Even With The Pandemic Ravaging The World, The Greediest And Most Repulsive Among Us-- Take Lloyd Blankfein-- Still Oppose Medicare-for-All

My friend Frank Schaeffer hasn't been a Republican for many, many years and he is most certainly a #NeverTrumper. But he's been absolutely fiendish in his instinctual opposition to Bernie. Yesterday, though, he tweeted that after hearing from Trump and Pence that you could get a CODID-19 test at Walmart, he drove over to the one closest to his home in Massachusetts. "All I saw were Walmart employees with no health coverage smoking in the parking lot wondering how they can miss work with no childcare, no money, no savings. Yep, Walmart will save us! Thanks Donald."

I don't know how Frank feels about Medicare-for-All. But I do know how Lloyd Blankfein feels about it. The former Goldman Sachs top bankster hates it as much as he hates Bernie. Here's a Bankster Blankfein tweet from Saturday afternoon advocating for the kind of privatized, for-profit healthcare that Frank Schaeffer found in the Walmart parking lot Sunday morning:

And I found this popular tongue-in-cheek meme in one of the responses to Blankfein's tweet:

This was the video Bernie posted-- narrated by Bernie endorser actor H. Jon Benjamin ( Bob Belcher in Fox’s Bob’s Burgers and Sterling Archer in FX’s Archer)-- that the bankster objected to. Bernie's campaign's description may have ruffled Blankfein's feathers: "From Roosevelt’s attempt to create a New Deal national health insurance program, to the Trump administration’s repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate-- the three-part Bernie’s Damn Bill video series reveals how decades of influence by greedy special interests have led to the present health care crisis. Bernie has waged a four decades-long fight to implement Medicare for All and explains how his administration will take on corporations and the billionaire class to finally make it happen."





Tell me, did you find that clip more informative and more inspiring than Bankster Blankfein did? Here's the second video in the series:





And the third in these series-- a series that you can see helps explain Bankster  Blankfein's enthusiasm for Status Quo Joe, who has recently threatened that if he's nominated by the Democratic Partyand elected president then and Medicare-for-All finally passes, he would probably veto it:





At times like this-- and all other times-- Trump can't help taking on the role of the Ugly American and has offered a German medical company a fortune for exclusive access to a COVID-19 vaccine. The German government is trying to fight off what it sees as an aggressive takeover bid by the U.S. The U.S. Pig-man has "offered the Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac 'large sums of money' to gain exclusive access to their work, wrote Die Welt... Trump was doing everything to secure a vaccine against the coronavirus for the U.S., 'but for the US only.'" The loathsome monstrosity sounds like he actually wants to spend eternity roasting in hell.

Because Trump's top New York congressional crony, Chris Collins, was arrested and convicted on multiple charges stemming from his own Blankfein-like advocacy of for-profit (his own) healthcare-- involving a company he owned a plurality of the stock in, Innate Immunotherapeutics-- Collins was forced to resign from Congress, though not before he lied to NY-27 voters about the crime spree and managed to get-- narrowly-- reelected. Nate McMurray, the progressive Democrat who wrestled him to the narrowest congressional win in the whole country-- 140,146 (49.1%) to 139,059 (48.8%)-- will face off in the April 28th special election against hereditary billionaire, gambling magnate and right-wing state Senator Chris Jacobs. Jacobs' reactionary views on healthcare are about the same as Bankster Blankfein's. McMurray made his own clear in a simple tweet yesterday:

McMurray has a slightly longer version on his campaign website:

For years, we have watched large pharmaceutical and insurance companies set higher and higher prices that ultimately barred our access to affordable healthcare.

We can’t continue to let companies set prices and collect massive paychecks while our family members are dying from rationing insulin. The current system hurts families, it hurts businesses and it hurts our community. Common-sense healthcare reform will lower our costs and create a system that benefits everyone. With access to the greatest modern medicine in the world, American citizens deserve to not be kept up at night worrying about whether or not they can pay for their medical needs.

As your Congressman, I will support "Medicare for All" and fight for a system that keeps families healthy. I know we can do better for the citizens of New York 27 and I intend to fight like hell for that when you send me to Washington.

Bordering on McMurray's district, Robin Wilt is the progressive Democrat running for the Rochester, NY congressional seat held by pointless New Dem Joe Morelle. She told us that "NY Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a directive requiring New York health insurers to waive co-pays for Coronavirus tests, as well as any related emergency room, urgent care, and office visits for those who already have insurance. However, if one is not covered by insurance (and in the state of New York, that applies to almost 1 million people), the reality is that the lack of coverage presents a barrier to being tested and treated for the virus. This increases the overall risk of exposure for the population, at large. Steffie Woolhandler, founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, recently observed that the lack of Medicare for All is essentially forcing the United States to fight the COVID-19 pandemic with one hand tied behind its back, thereby increasing the threat to everyone--including the wealthy and people-- with-- insurance. By her example, it is estimated that 25% of cab drivers don’t have health insurance in this country (and that number is probably modest because it does not include rideshare providers like Uber and Lyft); 12% of home health aides lack health insurance; 15% of housekeepers lack health insurance. Essentially, those with means cannot avoid coming into contact with this epidemic just because they’re rich. The amount of wealth one has does not singularly eliminate one’s risk of exposure during a pandemic. We’re all in the risk pool for contracting COVID-19, so we all need to be in the system of care provision for maximum efficacy. That’s why Medicare for All is so important: because everyone being in the system means that no one has barriers to testing or treatment. It’s all about flattening the curve of the spread of the virus. Any barriers to testing or treatment when exposed to the virus, increase the risk of additional exposures. A global pandemic like COVID-19 is the perfect argument for a Medicare for All system."




Qasim Rashid is running for the Virginia congressional seat held by Trump lackey Robert Wittman, VA-01, which includes all of Caroline, Essex, Gloucester, King George, King William, King and Queen, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Stafford, Westmoreland, and York counties, Fredericksburg city, Williamsburg city and parts of Newport News city plus parts of Faquier, James City, Prince William and Spotsylvania counties. He told us yesterday that "In the richest, most industrialized country on Earth, Americans should never have to worry about the cost of medical care when they are facing injury or illness. In the midst of a global pandemic, guaranteed quality healthcare is even more of a necessity. To treat those afflicted and prevent spread of the disease, we must have a healthcare system where cost is not a barrier to access. We cannot afford to have Americans deciding against getting treatment-- further endangering public safety and creating a scenario where this pandemic overwhelms our hospitals and our communities. A single payer healthcare system that guarantees that every American has access to treatment and care is needed now more than ever."

On the other coast, Mark Gamba is the mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon and running for the congressional seat held by Republican-friendly Blue Dog Kurt Schrader. "This pandemic," he told us, "should be the starkest wake-up-call as to why a national healthcare system that covers every single person is so critical. When millions of people fear going to the doctor because they can’t afford it, they won’t go. Even if they are sick, even if they have a disease that is easily communicable. Those same people are the ones who cannot afford to stay home from work either when they are feeling ill. Instead, they will 'tough it out' and go to work so that they don’t get evicted because they haven’t earned enough money that month to pay the rent. So that means that literally millions of people will be working anyway, even if they are sick. Some of those work for the TSA, some work in restraunts, some in schools, some deliver the mail in busy offices, some work in nursing homes and day care centers. Think about who the people are, that are doing jobs that don’t pay well enough to afford health care. They are the jobs that we count on every day. In some ways, these are the people that we NEED to be the healthiest. They come in contact with the most people. They keep our society functioning. Imagine. Instead, a robust new Medicare for All world. Where everyone has easy, and free access to healthcare when they need it. A world in which there are more doctors. A world in which there are more hospitals and clinics, even in rural areas because they no longer need to 'make a profit,' they simply need to provide healthcare. In this world there are more hospital beds and more ventilators because even in normal times there are more people to treat because EVERYONE gets healthcare. No one is left at home to just die alone because they are too poor. This Medicare for All world is the one that is most prepared for a major pandemic. It’s a world where drugs are invented to solve medical issues, not to maximize profits. We would employ thousands, researching and manufacturing those drugs and other critical materials, like masks and gloves, right here in America rather than farming that out to the lowest international bidder who can then cut us off when it serves them to do so. We need a CDC that is fully funded and working to stop pandemics before they start, and we need Medicare for All to make sure that when they do, we are prepared. We need new leadership in the Whitehouse and Congress to make these things come to pass. The status quo, neo-liberal movement of a world designed for maximizing profits for the rich has failed us."