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Editorial:
Dear Politician
Venerated Citizen
Letters
to Readers
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October
15, 2005 Issue
Editorial
Rising Prices and the American Oligopolies
by Robert Brown, MD
One Trillion, Six Hundred Billion and a few hundred Million Dollars this
year for health care - $3.50 to $4.50 per gallon of regular gasoline and
up. Who is going to pay? You, Me, We will. Where do you think "it" will end?
How deep are your pockets?
It is a lot like being an apple in a press, sitting between two hard surfaces
that keep putting more and more pressure on you, squeezing you until you
have no more of yourself to give. The two hard surfaces I am writing of here
are energy costs and health care. They are both putting the squeeze on you,
demanding more from you and giving you less, like our government. And these
aren't the only sources exerting pressure on US.
An oligopoly is a great way to make money, have control and sell a product,
while ignoring the wants and needs of the consumer. Energy and medical health
care are both monopolistic. These industry oligopolies are made up of many
different company names that have one common goal. The oil companies do not
exist to offer competition to each other, to better serve our interests.
And the same can be said of medical health related companies.
All of these companies are sleeping together, locked in a kind of economic
intercourse, with our Government acting as the dealer. Our government (the
two-party system) does not act in our best interest, but it acts as a blind
facilitator of the capitalist forces. We are the apple in the press, the
consumer being screwed.
If you are feeling angry, anxious, powerless and frustrated, you are in good
company. Every individual consumer in the U.S. making less than $100,000
per year is experiencing the same squeeze. Take heart, you can be a major
part of breaking these monopolies, restoring real competition and some balance.
There are doable alternatives to petroleum or natural gas, that are available
now. You can convert your internal combustion vehicle to run on alternative
fuel.
Gasoline mixed with 10% alcohol is common, and there is now a movement to
increase the alcohol mix to 15%. With minor modification most gasoline vehicles
will run well on 100% alcohol. Alcohol as fuel has been with us since the
first internal combustion engine was produced.
Hydrogen is a great fuel that can be used in automobiles and trucks, just
as natural gas and propane. Vegetable oils (with minor refinement) work well
in diesel vehicles. Alcohol, hydrogen and Organic Oil fuels have been with
us and doable since the late 1930s. We have been treated like mushrooms,
kept in the dark, fed fertilizer about how difficult to use, produce and
how dangerous these fuels are, by the oil industry, with the blessing of
our government.
The cure for $3.50 - $5.00 plus per gallon, is you spending some time, doing
some research, possibly watching less TV, gaining some knowledge and thinking
of the possibilities. No more oil wars, for one. Learn of and support alternatives,
that you can produce or are produced by companies independent of and from
existing oil interests. True independent companies. Alternative Fuel Cooperatives,
possible? The oil companies will still exist; however, we will no longer
be at their mercy and they will lose their monopoly status.
Conventional, accepted and promoted medical health care is not the only nor
the best way to go in health care or being healthy. Medical health care also
believes in the mushroom concept and they spend more than $150 million each
year purchasing power, politicians, political favors and keeping us in the
dark, to assure their monopoly status. Codex and our Food and Drug Administration
are now seeking to limit our freedom to make alternative health care choices.
Alternative, non-medical, non-drug/chemical forms of health care are effective.
As with alternative fuels, research, get some real knowledge. Discard the
mis-information supplied by the monopolies and our government. Empower yourself,
help solve some problems in our country, support and use alternatives.
About the Author: Please see
our list of Contributors for details.
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