Pamela Williams jarred me from my complacent dream with her piece: https://www.bebee.com/producer/@pamela-williams/two-means-to-an-end-an-opinion-piece.
I’ve tried to ignore what I’ve considered to be an evolutionary backslide for quite a while. I hunker down in my dream and hope events will bypass me, but I know in my heart they won’t.
I’m embarking on a journey of relying on a system that might not be in place for much longer. I’m going from feeling fiercely independent to dependency. I will be applying for the dreaded Medicaid soon. I see that going the way of the dinosaurs if the new ACA gets passed.
The ScyFy channel recently promoted a series by the name of Incorporated. It is the world where Governments no longer exist, and Corporations run the world. In it, people no longer scream for living wages; they scream for survival. The have-nots are grateful for jobs cleaning the Haves’ houses and toilets. The have-nots become the discarded. The Haves desperately hold on to Corporate jobs, undergoing loyalty tests, and screenings to ensure they do not leave their corporate buildings with trade secrets. The punishment for transgressions is exile to the Red Zone, where people struggle to eek out survival.
Pretty women from the Red Zone are enticed into a world of prostitution for denizens of the Green Zone. They are meat on a slab. They gratefully lie own and use their bodies as currency and as a way to save loved ones.
Incorporated is not as far-fetched as it seems. We recently escaped the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), where what was supposed to be a trade partnership evolved into corporate giveaways to the tune of 87%. Such an agreement fulminated a bypass of our courts, creating tribunals staffed by corporate loyalists to decide disagreements. It was negotiated in secret for six years by the US Government. Canada passed its own secret deal called CETA, capturing all of Europe. The TPP captured much of the rest of the world.
If I recall correctly, my reading of the TPP set criteria for pricing strategies that would be endured by those of us currently living in the not-so-imaginary Red Zone. Say, Colorado passed a law against fracking; corporations could take their case to the tribunals, suing the State for lost profits, and probably winning. People be damned.
Prescription drug prices were negotiated to be set and approved by drug companies. Prices already so far out of reach for many would remain so. The dangers of TPP drug policies are discussed somewhat here, and here.
Consolidation of wealth is inevitable now. Five men now own half of the world. It’s as if the top is sucking from the bottom. As we grovel along creating wealth for those too greedy to share it, we peter out and die from exhaustion and disease.
TPP is gone for the US now, but other countries signed on to it. It would be ludicrous to think corporations will give up their quest for total control of our lives—and deaths.
About the Author: Joyce Bowen is a freelance writer and public speaker. Inquiries can be made at [email protected]
Sobre el autor: Joyce Bowen es un escritor independiente y orador público. Las consultas pueden hacerse en [email protected]
Copyright 2017 Joyce Bowen
https://joycebowen.wordpress.com/
https://medium.com/@joycebowen
Originally published at www.bebee.com