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Corporate Control of Public Health: Case Studies and Call to Action

Corporate Control of Public Health: Case Studies and Call to Action. Martin Donohoe. Am I Stoned?. A 1999 Utah anti-drug pamphlet warns: “Danger signs that your child may be smoking marijuana include excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, and environmental issues”.

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Corporate Control of Public Health: Case Studies and Call to Action

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  1. Corporate Control of Public Health:Case Studies and Call to Action Martin Donohoe

  2. Am I Stoned? A 1999 Utah anti-drug pamphlet warns: “Danger signs that your child may be smoking marijuana include excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, and environmental issues”

  3. Corporations Dominate the Global Economy • Almost 6 million corporations • 90% of transnational corporations headquartered in Northern Hemisphere • 500 companies control 70% of world trade

  4. Corporations Dominate the Global Economy • 69 of the world’s 100 largest economies are private corporations; 31 are countries • Wal-Mart has more annual revenue than Spain and Australia • Royal Dutch Shell > Mexico • United Health Group > Denmark and Saudi Arabia

  5. The Stock Market • The top 1% of Americans owns 35% of all stocks, bonds, and mutual fund assets • Consequences of Differential Stock Ownership • Corporations are answerable to their shareholders • Governments are answerable (at least in theory) to their citizens (either through elections or revolutions)

  6. Corporations • Internalize profits • $2.0 trillion (2015) • Externalize health and environmental costs

  7. Corporate Taxation • Corporations shouldered over 30% of the nation’s tax burden in 1950 vs. 8% today • Nearly 1/3 of all large U.S. corporations pay no annual tax

  8. Corporate Taxation • Big business claims that U.S. corporations pay the highest corporate taxes in the world (35%) • FALSE: The rate actually paid, after foreign governments get their cuts, money sent to foreign subsidiaries, loopholes, etc. = 27% (U.S. Treasury Department) vs. 28% average for 30 OECD nations • 17% for corporations with assets over $10 million

  9. Reasons for Inadequate Corporate Taxation • Corporate tax breaks/loopholes • Corporate welfare • Cheating and under-payment common • Offshore tax havens shelter capital

  10. Ugland House, Cayman Islands18,000 Corporations Registered Here

  11. Corporate Profits:Where do they go? • S and P 500, $2.4 trillion total (2015) • 54% to stock buybacks that help boost executive pay • 37% to dividends for shareholders • 9% to R & D and training and raises for workers combined

  12. Job Creators?

  13. Corporate Taxation • 2004: Bush administration offered temporary tax holiday on foreign earnings • $300 billion in profit repatriated • 92% went to dividend payouts, stock buybacks, and corporate coffers • Only 8% went to R and D, new factories, and hiring

  14. Exorbitant CEO Pay • The average CEO makes 373X the salary of the average U.S. worker (1960 - 41X) • Mexico 45:1 • Britain 25:1 • Japan 10:1 • US Military: 20:1 (top rank : lowest rank) • US ratio of average CEO to minimum wage worker = 774:1

  15. Exorbitant CEO Pay • Median U.S. CEO salary (for S and P 500 corporations) = $13 million (2016) • CEO salaries up 997% since 1978 • Average worker pay up 11%

  16. Most Recent Annual CEO Pay Average for Large Corporations, in Millions of Dollars (2016) • Japan: $2.4 • France: $2.8 • India: $3.1 • Australia: $5.4 • Germany: $8.4 • Canada: $9.3 • UK: $9.6 • USA: 17.0

  17. Exorbitant CEO Pay • The average CEO makes 347X the salary of the average U.S. worker (1960 - 41X) • Mexico 45:1 • Britain 25:1 • Japan 10:1 • US Military: 20:1 (top rank : lowest rank)

  18. The Mega-Rich • Worried / Investing in personal security • Bodyguards • Armored cars • Bullet-proof windows; machine gun proof doors • Home security fogs • Panic rooms • Fully-stocked home medical suites • Yachts with escape submarines • Islands

  19. Workers • Weekly wages for the average American worker are up 9% from 1973, but productivity is up 72%

  20. Minimum Wage ≠ Living Wage • Federal minimum wage = $7.25/hr • 25 states and DC have higher minimum wages (Oregon = $9.75/hr, 2014) • $14,500/yr for full-time job • Real value down over 40% compared with 1968 • Inadequate to pay rent, buy food and clothing

  21. Minimum Wage ≠ Living Wage • ¼ of US jobs pay less than a poverty-level income • Wage theft common, worst among lowest paid workers • Costs American workers $15 billion/yr (2016) • Public service sector workers earn less than private sector employees (after adjustment for age, education, and years of experience)

  22. Minimum Wage ≠ Living Wage • Increasing to $9.25/hr on Jan 1, 2015 • Movements supporting $15/hr (still inadequate) • Over ½ of nation’s basic public assistance funds go to working families (substitute for benefits, therefore, taxes support corporations)

  23. Solutions:Living Wage • Over 140 municipalities have adopted living wage laws • Including NY, LA, SFO, Seattle, Chicago, and Philadelphia • 15 states now have minimum wages that exceed the federal requirement • 10 states have passed pre-emptive laws forbidding cities and counties from raising the minimum wage

  24. Corporate PR Tactics • Advertising • “The art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need.“ (Will Rogers) • Astroturf - artificially-created grassroots coalitions • Corporate front groups • Corporate espionage: spying, bribes

  25. Corporate PR tactics • Invoke poor people as beneficiaries • Characterize opposition as “technophobic,” anti-science,” and “against progress” • Portray their products as environmentally beneficial despite evidence to the contrary • Host all-expense paid educational seminars for federal judges

  26. Public Relations • $200 billion industry • PR flacks now outnumber journalists • 40% fewer journalists than just a decade ago • “Fake news” epidemic; gaslighting

  27. Greenwash • Public relations / ad campaigns • BP invests $100 million annually in clean energy = amt. it spends annually to market itself as moving “Beyond Petroleum”

  28. Sponsored Environmental Education Materials (Examples) • International Paper -“Clearcutting promotes growth of trees that require full sunlight and allows efficient site preparation for the next crop” • Exxon’s “Energy Cube” -“Gasoline is simply solar power hidden in decayed matter” -“Offshore drilling creates reefs for fish”

  29. Sponsored Environmental Education Materials (Examples) • American Coal Foundation’s “Power from Coal”: • “The earth could benefit rather than be harmed from increased carbon dioxide.”

  30. Academics/Professional Organizations Affected • Increasing corporatization of academia • For-profit schools • Charter schools • Educational corporations

  31. Academics/Professional Organizations Affected • ↑Private commercial funding of university research • Front-end domination and rear-end repression affect research agenda, dissemination of knowledge • Undone science • Secrecy/gag clauses • Open Science Movement opposing secrecy • Corporate-sponsored harassment of scientists

  32. Academics/Professional Organizations Affected • For-profit colleges (e.g., University of Phoenix, ITT Tech, Trump University) were growing, marked by corruption, high interest rates on loans to the un- and under-qualified (some have shut down, paid fines, settled lawsuits) • Benefit largely from taxpayer money • Dramatic decrease in tenured faculty, rise in administrators • Gagging of researchers at federal agencies demoralizing, can affect recruitment of quality scientists

  33. Union of Concerned Scientists (2015)

  34. The Media • 6 corporations control 90% of US media • Extensive corporate-media links

  35. Global Warming: Controversial? • Of 928 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, none were in doubt as to the existence or cause of global warming • Of 636 articles in the popular press (NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, WSJ), 53% expressed doubt as to the existence (and primary cause) of global warming Science 2004;306:1686-7 (Study covers 1993-2003)

  36. Lobbying • Approximately 40,000 lobbyists (11,781 full-time) • Estimates of return on lobbying range from $28 to $212 for every $1 spent (higher values more likely)

  37. Lobbying • Oxfam study (2008-14) of 50 major US corporations found return of $130 in tax breaks and $4,000 in tax subsidies for every $1 spent on lobbying • Return on campaign contributions for elections for the most politically active companies = $760 per $1 spent

  38. Lobbying/Campaign Contributions • Koch brothers spent over $400 million (2012) • All single issue ideological groups combined (e.g., pro-choice, anti-abortion, feminist and consumer organizations, senior citizens, etc.) = less than $100 million (2015) • Lobbying groups spent 3.2 billion in 2015

  39. Lobbying (2012) • Corporations spent $86 for every $1 spent by civic groups • Corporations spent $56 for every $1 spent by labor unions • Labor union membership declining

  40. Top-Spending Industries, 2015 • Pharmaceuticals/Health Products - $240,218,911 • Insurance - $157,354,782 • Oil & Gas - $129,876,004 • Business Associations - $128,808,164 • Electronics Mfg & Equip - $121,948,480 • Electric Utilities - $117,910,016

  41. Top-Spending Industries, 2015 • Misc. Manufacturing & Distributing - $105,904,266 • Securities & Investment - $98,133,863 • Hospitals/Nursing Homes - $93,497,884 • Telecom Services - $91,081,758 • Health Professionals - $89,878,202 • Air Transport - $81,722,628

  42. Top-Spending Industries, 2015 • Real Estate - $77,851,327 • Education - $77,222,880 • Defense Aerospace - $74,489,275 • Health Services/HMOs - $74,256,196 • Civil Servants/Public Officials - $71,597,628 • Commercial Banks - $64,962,735 • TV/Movies/Music - $62,142,091 • Automotive - $58,869,623

  43. Polluting Industries’ Political Influence • Oil, gas, and coal companies spent $354 million in campaign contributions and lobbying and received $29 billion in federal subsidies over the 2015-16 election cycle • $8,200 return on investment

  44. Campaign Cash and Lobbying • Citizens United • McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission • Lobbying promotes international non-cooperation/isolationism

  45. Case Studies

  46. The alliance between GE Medical Systems and NY-Presbyterian Hospital

  47. General Electric • Ranked by Forbes as world’s largest company (based on equal weighting of sales, profits, assets, and market value) • 2014 revenues of $149 billion • Close to the GDP of more than 2/3 of U.N. member states • 2014 net after-tax profits of $15.2 billion • Majority from overseas operations

  48. General Electric • Makes household appliances, lighting, and medical equipment • Plastics division, which produced bisphenol A, spun off in 2008 • Produces jet engines and military hardware

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