Tag: Neoliberalism

[2022] The Dark History of Medicare Privatization

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Medicare Advantage was supposed to be a money-saver. It’s now become a costly, unaccountable cash cow for private insurance companies that is swallowing traditional Medicare.

The Dark History of Medicare Privatization

Related:

Medicare goes “woke”?! 😉

CMS Unveils ACO REACH: What you Need to Know

The Geo Direct Contracting model is scrapped, and ACO REACH is replacing GPDC…

A new incentive will help to address health equity.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance companies are licensees, independent of the association and traditionally of each other, offering insurance plans within defined regions under one or both of the association’s brands. Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers offer some form of health insurance coverage in every U.S. state. They also act as administrators of Medicare in many states or regions of the U.S.

How the U.S. Drove Venezuelans North

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments
A migrant father from Venezuela feeds his 15-month-old son in the lobby of a police station where their family has been staying since their arrival to Chicago on May 9, 2023. PHOTO BY SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

How the U.S. Drove Venezuelans North

When they request asylum in the United States, migrants have to say something against their government. But everyone in the Venezuelan community knows that it’s a lie. Venezuelan comedians in Florida, like George Harris, joke about the Venezuelans lying to the migration people just in order to receive asylum.

…

And now, we have the current decision of the Biden administration to issue Temporary Protected Status only for foreign nationals from Venezuela, leaving out migrants from many other countries that have arrived in Chicago in the last few months, including large numbers from Ecuador, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Honduras, Angola and Mauritania.

Related:

U.S. to ease sanctions on Venezuelan oil for freer presidential election

The agreement comes days before Venezuela’s opposition parties plan to hold a primary vote to choose a single candidate to back against Maduro. The front-runner in the unofficial primary, María Corina Machado, is one of several opposition leaders the Maduro government has barred from running for office. The disqualification was sharply condemned by the U.S. government.

Argentina election 2023: what you need to know

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The vultures are ready to “make the economy scream” if Javier Milei wins!*

Argentina election 2023: what you need to know

Far-right libertarian Javier Milei is leading the polls ahead of Argentina’s Oct. 22 presidential vote, but it remains a tight race between the top three candidates, three surveys showed.

Related:

Argentina election: from peso to dollar?

But dollarisation would also mean immediate recession and slump. It would have to start with a massive devaluation of the domestic peso monetary base. In a very optimistic scenario, if Argentina received a loan of say $12 billion from the IMF and used $5 billion as a reserve for the banking system and $7 billion to dollarise the monetary base, the domestic peso monetary base would still have to be reduced by nearly 400%. Argentine salaries (then in US dollars) would become among the lowest globally and poverty would rise to unprecedented levels. And Argentina is already in a recession with real GDP expected to drop by around 2% this year. So either way: peso or dollar, Argentine households would pay the price in living standards.

…

Desperation has driven many Argentines to consider a ‘libertarian, anarcho-capitalist’ as president. If this were to happen, it will be going down another blind alley. Argentina’s capitalist economy will continue to fail.

Just scratching the surface:

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A Maidan 2.0 Color Revolution Looms in Georgia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Kit Klarenberg

The arrest of US regime change operatives in Tbilisi suggests a coup against Georgia’s government could be in the works. As Ukraine’s counteroffensive fails, the West appears eager to open a new front in its proxy war.

A Maidan 2.0 Color Revolution Looms in Georgia

Related:

U.S. Advice Guided Milosevic Opposition

The Shadow CIA

GEORGIAN POLICE CLAIM TO SOLVE HIGH-PROFILE MURDER

Declassified: Yugoslavia’s ‘Propaganda Value’ for British Spies

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

Declassified files shed fascinating light on how during the Cold War, Yugoslavia was a subject of intense cloak-and-dagger interest to British intelligence propagandists within Information Research Department (IRD).

Declassified: Yugoslavia’s ‘Propaganda Value’ for British Spies

Related:

The Rational Destruction of Yugoslavia

Propaganda in the War on Yugoslavia

Argentinians protest against IMF-imposed austerity measures

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Argentinians have taken to the streets of the capital, Buenos Aires, to protest against austerity measures imposed by the government following a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Argentinians protest against IMF-imposed austerity measures

AP ‘conveniently’ leaves out the IMF deal! It’s almost as if they want Javier Milei to win (of course, they do)!

Previously:

How Javier Milei Upset Argentina’s Political Status Quo

50 years after Chile’s coup, Salvador Allende’s grandson speaks about Britain’s role in the rise of Pinochet

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Margaret Thatcher with Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet
(Reuters)

In Santiago, Declassified spoke with Pablo Sepúlveda Allende about Margaret Thatcher’s friendship with Chile’s dictator and how Labour helped him evade justice for crimes against humanity.

50 years after Chile’s coup, Salvador Allende’s grandson speaks about Britain’s role in the rise of Pinochet

Related:

The end of Allende

Chile, September 11, 1973: The Horrors of ‘the First 9/11’ Are Routinely Overlooked

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Salvador Allende’s Final Speech on Sept. 11, 1973

Each September large memorials are held for the 9/11 attacks on the US. Yet few recall the far more destructive 9/11 that occurred 28 years before.

Chile, September 11, 1973: The Horrors of ‘the First 9/11’ Are Routinely Overlooked

Related:

Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973