
- Britain 251
- Japan 101
- US Military 201 (top rank lowest rank)
- US ratio of average CEO to minimum wage worker
7741
14Exorbitant CEO Pay
- Median U.S. CEO salary (for S and P 500
corporations) 11.7 million (2014) - CEO salaries up 997 since 1978
- Average worker pay up 11
15Exorbitant CEO Pay
- The average CEO makes 250-400X the salary of the
average U.S. worker (1960 - 41X) - Mexico 451
- Britain 251
- Japan 101
- US Military 201 (top rank lowest rank)
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17The Mega-Rich
- Worried / Investing in personal security
- Bodyguards
- Armored cars
- Bullet-proof windows machine gun proof doors
- Home security fogs
- Panic rooms
- Fully-stocked home medical suites
- Yachts with escape submarines
- Islands
18Minimum Wage ? Living Wage
- Federal minimum wage 7.25/hr
- 18 states and DC have higher minimum wages
(Oregon 9.10/hr, 2014) - 10,423/yr for full-time job
- Real value down 42 compared with 1968
- Inadequate to pay rent, buy food and clothing
19Minimum Wage ? Living Wage
- Increasing to 9.25/hr on Jan 1, 2015
- Movements supporting 15/hr (still inadequate)
- Over ½ of nations basic public assistance funds
go to working families (substitute for benefits,
therefore, taxes support corporations)
20SolutionsLiving Wage
- Over 140 municipalities have adopted living wage
laws - Including NY, LA, SFO, Seattle, Chicago, and
Philadelphia - 15 states now have minimum wages that exceed the
federal requirement - 10 states have passed pre-emptive laws forbidding
cities and counties from raising the minimum wage
21Corporate PR Tactics
- Advertising
- The art of convincing people to spend money they
don't have for something they don't need. (Will
Rogers) - Astroturf - artificially-created grassroots
coalitions - Corporate front groups
- Corporate espionage spying, bribes
22Corporate PR tactics
- Invoke poor people as beneficiaries
- Characterize opposition as technophobic,
anti-science, and against progress - Portray their products as environmentally
beneficial despite evidence to the contrary - Host all-expense paid educational seminars for
federal judges
23Public Relations
- 200 billion industry
- PR flacks now outnumber journalists
24Greenwash
- Public relations / ad campaigns
- BP invests 100 million annually in clean energy
amt. it spends annually to market itself as
moving Beyond Petroleum
25Sponsored Environmental Education Materials
(Examples)
- International Paper
- -Clearcutting promotes growth of trees that
require full sunlight and allows efficient site
preparation for the next crop - Exxons Energy Cube
- -Gasoline is simply solar power hidden in
decayed matter - -Offshore drilling creates reefs for fish
26Sponsored Environmental Education Materials
(Examples)
- American Coal Foundations Power from Coal
- The earth could benefit rather than be harmed
from increased carbon dioxide.
27Academics/Professional Organizations Affected
- Increasing corporatization of academia
- For-profit schools
- Charter schools
- Educational corporations
28Academics/Professional Organizations Affected
- ?Private commercial funding of university
research - Front-end domination and rear-end repression
affect research agenda, dissemination of
knowledge - Undone science
- Secrecy/gag clauses
- Corporate-sponsored harassment of scientists
29Academics/Professional Organizations Affected
- For-profit colleges growing, marked by
corruption, high interest rates on loans to the
un- and under-qualified - Benefit largely from taxpayer money
- Dramatic decrease in tenured faculty, rise in
administrators - Gagging of researchers at federal agencies
demoralizing, can affect recruitment of quality
scientists
30Union of Concerned Scientists (2015)
31The Media
- 5 corporations control majority of US media (down
from 50 in 1983) - Extensive corporate-media links
32Global Warming Controversial?
- Of 928 articles in peer-reviewed scientific
journals, none were in doubt as to the existence
or cause of global warming - Of 636 articles in the popular press (NY Times,
Washington Post, LA Times, WSJ), 53 expressed
doubt as to the existence (and primary cause) of
global warming - Science 20043061686-7
- (Study covers 1993-2003)
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34Lobbying
- Approximately 40,000 lobbyists (11,781 full-time)
- Estimates of return on lobbying range from 28 to
212 for every 1 spent (higher values more
likely) - Return on campaign contributions for elections
for the most politically active companies 760
per 1 spent
35Lobbying
- Federal lobbying groups spent 3.2 billion in
2014 - All single issue ideological groups combined
(e.g., pro-choice, anti-abortion, feminist and
consumer organizations, senior citizens, etc.)
spent well under 100 million
36Top-Spending Industries, 2014
- Pharmaceutical industry - 230 million
- Business Associations - 163 million
- Insurance industry - 151 million
- Oil and gas industry - 141 million
- Computers/Internet - 140 million
- Electric utilities - 122 million
37Campaign Cash and Lobbying
- Citizens United
- McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission
- Lobbying promotes international
non-cooperation/isolationism
38 39- The alliance between GE Medical Systems and
NY-Presbyterian Hospital
40General Electric
- Ranked by Forbes as worlds largest company
(based on equal weighting of sales, profits,
assets, and market value) - 2014 revenues of 149 billion
- Close to the GDP of more than 2/3 of U.N. member
states - 2014 net after-tax profits of 15.2 billion
- Majority from overseas operations
41General Electric
- Makes household appliances, lighting, and medical
equipment - Plastics division, which produced bisphenol A,
spun off in 2008 - Produces jet engines and military hardware
42General Electric
- Charles Wilson (CEO of GE pre- and post-WW II
helped oversee U.S. military production during WW
II) - The revulsion against warwill be an almost
insuperable obstacle for us to overcome. For that
reason, I am convinced that we must begin now to
set the machinery in motion for a permanent
wartime economy.
43General Electric
- Has built 91 nuclear power plants in 11 countries
(including the troubled Fukushima Daishi plants
in Japan) - Including 23 plants at 11 sites in U.S.
- e.g., Hanford
- ¼ of GEs US reactors found to be defective
44General Electric
- Operates coal-burning power plants
- Major releasers of toxic mercury
- Produces nearly 40 technologies used in fracking
- Increasing investments in fracking
45General Electric
- Operates a large financial services group
- Responsible for over 50 of companys profits in
recent years - 2015 company plans to sell off majority of GE
Capital (now Syncrhony Financial) over next 2
years - Under investigation by the Justice Department for
over potential bankruptcy violations
46General Electric
- Until recently, owned 49 of a multi-billion
dollar media empire - Including NBC, Telemundo, and Universal Studios
- Comcast owned 51 bought out GE in 2013
47GEs History
- Conducted unethical human subject experiments on
prisoners, involving testicular irradiation, from
1940s to 1960s - Intentionally-released excessive radiation from
its Hanford, WA nuclear reactor in the 1980s, to
determine how far it would travel
48GEs Record
- Sued radiologist who brought to light dangers of
GEs contrast agent, Omniscan - Causes nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (FDA black
box warning) - Ordered to pay 11.4 million to Bracco
Diagnositcs for falsely/misleadingly claiming
that its x-ray contrast agent Visipaque was
superior to BDs Isovue
49GEs Record
- Americas largest corporate polluter
- 116 Superfund sites nationwide
- Approximately 13 in NY
50GEs Record
- Between 1947 and 1977, two of its capacitor
manufacturing plants dumped at least 1.3 million
pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River - Probable human carcinogens with adverse effects
on liver, kidney, nervous system, and
reproductive organs (EPA) - 200 mi of Hudson Superfund site
51GEs Record
- Eliminated 34,000 US jobs between 2000 and 2010
- Added 25,000 overseas jobs over same period
- One of nations top out-sourcers of jobs
52GEs Record
- Cited by Human Rights Watch for systematic
workers rights violations in the U.S. and
abroad - Extensive record of tax violations, military
procurement fraud
53GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt
- 2014 total compensation 37.2 million (up from
25.8 million in 2013) - Named Worlds Best CEO in 3 separate Barrons
polls - 2006 - 2011 - On Board of NY Federal Reserve Bank
54GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt
- 2008 Named one of the 100 Most Influential
People in the World by TIME Magazine - 2009 - Appointed by President Obama to his
Economic Recovery Board - GE then became eligible, via a loophole, for ¼ of
the 340 billion Temporary Liquidity Guarantee
Program (debt support)
55GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt
- 2011 - Appointed by Obama as Chair of his outside
panel of Economic Advisors and of his Council on
Jobs and Competitiveness - On the board of directors of The Robin Hood
Foundation!
56GEs Record
- Named Americas Most Admired Company by Forbes
- Named one of the Worlds Most Respected
Companies in polls conducted by Barrons and The
Financial Times
57Concerns About the Agreement between GE Medical
Systems and NY-Presbyterian Hospital (2003)
- Provides GE with financial incentives to promote
high technology purchases - Hospital prohibited from purchasing more
effective equipment from other companies
58Concerns About the Agreement
- Augments trend in academic medical centers to
promote the use of expensive, high-technology
care at expense of preventive care and public
health measures - Highly reimbursable
- Services may be redundant in certain locations
59Concerns About the Agreement
- Patients with developmental anomalies and cancers
caused by GEs pollution diagnosed with GE
scanners and treated with GE-manufactured
therapeutic devices, increasing GEs profit
60-
- A macabre twist on cradle to grave care
61The American Council on Science and Health
- Corporate Front Group
- Promulgates unsound science
- Pro-corporate agenda
- Major media presence
- Medical director spent time in federal prison for
Medicaid fraud, perjury, and obstruction of
justice - Threatened to sue me, Medscape over allegations
in article on global warming
62WHO Tobacco Treaty
- U.S. attempted to undermine treaty through Bush
administration appointees with strong ties to
tobacco industry
63Medical Technologies Industry
- Successful lobbying effort against Medicare
physician payment policies relevant to unproven
imaging studies - Whole body CT scans (scams)
64Drug Testing
- 2011 Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) issues
executive order requiring drug tests on current
state workers and new applicants - 2011 Scott signs bill requiring drug tests for
TANF program - positive test allows parent to choose another
individual to receive benefits on behalf of
children - Aid recipients responsible for cost of tests
65Drug Testing
- Florida Governor Rick Scott
- Former CEO of Columbia/HCA
- Fired after presiding over massive Medicare fraud
that cost corporation 1.7 billion federal fine - Then set up Solantic (FL chain of emergency care
clinics) transferred ownership to his wife upon
entering statehouse - Solantic is in the drug-testing business!
66Corporate Agribusiness
- Successful campaign against Oregons Proposition
27 (labeling of GM foods) - Lobbying for pre-emptive labeling laws re GMOs,
rBGH
67Corporate Agribusiness
- Supports spread of GMOs to developing world
- Keeps GM seeds from non-corporate academic
researchers - Promoting agriculture bills which provide large
subsidies to large industrial farms
68Prison-Industrial Complex
- Construction and management of prisons
- Providing (substandard) health care to inmates
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71Health Insurance Industry
- Dubious practices
- Delisting
- Cherry picking
- Pre-existing conditions
- Limiting coverage of medications for high cost
illnesses - Often lower quality of care
- High administrative costs
- 15-30 (vs. 2-3 for Medicare and Medicaid)
72Health Insurance Industry
- Large profit margins
- Loyalty shareholders (not patients)
- Corruption
73Medical Care
- Sponsor luxury care consortiums, clinics
- Facilitate medical tourism
- Participation in medical transfer market
(facilitates medical repatriations of
undocumented immigrants - e.g., MexCare)
74Corporate Agreements with Medical Associations
- AAP Abbott Nutrition (manufacturers of Similac)
- AAP Babies R Us
- AAFP Coca Cola, Inc.
- AMA Sunbeam
- AMA sells access to Physician Masterfile
75Pharmaceutical Industry
- Only 10 of new drugs treat life-threatening
conditions - 90 of new drugs little or no better than
pre-existing agents (or cause harm) - Thus only 1 of new drugs life-saving
76Pharmaceutical Industry
- Pay-for-delay costs consumers and taxpayers 3.5
billion in additional drug costs/yr - Over 40,000 drug-related deaths not reported to
FDA, as required, over last decade
77Drug Companies Cost Structure
- Manufacturing 35
- Marketing 27
- Profits (after taxes) 18
- R and D 13
- Taxes 7
78Pharmaceutical Industry
- Influence over physicians through control of CME,
gifts, research funding - Over 3.7 billion to at about 366,000 physicians
and 900 teaching hospitals in 2014 (excluding
research funding) - Physician Payments Sunshine Act reporting
requirements
79Pharmaceutical Industry
- Conduct seeding trials to alter prescribing
patterns - Secrecy, statistical torturing of data sets,
selective publication - Data mining of prescribing practices
- Unethical trials in developing world
- Poor compliance with Clinical Trials Registry
rules
80Drug Company Malfeasance
- The pharmaceutical industry is the biggest
defrauder of the federal government, as
determined by payments made for violations of the
federal False Claims Act (FCA) - Accounted for 25 of all FCA payouts between 2000
and 2010 - Defense industry 11
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82Pharmaceutical Industry
- Avoided 7 billion in US taxes in 2012 by
shifting profits overseas - 230 million dollars spent on lobbying in 2014
- 2.3 lobbyisits for every member of Congress
- Revolving door between legislators, lobbyists,
executives and government officials
83Pharmaceutical Industry
- Effectively lobbied and threatened trade
sanctions against developing countries in order
to prevent production and importation of much
cheaper, generic versions of life-saving
anti-AIDS drugs - Patent extensions
- Promotion of agricultural antibiotic overuse
84PPACAPatient Protection and Affordability Care
Act
- Career arc of Elizabeth Fowler (architect of
plan) - VP for Public Policy and External Affairs
(informal lobbying) at WellPoint (nations
largest insurer) - Chief health policy counsel to Senator Max Baucus
(who drafted legislation) - Head of Global Health Policy at pharmaceutical
giant Johnson and Johnson
85Other Areas of Corporate Malfeasance
- Military-industrial complex
- Energy and chemicals industry
- Law enforcement/prison-industrial complex
- Payday loan industry
- Genetically-modified crops/biopharming
- Breast milk substitutes
86Solutions
- Restructure tax system
- Improve regulation of banks (e.g., enforce Dodd
Frank law) - Punish corporate scofflaws with large fines and
jail time - Hide no Harm Act (pending in Senate) would hold
corporate officers criminally accountable if they
knowingly concealed serious dangers that led to
consumer or worker deaths or injuries
87Solutions
- Increase enforcement budgets to combat corporate
crime - Eliminate confidential legal settlements and
confidential business information relevant to
public health and safety - Eliminate mandatory binding arbitration clauses
88Solutions
- Living wage laws
- Work with corporations
- Benefit corporations
- Healthy PR
- Shareholder activism
- Risks/benefits
89Solutions Fair, Representative Elections
- Publicly financed campaigns and campaign finance
reform - Open debates, free air time for candidates
- Proportional representation
- Instant runoff voting/cumulative voting/range
(rating) voting - Halt disenfranchisement, overturn voter
restriction laws
90Solutions Vote
- US voter turnout low
- Wealthy vote at almost twice rate of poor
- Whites gt Blacks gt Hispanics
- Old gt Young
- Property owners gt Renters
- Physicians lt general population
91Voter Turnout
92Solutions
- Activism / Letter writing / Protesting /
Whistleblowing - Join community groups become involved in local
as well as national issues - Lobby legislators
- Run for office
93Solutions
- Increase funding of public education
- Independent scientific review of school curricula
- Prohibit use of sponsored curricula
94Solutions
- Establish safeguards re corporate involvement in
academic research - Higher standards of journalism
- Support alternative media
95Solutions
- Augment and improve international aid package
- Sign, ratify, and adhere to major international
treaties
96Solutions
- Based on Precautionary Principle
- Recognize natures net worth
- Calculate prosperity based on Genuine Progress
Index or Global Happiness Index, rather than
Gross Domestic Product
97- All men are created equal
- Declaration of Independence
- Some people are more equal than others
- George Orwell
98Voltaire
- The comfort of the rich rests upon an abundance
of the poor
99Hudson River, 2009
100Primo Levi
- A country is considered the more civilized the
more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder
a weak man from becoming too weak or a powerful
one too powerful.
101Günter Grass
-
- The first job of a citizen is to keep your mouth
open.
102African Proverb
- If you think you are too small to have an
impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in your
tent
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104Contact Information and References
- Public Health and Social Justice Website
- http//www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org
- http//www.phsj.org
- martindonohoe_at_phsj.org