Affluenza

Affluenza

"I am confident I will prevail," Shkreli wrote on Twitter on Saturday. "The allegations against me are baseless and without merit."

- Reuters

⁹ But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁰ They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

¹¹ But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of those that speak lies shall be stopped.

- Psalm 63

By J.M. Hamilton (12-25-2015)

Ho, ho... ho...

Mental health professionals, psychiatrist and psychologist, have had a tough 2015.  From writing academic papers and studies that could not be replicated more than 50% of the time, to backing the CIA and the U.S. military in nefarious interrogation techniques and torture - 2015 was not a banner year for these so-called professionals.  It was 2013 when the Director of the National Mental Health Institute, Tom Insel, called attention to the fact that the DSM – the bible of the mental health community – was based upon pseudo-science.  The term “pseudo-science” is a stretch, when we consider that the DSM is reactive, and basically treats symptoms of alleged mental health abnormalities (defined based upon societal norms).  In short, the profession has a long ways to go before becoming a true science, and in understanding how the biology of the brain and the mind actually works.

That these quacks are listened to at all is simply amazing, and yet, there they are advising the DOD, the government, and the CIA.  Our courts too, particularly probate courts, are all too eager to accept pseudo-science practitioners’ counsel and advice.  Judges, particularly in child custody matters and juvenile crime cases, need a willing accomplice, or “professional,” to further support their decision making; and psychologist and psychiatrist all too often are willing to accept money to say just about anything.  After all, future work w/in our overflowing probate courts depends upon getting along and going along with the judge.

This appears to have been the case recently when a psychiatrist designated a young Texas man, who had murdered four people while driving intoxicated at three times the legal limit, as suffering from “affluenza.”  Seems that the ultra-wealthy Couch family hired a quack, I mean a doctor, to get their little mass-murderer (then a minor) out of an atrocity, and so said doctor invented – or borrowed – an alleged mental illness that is not even recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.  What exactly is “affluenza” my readers ask?  Well affluenza is the spin a mental health professional, presumably well paid by an affluent family, placed upon the little monster’s inability to show remorse, or responsibility for his actions, while committing liquor fueled vehicular manslaughter.

And the judge…. Well, judges are elected in the great state of Texas, and my guess is the Couch family, who sired the little demon, maybe – possibly – paid a nice contribution to the judge’s campaign coffers.  Of course, I have no evidence of this contribution, but I’ve been made to understand that is how Lone Star state justice all too often works.  The public’s and the victims' outrage over the judge’s decision to place Ethan Couch on probation, after the carnage, was considerable. 

Our corrupt and two-tiered justice system, a tier for the plutocracy and a tier for everyone else, at play - once again. 

Now if you are not wealthy, and can’t hire a shrink to stand up for you after taking four lives, the prosecution, and their psychiatrist, would likely call a lack of remorse something entirely different than affluenza.  The DSM-5 calls such behavior “anti-social personality behavior.”  And the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, or ICD, would likely classify Ethan as having a psychopathic or sociopathic personality disorder.  And now, Ethan has jumped probation and nobody in Tarrant County seems to know where Ethan and mother have fled too.   All anyone seems to know is that the family is loaded, and mommy and son have multiple means of egress available to them.

Ethan’s story provides a nice intro to today’s piece.  Affluenza, or in the less empathetic nomenclature, sociopathic and/or psychopathic behavior, seems wide spread among many members of the financial and political elite, who seem to exhibit no empathy or remorse when preying upon the 99%.

Last week we saw one Martin Shkreli, a Big Pharma super-villain, arrested on charges of allegedly defrauding investors.  Seems Mr. Shkreli ran a hedge fund (MSMB Capital), or possibly a Ponzi scheme, and when the bets went South, Mr. Shkreli, allegedly, helped himself to stocks at a publicly traded company, Retrophin, to pay back investors.  But that’s peanuts compared to the manner in which Mr. Shkreli rips off the 99% on a daily basis, by taking over pharmaceutical companies and then jacking up the price of drugs thousands of times over.   It appears that the shear rapacity of young Martin knows no bounds, or perhaps his defense team will tell us that Mr. Shkreli merely suffers from affluenza.  (In another case of affluenza, a coal baron, Mr. Blankenship, was convicted of killing 29 miners.  He now faces a one year sentence in prison for his mass-murder/misdemeanor conviction.  Mr. Blankenship was found innocent of the far greater crime – in the eyes of the law - of lying to his stockholders, which carried the possibility of a 30 year sentence.  A sociopath’s victory if there ever was one.  Once again, in terms of crime and punishment meted out, our elected leaders – who write criminal law and the resulting sentencing - have zero sense of proportion.)

Shkreli, of course, isn’t the only businessman within the Pharma industry that has adopted a predatory business model.  Valeant pharmaceutical, run by CEO/Chairman Mike Pearson, has been running around buying up drug companies, cutting staff, gutting R&D, and also jacking up the price of medicine.  We only have ourselves to blame for such behavior…. The U.S. is the only Western democracy that does not set caps on the price of medicine, which opens the door to predators, like Messrs. Shkreli and Pearson, et al. These psychopaths are costing the nation billions, and many citizens can no longer afford the medicine proscribed.  As a result some Americans will die early because a killer – ahem, Big Pharma CEO - wants to exploit a life saving drug that was priced at thirteen dollars and change, and increase the same drug to $750, per pill.  As a result, do these Pharma barons have any less blood on their hands, than Mr. Blankenship?  Arguably, they have far more… aided and abetted by the U.S. Congress.

It’s important to remember that Turing and Valeant create little or no new medicines or cures… they merely hand out pink slips to employees, prey upon Americans w/ outrageous drug price hikes, and enjoy the protection of the U.S. Congress to commit these atrocities.  And the U.S. Congress’ response:  Well, they’re studying the issue and have launched an investigation, which is shorthand for how long can the Congress keep the Big Pharma gravy train rolling, and will this situation eventually blow over, so that the public forgets this pharmaceutical rape?  Big Pharma, per Opensecrets.org, was the most generous industry in the country (between ’88 and ’15), having spent $3.2 billion on lobbying alone.  No wonder psychopaths, like Messrs. Shkreli and Pearson, roam freely among us.  Unlike the ordinary street thug, these gangsters have paid off our Congress handsomely for the right to holdup the vast majority of Americans and the taxpayer, and they do so daily.

Then again, rob one man and you’re a thug; rob millions of men and you're billionaire, who can buy off the U.S. Congress.

Another arch-villain, Big Oil, won a round last week, when Congress slipped a rider in the omnibus spending measure allowing this industry to ship America’s energy independence offshore.   Here too, per OpenSecrets, Big Oil has funneled at least a billion, and more, into lobbying the U.S. Congress, particularly the GOP, which apparently gives them the perennial ability to destroy and poison the planet.  Exporting U.S. energy independence offshore will surely mean that, when oil prices do recover, Americans will pay a premium for gas and oil products (which will mean a hit to the economy); and it also means that the U.S. will likely stay involved in Middle East affairs for decades to come to protect the international oil market, a boon for the military & intelligence industrial complex and multinational oil companies operating in the region.  Which helps explain why the GOP, and arguably Hillary, are salivating at the prospect of yet another Middle East war in Syria.   Disrupt the Middle East oil supply chain, and Big Oil stands to profit mightily, as does the MIC.  Now that Big Oil can ship America’s resources offshore, my guess is the U.S. will, possibly, be involved in yet another Middle East ground war, probably w/in the next 24 to 36 months.  Big Oil and the MIC maybe counting on it, and the Clintons know how to deliver for their customers.

The campaign for yet another war has already been underway for some time:  our corporate run news media, the MIC, and the U.S. war lobby – the GOP - sell war daily.  And many American voters, well – they’re buying fear and seemingly, the war to come.

All kinds of businesses, and government officials appear to be suffering from affluenza, and it’s surely not limited to Big Pharma and Big Oil.  Mrs. Clinton is another case in point.  In her quest for the holy grail of power, the U.S. presidency, seemingly nothing will stand in her way, particularly the truth.  It’s simply amazing, a recent opinion poll indicated that the majority of Americans don’t trust Mrs. Clinton to tell the truth.  Pathological lying - a symptom of sociopathic tendencies – seemingly, and in many instances, appears to be a prerequisite for American leadership positions, both in and out of government.  Mrs. Clinton recently went on record as stating she was unaware of any campaign contributions arriving from Big Oil.  And yet, how could she not know that Exxon was, up until recently, a Clinton Foundation contributor?  Clinton campaign contributor or Clinton Foundation contributor…. “tomayto or tomahto”… it’s all the same.  Contributors expect access and payback for their investment in Clinton, Inc.  Mrs. Clinton’s behavior, and disavowals to the contrary, it all adds up to what many Americans already recognize:  That is, more than likely, our next U.S. President appears to have a near pathological tendency to stretch the truth, again and again. 

Double dealing, saying one thing and doing another, trash talking an industry and accepting contributions from them:  Welcome to Clintonland 13.0?  Does anybody truly know what we’ll get if Mrs. Clinton becomes president?

Apparently, the truth is not important.  What is important is that she deliver the goods, and contracts, and help maintain the status quo for wealthy donors and Clinton Foundation contributors.  Mrs. Clinton, as Secretary of State, had a proven track record of helping those least in need.  Who in their right mind believes for a second that Mrs. Clinton will be an agent for change, or for good for that matter?

And yet seemingly, the coronation proceeds.

And the bold and the honest, well – they’re not fairing too well.  Senator Paul, who had the audacity to tell the American public that the U.S. is bankrupt and can’t lead world foreign policy from a bankruptcy court, is near the bottom of the GOP pack.  Senator Sanders, the other candidate with a fondness for the truth, has done quite well, despite the Clinton owned DNC throwing up road block after road block against the senator.  If the DNC isn’t limiting the number of televised debates, or positioning them when the public is least likely to watch, democratic party brass are attempting to cut off Mr. Sanders’ access to his constituency database and campaign contributions.

Nice.  (Seems that the Clintons are willing to do just about anything to obtain power, and unfortunately for Americans that makes them an easy mark.  Asked to name her key achievements as Secretary of State, both Mrs. Clinton and the State Department were at a loss for words.  Now how often has anybody seen a Clinton at a loss for words?)

Mr. Sanders has nailed the critical economic issues of our time, and Warren-like recommends the re-implementation of Glass-Steagall, which would disrupt and smash the Wall Street cartel …. a key Clinton campaign contributor.  No wonder Mrs. Clinton has no break up plans.

Our national economy is dominated by cartels and monopolies, and Americans can’t participate in our economy, or buy a product or service, without running into a combination or robber baron.  It’s the issue of our times:  M&A, fueled by the Fed’s easy money policies, is killing jobs, opportunity, the tax base, aggregate demand, and the American dream.  Wage and wealth inequality grow greater, while wages stagnate and jobs flee offshore in a fugue of globalization and M&A pink slips.  And this process of consolidation builds upon itself, grows ever stronger, and is self-reinforcing… M&A was at a fever pitch in 2015 (a peak last seen right before the 2008 Crash).  Fewer jobs as a result of M&A leads to less aggregate demand, and this in turn leads CEOs to resort to additional financial engineering, layoffs, and M&A to goose earnings per share, and management bonuses and pay.  Moreover, M&A, monopolies and cartels tax citizens’ wages with monopolistic profits, so that suppressed, depressed and stagnating wages are crippled by monopolistic taxation w/out representation.  No wonder the Fed is backing off their easy money policies, those policies have financed an impenetrable oligarchy’s formation, and are killing capitalism in the process.

Want to cure the U.S. economy and unlock America’s greatness again…. That’s easy, go full Teddy Roosevelt on American multinationals, and break up cartels and monopolies.  Not only would this return America to her former glory, but it would save capitalism from itself.  For just as M&A and combination are used to cut cost/labor, the inverse of M&A (i.e. cartel and monopoly breakup) will add jobs and opportunity.  As for the executive and management class, don’t worry about them - they’ll always find a way to make boat loads of money.

The solution is obvious, and yet, outside of Mr. Sanders, there’s not a single candidate who’s willing to take on the Neo-gilded Age’s major cartel, Wall Street banks.  Mr. Paul does come in second, as a true fiscal conservative, when he talks about putting the brakes on the war lobby, jingoism, and hence, the MIC.  Otherwise, the GOP has fallen all over themselves to avoid such topics, and particularly wage and wealth inequality, and instead plays the fear card with a little help from their friends, the corporate run news media.

Affluenza is ubiquitous, and in particular - appears to be running rampant among the billionaire class and the politicians they own.   Ah to hell with it… let’s throw decorum to the wind, and call some of the elite what they truly are:  taxpayer funded welfare addicts, and crony government junkies, with psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies.  But if you are looking for a mental health care professional to make that diagnosis, they are likely to call it affluenza, as they are suffering from their own set of credibility issues at the present and must pander to their masters.

A very happy holidays to my readers, and JMH looks forward to writing about economics and politics in 2016 and beyond.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015

An Ocean of Blood…

An Ocean of Blood…

“It’s easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”

-       de Toqueville

“If you need proof that Congress is a hostage to the gun lobby, look no further than today’s vote.”

-       Senator Dianne Feinstein

By J.M. Hamilton (12-10-15)

Americans are swimming in an ocean of blood, and have become so numb to the number of mass shootings that they are literally treading blood w/out realizing it.  Per The Guardian, since the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown CT, and as of 12-3-2015, there has been 1,052 mass shooting in these United States.  And to hammer the point, in the majority of instances these attacks are domestic - home grown - terrorist events, carried out predominantly by white American males.  No other Western democracy suffers from this self-made pandemic, like the United States.  JMH writes “self-made” because we have the means within our grasp to control, contain, and mitigate this pandemic of slaughter.

Moreover, Americans – despite spending billions annually on the police and surveillance state, and seeing the Constitution shredded in the process – are not anymore safe from domestic terrorism/mass shootings.

Before we jump to the root cause and the solution for this pandemic, however, several macabre statistics:

$$$ For every one hundred Americans, there are one hundred and sixteen guns in circulation. 

$$$ Factoring in that 68% of the U.S. population doesn’t own guns, this means that the 32% of the population that does own guns are, in some instances, more than tripling-down on gun ownership, according to a University of Chicago study.

$$$ One could argue, given the recent spike in gun sales this Black Friday, and since, that gun ownership for some has become a fetish.  Indeed, some are probably curling up with their .357 on Friday nights.

$$$ Americans own 50% of all guns on the planet, per CNN.

$$$ Mass shootings, defined by the FBI as four or more individuals being shot during the same event, are now so common that many events no longer make the local newscast.

$$$ Since the Sandy Hook massacre (where 20 children were mowed down, not including adults, by a deranged psychopath), the U.S. has on average one mass shooting per day; and no week has gone by w/out a mass shooting, since President Obama entered office.

$$$ The guns of choice by the mass murder community: semi-automatic handguns, followed by assault rifles.

And who do we blame for the mayhem and the slaughter….?  That’s easy, we should correctly blame gun manufacturers, gun manufacturers’ advocacy groups - like the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the politicians who are owned by the manufacturers and their lobbying arm (that is to say, the GOP and some Dems).

Now Republicans, like sock puppets, are quick to tell us that guns don’t kill people, but rather, people kill people.  But the adroit response to that is guns are a tool, a killing tool.  And the efficacy of a gun as a killing tool, versus a knife or a man or woman’s bare hands, is incomparable.  As I wrote this piece last Saturday, Reuters reported that a would-be Jihadi attacked an older man with a knife in an East London train station.  Three individuals were injured by that knife, with no fatalities.  Terrible.  Now compare these injuries in London, England, which deploys tough gun control laws, to the shooting rampage that recently occurred San Bernardino, CA - USA, with relatively highly loose gun laws (vis a vis London)?

Quite simply, the comparison is obvious, and this comparison easily demonstrates why guns are key in the mayhem and destruction they create.

The GOP’s behavior or fanaticism, in regards their advocacy for gun manufacturers, has become so psychotic and questionable that they recently slammed legislation that would have disallowed suspected U.S. terrorist on the no-fly list from gun ownership.  The GOP, which has not historically questioned the no-fly list, suddenly finds the list to be an issue, when it comes to restricting gun ownership.

Yes, you read that the correctly.  The GOP, which is forever banging the fear gong over Islamic terrorist infiltration, supports gun ownership by suspected U.S. terrorist.

So what’s the solution?  Nothing revolutionary here, JMH would argue for a sensible two-pronged approach.   First, adopt a gun buyback program, not unlike that utilized in Australia, which removed 20% of that nation’s guns from circulation.  The effect of which in Australia is unquestioned, in mitigating and driving down the number of mass shootings.  Here in the States a person could turn in a gun w/out question, in regards ownership or licensing, and receive a receipt from the local gendarmes; this receipt could in turn be utilized at tax time as a tax deduction, or refunded by the government for cash.  How to finance such a scheme?  That’s easy, place an assessment or tax on all future gun sales to pay for this program.

And prong two?  That would be tort reform of an entirely different nature, than what the U.S. has seen over the last several decades.  During that time, the legal interests of business and business owners have triumphed over the legal interests of consumers, labor, and third party victims in tort reform initiatives.  We can see this in SCOTUS ruling(s) that slowly but surely eroded the ability to bring class action law suits.  Globally, we have seen Big Business lobby for, and insert within free trade agreements (e.g. TPP), extra judicial courts designed to support multinational enterprises, guarantee profits, and fight a sovereign nation’s ability to regulate business and strengthen environmental/safety regulation.  Gun manufacturers are no different in their assault upon the rule of law.  They have rigged our courts and laws not only for positive outcomes, but achieved the ability to cut off litigation against their products, in many circumstances.

Here, think of the PLCAA, which provides sizable legal liability loopholes for gun manufacturers and gun dealers.

Why is holding gun manufacturers accountable absolutely critical to any real gun reform in this country?  Well, that’s easy… as usual, follow the money.  With gun manufacturers being held liable for their product, like nearly every other business within the Unites States, the gun manufacturers themselves will be very quick to drive gun control legislation.  Gun manufacturers’ bottom lines, and their ability to operate as going concerns, will require strong gun control laws.  With the repeal of PLCAA, some states might even want to consider strict liability laws for gun products.

What this means, dear readers, is:  That by holding gun manufacturers accountable and liable for their products, these same manufacturers will have to build foreseen litigation costs, and future awards, into the price of their product.  Which alone, should put a crimp on gun sales.

Presently, thanks largely to the GOP, the medical, public, and social costs of gun ownership – and mass killings – are picked up by the American public, instead of gun owners and gun manufacturers.  Very much like the social costs generated by Big Tobacco were carried by the American public and the taxpayer for decades.

Like Big Tobacco, and now Big Oil, the gun industry is a commercial enterprise that needs to be held to account for the social costs they generate.  Utilizing Wall Street banks as yet another example, “social costs” are defined as the price to produce a good or service, such as swaps and derivatives, plus the “external cost,” the subsequent bailout of the banking industry and the damage to the global economy.  When private plus external costs are greater than the selling price of the good or service, the deficit is picked up by society or the taxpayer and is a “social cost.”  See also Big Carbon, climate change, the destruction of the planet, and the lack of a carbon tax.

The firearms industry is yet another classic example of a large business group privatizing the profits of their product, while leaving Americans and taxpayers to pick up the social costs and mop up the subsequent blood bath.  That is to say, socialism of the very worst kind: socialism for the plutocracy – socialism for gun manufacturers.

In this instance, the gun industries’ social costs are a pandemic of killing, maimed bodies, suicides, and orphaned children (and all the irreparable harm that ensues).  That is, gun manufacturers, and their lobbying arm’s behavior – the NRA and the GOP – are obscene. 

Photo via Progreso Weekly

One possible out for gun manufacturers, and yet another prohibitive check against gun ownership, is making sure that all gun owners carry liability insurance as a precondition to buying and owning a gun (these policies would have minimum limits of say a million dollars, in proportion to the potential bodily injury guns can inflict).  Subject to state regulation and review, the gun manufacturers and dealers might be added as additional insureds upon the gun owners’ policies.  The only issue here is most insurance companies will not cover criminal acts, illegal acts, or acts of terrorism. 

All of which could hasten the drive by gun manufacturers to push for: tighter back ground checks; a three day cooling off period; the prohibition of guns sales to folks on federal terror tracking lists, as well as, known violent criminal offenders & terrorist; ceasing to sell assault rifles & semi-automatics; and an annual mental health assessment for all gun owners.  (If citizens have to pass a test to drive a car, than gun owners should be examined by a doctor, preferably annually.)

If you want anything done in America, given the egregious state of our democracy, one has to go to the money source.  In this instance, effective gun control legislation and reform will, ultimately, be led by American gun manufacturers.  The sooner Americans hold gun manufacturers liable for their products, the sooner effective gun control legislation will go into place. 

As it stands now, gun manufacturers have zero responsibility for the tsunami of blood, and the pandemic, they have unleashed.

This industry is ripe for a correction.

P.S.  Full disclosure:  Some members of my family own guns, and a smaller number own an obscene amount of guns.  This editorial should make for interesting holiday conversation.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015