Perspective: Regulation needed
Contrary to the Republican Party policy of fewer government regulations, supposedly to allow for corporations to increase their profits, some are badly needed.
A good example is the current opioid crisis. Sadly, this opioid crisis is costing Americans 65,000 lives a year, killing annually, more than all the Americans in the Vietnam War. This crisis has actually lead to life expectancy in the United States to be lower the last two years in a row.
What is the cause?
Take the McKesson Corporation, the fifth largest corporation in the United States and the biggest drug distributor in the country. They are literally making billions from the opioid crisis. This company’s actions clearly show the pathway of how “fascist like corporate control” of government in the United States is advancing, with apparent blessings of the current administration.
Trump boasted that he was going to take on the opioid crisis, but has indicated no desire to fund the effort. Companies like McKesson, are so big and powerful they easily influence Republican politicians who are on the take. We must face it, our democracy is — and has been — for sale. We are quickly becoming a nation where large super wealthy corporations, owned by billionaires that dictate what laws they will comply with. Sure, they get caught sometimes, but they don’t mind a slap on the wrist when they are raking in billions.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently revealed they were going after the McKesson Corporation for its contribution to the opioid crisis. However, the DEA investigators were forced to back down due to internal pressure and pressure from the Trump Department of Justice because they feared a challenge with the McKesson Corporation’s highly paid legal team (a company too big to fail).
Some of the accusations made against McKesson Corporation by the DEA included how it was distributing the opioids. This includes claims that the company wouldn’t report suspicious amounts of large orders for opioids as required by law. The DEA reported the McKesson Corporation, under “self-regulation”, a Republican Party favorite policy would simply increase its order thresholds to avoid reporting suspicious activity. This resulted in the company allegedly sending massive amounts of the highly addictive drug to small-town pharmacies that had no need for that much.
The DEA was hoping to take McKesson Corporation to court and hit it with a $1 billion fine. Instead, the company happily agreed to pay a $150 million fine for an out of court settlement. The DEA said that wasn’t much of a punishment for a company that makes almost $200 billion a year in revenue. The CEO of McKesson has a yearly salary of $100 million, plus bonuses.
Another good example of corporate greed and lack of regulation is clearly shown by the waste and fraud of US Government contracts granted by the current administration. Take the Tribune Contracting LLC of Atlanta, Ga. The Trump Administration granted a 156 million dollar ($156,000,000.00) contract to furnish 30 million meals for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. Only 50,000 meals were ever delivered.
This company which is owned by a certain Tiffany Brown – the sole employee listed for its business. So why was such a small company given the contract and what happened to the taxpayer dollars that were given?
Same corrupt contracting mentality applies to the small two-man company in the small town of Whitefish, Montana, that was awarded a 300 million dollar government contract to restore electrical power to Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria. Whitefish is the hometown of Trumps corrupt Interior Secretary Zinke, where his son had previously worked part-time.
Whatever happened to the “Officials not to Benefit” clause required in government contracts? There are many examples like these which continue to expand as long as this corrupt administration remains in power. Count the number of Trump appointed people that have abruptly resigned, (before the law caught up with them) or the number of honest employees that were fired for…being honest.
This is why we need strong ethics laws, oversite and regulations (opposed by the Trump Administration) to limit on how much of our democracy is for sale by greedy and corrupt politicians. Demand your congressmen and senators pass a law to show where and who from their contributors come, so – We the People – know who these corrupt representatives (regardless of any political partisan affiliations) are really working for.
No doubt this current Republican administration will go down as the most corrupt and depraved in American history. This is obviously why the Trump administration is trying all it can do to stop any investigations into its corrupt and most likely criminal and treasonous activities.
Where are honest politicians like Harry S. Truman or Dwight D. Eisenhower when you need them?
Dan Barrett
Jasper
Dan why do you continue to post false information in your editorials? We have fact checked you on several occasions (with links to the facts) and yet you continue to post the same info again.
The McKesson DEA settlement occurred and was settled by the Obama Justice Department on January 17th 2017. That was three days before the Trump was ever sworn in and 22 days before Sessions was even confirmed by the Senate.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/mckesson-agrees-pay-record-150-million-settlement-failure-report-suspicious-orders
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/us/politics/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-confirmation.html
64,000 people die each year from ALL drug overdoses. 59% of those deaths (37,886) are attributed to opioids and opioid related drugs. Terrible numbers indeed but you don’t need to make the numbers worse than they already are.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/health_policy/monthly-drug-overdose-death-estimates.pdf
Tribune Contracting LLC of Atlanta, Ga. is actually Tribute Contracting LLC and is a minority owned business owned by Tiffany Brown. The reason why Tribute was chosen was because Congress passed the Small Business Act and later established Women Owned, Minority Owned, Disabled Veteran Owned and Hub Zone set asides requiring that a certain percentage of contracts the government gives out must go to these entities. The Supreme Court in 1995 affirmed the law passed by 1988 Democratic controlled Congress, who overturned Ronald Reagan’s veto of the bill. In order to meet the GSA requirements, contracting officers are often required to work with entities that qualify but who subcontract the work out to other vendors. That is what happened in this case. Again, a regulation that cannot be overturned unless Congress votes to change the Small Business Set Aside legislation. It would require 60 votes in the Senate to change.
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/Small%20Business%20Act.pdf
https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33284.html
Again Dan, you get the facts wrong. Whitefish Energy was hired by Puerto Rico to assist with its power problems, not the U.S. Federal Government. The contract was signed between Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority before fellow White Fish resident Ryan Zinke knew about it. FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were not even involved in the process.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/27/news/economy/puerto-rico-whitefish-montana-deal/index.html
Dan, I agree we need tough regulations, especially when it comes to fake news propagators like you. You’re retired and have more time on your hands to get the facts straight. Besides that, you’re a former military officer who should know better.
Daryl Hensley, Jasper
I have checked some of your references in the past and must agree some are relevant, others seem to be from dubious / slanted news sites. So you’re saying shut me down with tough regulations? May I remind you or the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and you seem to dismiss my point that greed controls our “democracy for sale” government. You also dismiss the number of Trump appointed Swamp creatures that have resigned in bad faith because they were trying to cheat and actually cheating and falsifying documents to cheat the US Taxpayers.
Dan, I don’t think The NY Times and CNN are friendly to Trump and the other sites are Federal government .gov websites. I surely wouldn’t use Trump friendly websites to make my point.
I’m sure that if Trump surrogates break any laws the FBI and Justice Department would seek charges and rightfully so.
You are correct you have the right to free speech And you have the right to misinterpret the facts. Just be mindful that you will be fact checked and seen as a purveyor of fake news and seen as a partisan who can’t defend your op-ed piece. I assume personal credibility and integrity are something you don’t value.
Daryl Hensley, Jasper
The vast majority of Americans want change in how our government operates. They want someone to drain the stinking Washington, DC swamp. We can only pray, a true non-politician like Donald Trump is the answer. Being a former NATO employee, I do know Trump is right regarding our allies, both in and out of NATO. With a 20 trillion dollar public debt, the US doesn’t need to borrow more against the US taxpayers just to keep paying for our allies’ fair share of maintaining world peace, nor, do we need to go into deeper debt just to give it away in so-called foreign aid, especially to countries that are already quite wealthy like Germany, Saudi Arabia, Israel, South Korea, etc. Sadly, my own US Congressional representative, Larry Bucshon, an Evansville politician who calls himself a non-politician, refuses to address nine simple question that I submitted to him last August. I realize that most politicians will tell you what you want to hear, as long as they control the conversation, just to get elected. Now, we have corrupt politicians blaming a trusted and honest FBI Director for doing exactly what he promised to due in testimony before Congress. Donald Trump is our last chance to impose congressional term limits, enforce immigration laws and border security, establish a code of civil service ethics, defeat terrorism, bringing back jobs through fair trade agreements and to insure that no corrupt politician, regardless of name or government position, like Hillary Clinton, is above the law. Outside the DC cesspool, there are a lot of dedicated, well-meaning local citizens, of different political persuasions and affiliations, which merit serious consideration.