Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 08:56:42 JST Erin Conroy

   "US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [?] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart…grown & grown, but [h]as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [?] have simply gotten too powerful, & they continue to abuse our country for immense profit…many have illuminated the corruption & greed…not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games”
   https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/luigis-manifesto

   • Kim Scheinberg, Paul Cantrell and Joachim repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 08:56:30 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     It deserves emphasis that the writer of the manifesto was raised in a wealthy family whose Italian immigrant founder (his grandfather) made his fortune off of managed care facilities, then real estate, country clubs, & conservative radio. His sister is a doctor. Their family has an obstetrics wing in a Baltimore hospital named after them, because they've given so much $. He volunteered at his family's nursing home. He's familiar with this business. His cousin headed Trump's MD election fund.

   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 12:26:03 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     The other thing that deserves emphasis - though I don't know whether the manifesto writer was aware or not - is that the #UnitedHealth CEO was being investigated by the FBI both for UHC monopoly/antitrust violations, & his own apparent stock market fraud/insider trading in response to that FBI probe. Personal profit.

     $102m in offloaded stock by UHC c-suite when such trades ought to have been frozen.

     https://www.crainsnewyork.com/health-care/unitedhealth-chair-execs-sold-102m-stock-doj-probe-became-public

     Paul Cantrell repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 12:26:04 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     From NYT piece this morning: "The family also owned the radio station WCBM, which airs politically conservative programs…cousin, Nino Mangione, is a [GOP politician & chaired Trump election fund]…

     “It is just such a… prominent family within Baltimore County,”

     …high school at the prestigious Gilman School in Baltimore…valedictorian of his graduating class…

     particularly smart — perhaps the smartest [at Gilman] social, friendly & never particularly political"

     Paul Cantrell repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 12:26:14 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     But I guess none of these multi-millionaire FBI suspects were Black children wearing hoodies or carrying Skittles, so even though they actually deserve to have their potentially criminal activities scrutinized in the public eye for months on end, we will probably instead be treated to endlessly empathetic media junk-food treatments by wealthy white pundits who focus on the suffering of their family members.

   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 12:26:30 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     DOJ probe was "reviewing whether #UnitedHealth’s acquisitions have consolidated its position in some markets in a way that violates antitrust laws…[DOJ] has reportedly been looking at potential monopolies in the managed-care industry since at least mid-2023."

     "Typically a company’s general counsel would declare a blackout period barring trading in light of a sensitive investigation, according to John C. Coffee Jr., a corporate governance expert at Columbia Law School.

     UHC didn't do that.

     Paul Cantrell repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 12:26:31 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     "UnitedHealth Shares Fell After DOJ Probe Became Public: Chair sold stock before investigation was revealed"

     UHC was notified of DOJ's antitrust probe in early Oct 2023
     Oct 13: Q3 report
     Oct 16, unusual sales made by high-level UH executives
     Oct 17, UH Chair sold an unusually large number of shares for $46m profit

     Feb 15, CEO Thompson made a large sale - his only one, ever - right before news of FBI's probe of UHC made public on Feb 27 sharp losses
     UHC down 15% since, vs DJIA's 8% rise.

   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Thursday, 12-Dec-2024 03:08:40 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     And, one thing that you & I can do, right now, is to really look at the people who are making excuses for the vast majority of the killing. In this case, any fair reading of reality demonstrates that the United CEO, and his collaborators are killing way more of us. They make choices to kill their own paying customers, so that they make themselves & their families into multimillionaires.

     We are responsible for the media diet we’re consuming. Imo this dye test shows who’s clogging our arteries.

   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Thursday, 12-Dec-2024 03:08:41 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     So, I guess what I’m saying is: Whatever is motivating the armchair moralizer scolds, it isn’t nonviolence.

     Masked Scheduler repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Thursday, 12-Dec-2024 03:08:42 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     For some people, literally anything is accepted to justify or excuse their murder, & offer a helping hand to their killer: a hoodie is suspicious, Skittles could have looked like a gun to the right-wing murderer.

     For others, literally nothing is accepted to excuse their murder: e.g., profiting personally from a position of power & responsibility which the CEO used to intentionally cause his company's paying customers to die.

     OK.

     It's useful to have diagnostic tests.

   • Embed this notice
     Erin Conroy (chargrille@progressives.social)'s status on Thursday, 12-Dec-2024 03:08:43 JST Erin Conroy

     in reply to

     This moment is interesting to me.

     It's a little like a scan that uses contrast dye to help clarify internal function of body systems. Some people are willing to show their immoral beliefs that help our sick system function: i.e., that some of us (most!) are marked for violence, & in their eyes, our deaths are pre-approved, unremarkable.

     But a few big men are special, set aside as privileged from violence. Their deaths are un-acceptable, to be noisily declared unfair. Worthy of social insurance