“Over the last few months, as COVID-19 has spread around the world, big tobacco has exploited the pandemic to push its branding and products. The industry never misses a trick when it comes to exploiting the chaos of international crises, including wars. The current pandemic is no exception.”
“Rosie Collington […] has studied how major insulin manufacturing companies jack up prices in order to line the pockets of shareholders, leaving many diabetics at risk of kidney failure, blindness, and even death if they can’t afford to pony up. Amid the Covid-19 crisis, some are hoping pharmaceutical companies can stop prioritizing profits over human life and redeem themselves following decades of abuses ranging from price gouging to tax dodging. […] In the following interview, Collington explores what’s at stake”
“Does the corona crisis expose the failings of capitalism? A look at the data make a nonsense of the idea that capitalism is somehow to blame for this pandemic. Strong capitalist freedoms are the bedrock of the countries responding best to Covid-19.”
“The materialist analysis of the coronavirus pandemic conducted here suggests that now that the Covid particle has become part of the global capitalist market-assemblage, there is no way to resolve both public health and economic crises in parallel. […] The alternative is to re-engineer the social and economic relations of the economy. It is unrealistic to imagine the wholesale abandonment of global capitalism any time soon, and it is unclear what might be put in its place. But there are some measures that can mitigate the way a virus such as Covid19 can spread.”
“it’s altogether more complicated than simply markets vs state provision. The actual cause of the problem is idiot regulation. That is, it’s the rules set by the US government that let drug companies charge patients through the nose. So, change the regulation and the problem will be solved – the arrival of that bright new dawn of true socialism isn’t the cure, a properly free market is.”
“Culturally, we like to think that once money is involved, a transaction becomes clean and passionless. It’s an adjustment that isn’t merely economic, but sociological as well. It requires grappling with how we define intimacy, what we view as transactional, and how we categorize what’s business, what’s personal…and what’s both.”
“It is a no-brainer that business people don’t really like competitive market capitalism, despite all their exhortations about the value of markets. Just read any of The Wealth of Nations to find Adam Smith with the same view. Business people much prefer rigged markets, as long as they are on the inside. So it is no surprise that new research finds that converting health care insurance from non-profit to for-profit leads to a rise in premiums (not the fall that would be anticipated because of greater market efficiencies).”
“While governments pay lip service to the notion of choice, their disinvestment in public home care services means that older people and their families often have no choice but to ‘choose’ for-profit home care providers, as these are becoming the norm for elder home care. […] Home care is a high involvement purchase, which requires considerable time and emotional investment. But people in need of care might not have all the necessary information, skills or time required to navigate intricate care markets.”
“To blame the free market for gluttony, one of the deadly sins, would undermine its moral legitimacy. But these arguments are a lot to swallow.”
“Aside from straight-up marketing and advertising, McDonalds, like other corporations, relies on public relations strategies that are less tangible and take indirect paths into our consciousness. McDonald’s PR positions the company as caring and moral, and as having the same concerns as the community.”
