Private Equity’s Stranglehold on U.S. Healthcare Is ‘Shocking and Immoral’ — Report
Private equity’s ownership of U.S. healthcare providers is incompatible with the needs and best interests of patients and should be checked with federal legislation, according to a report published Wednesday by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website
By Brett Wilkins
Private equity’s ownership of U.S. healthcare providers is incompatible with the needs and best interests of patients and should be checked with federal legislation, according to a report published Wednesday by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
Critics of for-profit care have long decried private equity‘s focus on maximizing returns through practices including slashing staff, surprising patients with astronomical bills and eschewing low-margin care upon which vulnerable populations rely.
The new report — authored primarily by Public Citizen healthcare policy advocate Eagan Kemp — examines investment firms’ impact on more than a dozen healthcare sectors, from reproductive health through end-of-life care.
“Private equity acquisitions in the healthcare sector have steadily climbed since the financial crisis in 2009, particularly in the past five years,” a summary of the report notes.
“Unlike acquisitions of hospitals, which typically occur under a public spotlight, the private equity industry’s acquisitions of physician practices and other healthcare business lines often occur with little or no disclosure or public scrutiny, hindering the ability of regulators and watchdogs to monitor the effects of private equity ownership.”
The Lyme + Chlamydia Connection: What You Should Know
by Dr. Bill Rawls
Posted 1/18/19
If you’ve ever contended with chlamydia — and many of us have, considering an estimated 2.86 million Americans contract an infection each year — you likely treated it with antibiotics and considered it cured.
But like Lyme disease, chlamydia infections can become chronic, and they’ve have been associated with Lyme and other chronic illnesses, including chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pelvic pain, arthritis, and possibly even multiple sclerosis. So is chronic chlamydia a Lyme coinfection, and if so, how can it be diagnosed and treated? Read on to learn more.
Is Chlamydia a Lyme Coinfection?
It’s not considered one, because it is not typically carried by ticks. Instead, chlamydia is transmitted from person to person through sexual contact, or from an untreated mother to her newborn baby during childbirth.
But chlamydia are very similar to mycoplasma, the most common Lyme coinfection. Like mycoplasma, chlamydia are small, gram-negative bacteria that live and reproduce inside cells of a host, and they need basic raw materials from the host to survive (known as an obligate intracellular bacteria). And as with both mycoplasma and borrelia (the bacteria associated with Lyme disease), chlamydia definitely fits the definition of a stealth microbe.
The word “stealth” reflects the microbes’ elusive nature: they have sophisticated mechanisms to hide inside cells, where they remain shielded from the body’s defense system. In a healthy host that achieves balance with the microbe, there may be no visible symptoms of their presence; stealth microbes can lie undetected and dormant for years.
For that reason, the actual incidence of chronic chlamydia infections is unknown, but it’s likely high. And if a person’s immune function declines and becomes compromised due to other illness or system disruptors like toxins, chronic stress, or a high-carbohydrate diet, chlamydia can begin to contribute to disease.
Symptoms of chronic illness are very different than the initial acute illness. Defining chronic chlamydia infection can be extremely challenging because when immune system functions become compromised, other stealth microbes such as Epstein-Barr virus, borrelia, and bartonella also reactivate. This can cause the wide range of symptoms typical of chronic illnesses such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and chronic Lyme disease.
Let’s take a closer look at the three main forms of chlamydia that can infect humans.
1. Chlamydia pneumoniae
C. pneumoniae is the most common form of chlamydia, affecting 30-60% of the population worldwide. Humans are the natural host and reservoir for this species of the bacteria.
Transmission of C. pneumoniae is by airborne droplets, meaning the pathogenic microbes become suspended in the air on dust particles and water droplets. The droplets can make contact with your mucous membranes when they are inhaled, or when they’ve landed on a surface that you happen to touch.
At first, the infection affects the respiratory tract. C. pneumoniae is associated with pharyngitis (sore throat), sinusitis, middle ear infection, and bronchitis. Most infections are mild or asymptomatic, but if your immune function isn’t up to par, a more severe infection can take hold.
In fact, C. pneumoniae infection can progress to atypical pneumonia, which is similar to infections like mycoplasma. C. pneumoniae is responsible for 20% of community-acquired pneumonia, mostly in people over the age 65.
C. pneumoniae, in particular, has been discovered within artherosclerotic plaques of the arteries (along with other microbes). It’s also has been associated with myocarditis (infection of the heart muscle) and nervous system disorders, including multiple sclerosis.
Diagnosing Chlamydia pneumoniae
Testing includes indirect testing with antibodies, and direct testing for chlamydia DNA with PCR. Also, your healthcare provider may take a sample of your phlegm or a nasal or throat swab. Often, the testing methods for detecting the stealth microbe in a chronic chlamydia infection are poor, but a detailed medical history of your symptoms may lead a doctor to suspect the presence of C. pneumoniae.
2. Chlamydia trachomatis
The only known natural host for C. trachomatis is humans. In the developed world, it is a common sexually transmitted disease. In males, it can cause urethritis (infection of the urethra) and prostatitis (infection of the prostate).
In females, it can cause urethritis, cervicitis (infection of the cervix), and pelvic inflammatory disease. If the symptoms of C. trachomatis are unrecognized and untreated, the infection can cause scarring of the fallopian tubes, with infertility, chronic pelvic pain, and chronic fatigue.
But chlamydia infections regularly go unreported because it’s often a silent infection, meaning individuals who’ve acquired it may be asymptomatic. C. trachomatis has a slow incubation period, so the initial signs of the infection may not pop up for weeks.
Additionally, newborns of mothers who have genital chlamydia can acquire the infection, and it can cause conjunctivitis that may result in blindness. For this reason, all newborns in developed countries are treated after birth with antibiotic drops. In the developing world, where sanitation and hygiene are poor, ocular chlamydia infection (called trachoma) is a common cause of blindness. C. trachomatis can also cause pneumonia in newborns from infected mothers.
Diagnosing Chlamydia trachomatis
Testing involves a vaginal, cervical, urethral smear or urine sample using nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). The test is reliable for picking up the infection in asymptomatic individuals. PCR testing also has a high sensitivity.
3. Chlamydia psittaci
C. psittaci is a bacterial infection that typically infects birds of many varieties. Although less common, humans who have contact with birds can acquire the infection as well. The microbe exists endemically in birds without causing disease unless the birds become stressed. Humans can become infected from breathing dust from infected feces or coming in close contact with birds that are infected and ill.
People who are most susceptible to a C. psittaci infection include avian breeders, bird owners, veterinarians, and poultry farm workers, according to a review in Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. Indeed, the incidences of infection are most common in workers in the poultry industry, which is one of the reasons that antibiotic therapy is heavily used in the poultry industry.
Illness from C. psittaci consists of sudden onset of respiratory and flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headaches, muscles aches, and coughing. Initially, the symptoms may be mild, but they can quickly progress to severe pneumonia. Some people may experience complications of the heart, liver, nerves, or brain.
Diagnosing Chlamydia psittaci
Testing should be considered in any person experiencing severe, acute respiratory disease who has had close contact with birds. C. psittaci has not been associated with chronic illness, and typically, people begin to recover soon after taking antibiotics.
Conventional and Natural Remedies for Chlamydia
Both C. trachomatis and C. pneumoniae respond acutely to doxycycline, azithromycin, and other antibiotics, but it’s very unlikely that antibiotics completely eradicate the microbe from the body. Remember, the microbe can stay hidden and dormant in tissues for years where it’s hard to reach. Indeed, a chronic infection with any stealth microbe typically responds poorly to antibiotic therapy.
Therefore, the most functional therapy for chronic chlamydia is long-term suppression of the microbes with antimicrobial herbs, along with restoration of immune system functions. Herbs like berberine, andrographis, cat’s claw, sarsaparilla, and garlic can suppress stealth microbes without disrupting the normal flora of your gut. To enhance the function of the immune system, consider immune-modulating herbs like ashwagandha and Chinese tree bark.
Finally, it’s vital you take steps to sidestep the system disruptors that impair your immune system and leave you vulnerable to an overgrowth of unsavory microbes. That means:
Nourishing your body with a whole-foods diet that’s rich in vegetables and low in processed foods, grain-fed meats, excess carbohydrates, and unhealthy fats.
Purifying your environment by reducing your exposure to environmental toxins. Eat organic when you can, filter your water and air, and choose non-toxic cleaning supplies and beauty products.
Calming your mind on a daily basis with stress reduction and management techniques such as doing yoga, walking, coloring, or even napping.
Activating your body. Doing gentle, restorative exercise every day (yoga, tai chi, qigong) counters the modern-day pitfall of being too sedentary.
No matter which stealth microbes you’re dealing with, healthy lifestyle practices combined with herbal therapies can be beneficial for your healing. But know in advance that you’ll need to exercise patience and persistence with herbs, and you may need to experiment with a few before you find the ones that put you on a path to recovery.
Dr. Rawls is a physician who overcame Lyme disease through natural herbal therapy. You can learn more about Lyme disease in his new best selling book, Unlocking Lyme. You can also learn about his personal journey in overcoming Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in his popular blog post, My Chronic Lyme Journey.
REFERENCES
1. AIrborne and Direct Contact Diseases. Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/airborne/
2. Chlamydia – CDC Fact Sheet (Detailed). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.cdc.gov/std/chlamydia/stdfact-chlamydia-detailed.htm
3. Elwel C, Mirrashidi K, Engel J. Chlamydia cell biology and pathogenesis. Natural Reviews Microbiology. 2016 Jun; 14(6): 385–400. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro.2016.30
4. Krawiec M, Piasecki T, Wieliczko A. Prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci and Other Chlamydia Species in Wild Birds in Poland. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 2015 Nov 1; 15(11): 652–655. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2015.1814
5. Psittacosis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.cdc.gov/pneumonia/atypical/psittacosis/about/diagnosis-treatment-complications.html
6. Libbey JE, Cusick MF, Fujinami RS.Role of pathogens in multiple sclerosis. Int Rev Immunol. 2014 Jul-Aug;33(4):266-83.
7. Käding N et al. Growth of Chlamydia pneumoniae Is Enhanced in Cells with Impaired Mitochondrial Function. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2017 Dec 5;7:499.
8. Ivanova MV et al. Role of Chlamydia in Multiple Sclerosis. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2015 Sep;159(5):646-8.
9. Sriram S et al. Detection of chlamydial bodies and antigens in the central nervous system of patients with multiple sclerosis. J Infect Dis. 2005 Oct 1;192(7):1219-28. Epub 2005 Sep 2.
10. Bayram A1, Erdoğan MB, Ekşi F, Yamak B.Demonstration of Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus in atherosclerotic coronary arteries, nonrheumatic calcific aortic and rheumatic stenotic mitral valves by polymerase chain reaction. Anadolu Kardiyol Derg. 2011 May;11(3):237-43.
Co-infecting agents can be transmitted together with Borrelia burgdorferi by tick bite resulting in multiple infections but a fraction of co-infections occur independently of tick bite. Clinically relevant co-infections are caused by Bartonella species, Yersinia enterocolitica, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae…..Chlamydia trachomatis primarily causes polyarthritis. Chlamydophila pneumoniae not only causes arthritis but also affects the nervous system and the heart, which renders the differential diagnosis difficult.
I am greatly alarmed as a study of feral dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone were found to be rapidly mutating/evolving. The reason for the alarm is the WHY! Once again, we find that the Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 is MIMICKING IONIZING RADIATION – and in ways that directly cause mutations/evolution.
We found that 52 of the genes had associated Gene Ontology (GO) terms for the molecular functions of gene products that are of interest based on a putative response to the exposures from the Chernobyl disaster. These candidate genes were of particular interest because they are involved in functions such as DNA repair and cell cycle checkpoint progression, immune response, and calcium ion binding.
(See link for article and graphs)
_________________
SUMMARY:
Chesnut references a study on wild dogs in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone which found significant genetic differences between dogs occupying areas just 16 km apart due to ionizing radiation.
Regarding DNA repair, the Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 is MIMICKING IONIZING RADIATION – and in ways that directly cause mutations/evolution.
He takes an excerpt from that retracted paper which states that using an in vitro cell line, the spike protein inhibits DNA repair by impeding BRCA1 and 53BP1, which are required for adaptive immunity and that the protein localizes in the nucleus.
Chesnut states that viruses drive evolution and questions if this is being done with manufactured intent.
And all of this could now easily be put into the entire populace through the food supply.
It’s one thing to willingly consent to an experimental, fast-tracked gene therapy injection. It’s another thing entirely to put into the food supply without consent or knowledge.
100 Million animals have already been injected with mRNA technology, and hardly anyone knows about it. They’ve also injected it into vegetables.
Dr. Peter Gøtzsche is a rare individual. A Danish physician and co-founder of the Cochrane Collaboration, he’s been targeted for not touting the accepted narrative on multiple occasions. This quote sums him up well:
“I dig so deeply in my research, that I find the skeletons people have buried down there. And when I put them up on the ground people yell and scream, and call me all sorts of names, because they didn’t think anybody would ever find the skeletons.” ~ Peter Gøtzche
And this infamous quote:
“People avoid an honest academic debate. Instead they revert to authorized information and bull s _ _ _ , which means something that is short of lying.” ~ Peter Gøtzsche
If ever there was a time to know about the skeletons, it’s now and Gøtzche doesn’t disappoint.
Due to his discovery and exposing of skeletons, the Cochrane board by a narrow majority ended his membership. Then, four board members promptly resigned in protest. Gøtzsche had the audacity to defy Big Pharma and the “vaccine” and cancer industries. All of which are big no-nos the the current world we live in.
Renowned Medical Researcher & Colleague Publish Systematic Review of Serious Harms From COVID-19 Vaccines
The review reveals major errors on the part of regulators, flawed health guidance recommendations, weak vaccine trials, underreporting of injury and a miscalculation of cost-benefit analysis.
Dr. Peter Gøtzsche is a well known Danish physician with four decades of research experience, publishing 97 papers in the “big five” (BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, and New England Journal of Medicine) and 19 Cochrane reviews.
He is a co-founder of the Cochrane Collaboration, a British international charitable organization formed to organize medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health professionals, patients and policy makers.
Gøtzsche, along with medical scientist and investigative journalist Maryanne Demasi, PhD, have published a new paper titled “Serious harms of the COVID-19 Vaccines: A Systematic Review.” (See link for article)
________________
SUMMARY:
Big Pharma & drug regulators (corrupt public health) never allowed independent researchers to examine the raw trial data forcing advocacy groups to sue FDA for access to the documents. So much for public health.
The article highlights 9 major points outlined by the authors including the fact many “vaccine” studies are of poor quality but were published anyway. Adenovirus vector “vaccines” increase risk of venous thrombosis and thrombocytopenia while mRNA-based “vaccines” increase the risk of myocarditis with a mortality of about 1-2 per 200 cases. The injections also cause serious neurological harms and autoimmune reactions. The push for population-wide “vaccination” and boosters ignores the negative benefit to harm balance.
Not sure how many experts have to state the obvious but these gene therapy injections need to go away forever.
Recently, Project Veritas did an exposé on a CNN Director who admitted that the climate will be the next “pandemic”-like story that they will beat to death. Despite fighting a losing battle, mainstream media is still trying to keep up appearances and pretend the hoax isn’t falling apart as they are paid by the global elite.
Veteran meteorologist Anthony Watts of the Heartland Institute recently concluded a massive study on the weather and the climate in general. Watts had travelled around the country inspecting meteorological equipment and studying historical weather data from around the globe and has concluded that the claims about warming are completely flawed because 96% of the data is “corrupted.” According to Lt. Col. John Shewchuk, certified consulting meteorologist, NOAA fabricates temperature data for more than 30%of the 1,218 USHCN reporting stations that no longer exist.
Yet, despite thousands of scientists that have signed the World Climate Declaration that states there is no climate emergency,numerous hard realities including deforestation, and the extinction of many animals, some inconvenient truths have come to light:
two independent studies found intensely noisyoffshore wind projects cause hearing loss in marine mammals, turtles, and fish and compromise their ability to navigate, avoid danger, detect predators, and find prey.
please go here to watch an informative video on the staggering amount of energy and resources required to build a single wind turbine. According to this, there are 75,633 turbines covering 45 states plus Guam and Puerto Rico. Recently there’s been a slow down due to defects that according to manufacturers can affect up to 30% of turbines which can cause anything from fires to complete breakdowns where they fall to the ground.
elevated humpback whale mortalities have occurred along the Atlantic coast from Maine through Florida coinciding with offshore operations.
California serves as a prime example of a state that requires conventional energy to keep the fantasy afloat, yet proponents argue this will all be well given more time, more subsidies, more magical thinking, and more pixie dust.
And all of this matters if you want to remain free and like to eat real food.
Under the guise of reducing “methane emissions,” 13 WEF-infiltrated nations have agreed to engineer global famine by abolishing agricultural production and shutting down all farms to ‘save the planet.’ The U.S. is one of those nations.
Energy as a Vehicle of Control and the War on Carbon
According to the globalists, climate change is the No. 1 threat to humanity, necessitating radical quality of life sacrifices and the total relinquishing of privacy and freedom
Climate change is also being used to explain away food shortages, justify the need to move people from the countrysides and suburbs into smart cities, and promote the replacement of beef with insects. The COVID-19 pandemic was even blamed on it
Globalists want health (which includes both medicine and food, under the new “food is medicine” agenda), climate action and energy control to be addressed not as three separate issues but as one
One of the globalists’ fraudulent solutions to the purported climate crisis is Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing. A company’s ESG score is supposed to tell investors how socially conscious the company is, but recent scandals have revealed ESG is a scam
Carbon trade refers to the buying and selling of credits that allow a company to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide. By buying credits from nonpolluters, industry can continue to pollute. Basically, like ESG investing, the carbon trade is a globalist scam intended to lower the living standards of the poor and usher humanity into carbon slavery
According to the globalists, climate change is the No. 1 threat to humanity, necessitating radical quality of life sacrifices and the total relinquishing of privacy and freedom. Germany’s health minister Karl Lauterbach, for example, in December 2020 proclaimed that addressing climate change will require restrictions on personal freedom, similar to those implemented to “flatten the curve” of COVID.1
Similarly, British economics professor Mariana Mazzucato in September 2020 warned that “In the near future, the world may need to resort to lockdowns again — this time to tackle a climate emergency.”2 The World Economic Forum (WEF), the United Nations and the World Health Organization have also published articles stating their intent to “fight climate change” by shutting down society.3
Climate change is also being used to explain away food shortages, justify the need to move people from the countrysides and suburbs into smart cities, and promote the replacement of beef with insects. The COVID-19 pandemic was even blamed on it.
Health, Climate and Energy To Be Addressed as One Issue
Just about anything is now being justified on the basis that it helps address climate change. Indeed, dietary controls, energy control, carbon restrictions and climate change are increasingly tied together, whether it makes sense or not, and the reason for this can be found in a September 2022 WEF article4 co-written by the director of WHO’s Environment and Health Department. As noted in this article, titled “How to Fight the Next Threat to Our World: Air Pollution”:
“[W]orld leaders must put health at the core of climate action and social equity. The fight for clean air can accelerate the reduction of climate-warming emissions, the shift to cheaper and more reliable energy sources and justice for the marginalized and most vulnerable communities … We can confront these crises more effectively and fairly if we address them as one …”
In other words, health (which includes both medicine and food, as government has now launched a “food is medicine” agenda), climate action and energy control are to be addressed not as three separate issues but as one. The potential implications of this are enormous.
If the WHO ends up having sole power over global health, combining health, climate and energy issues into one will automatically give the WHO the de facto power to seize control over society in general.
They could issue climate lockdowns, for example, on the basis that lockdowns reduce pollution, hence improving public health. That the WHO will jump at the opportunity to implement climate lockdowns in particular can be seen in the WHO “Manifesto for a Healthy Recovery From COVID-19,” which states:5
“The ‘lockdown’ measures that have been necessary to control the spread of COVID-19 have slowed economic activity, and disrupted lives — but have also given some glimpses of a possible brighter future. In some places, pollution levels have dropped to such an extent that people have breathed clean air, or have seen blue skies and clear waters, or have been able to walk and cycle safely with their children — for the first times in their lives …
Opinion polls from around the world show that people want to protect the environment, and preserve the positives that have emerged from the crisis, as we recover …
Decisions made in the coming months can either “lock in” economic development patterns that will do permanent and escalating damage to the ecological systems that sustain all human health and livelihoods, or, if wisely taken, can promote a healthier, fairer, and greener world.”
This manifesto also lays out many other aspects of The Great Reset agenda, including smart cities, travel restrictions, new food systems, a complete transition to green energy and more. But again, the thing that will really facilitate all of these changes is to have a centralized powerbase, and that is the WHO.
The WHO could also mandate individual carbon footprint tracking,6 as carbon emissions are claimed to be a primary contributor to climate change. A likely argument would be “We have to rein in our personal carbon footprint because pollution is deadly, and if you don’t, you’re responsible for the death of others.”
Sacrificing selfhood and the rights of individuals to “serve the greater good” is a hallmark call of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, and they used this “care for others” argument during COVID to pressure people into compliance with everything from lockdowns and social distancing to wearing a mask and getting the jab.
The same narrative is also being used to prop up the “climate emergency.” We’re now told we have to sacrifice our standard of living because we have a responsibility both for others and for the earth itself.
However, while pollution is a reality that needs to be addressed, the solution the totalitarian cabal is offering is a gigantic scam designed to disempower and control everyone but the ones at the very top of the power pyramid, while accomplishing little in terms of producing a cleaner environment, let alone having a distinct effect on climate.
The ESG Scam
One of the globalists’ fraudulent solutions to the purported climate crisis is Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing, first popularized in 2004.7 In more recent years, ESG funds have gained steam and now make up about 10% of all invested assets.8
A company’s ESG score is supposed to tell investors how socially conscious the company is, based on its behavior within the environmental, social and corporate sphere. For example, does the company have safeguards in place to protect the environment or policies to address climate change?
How “equitable” is its relationship with employees, suppliers, customers and the local community? And how does it stack up in terms of company leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls and shareholder rights?
Has the company taken steps to eliminate conflicts of interest that encourage self-dealing by executives? Does it conduct independent audits and is there a traceable line of fiduciary duty? And so on.
ESG investing is supposed to encourage companies to act responsibly, but it’s actually having the opposite effect. Somehow or other, companies are greasing the right hands and getting great ESG ratings, only to later turn out to have the worst governance possible and/or a track record of environmental destruction.9
One of the latest in a long line of scandals is that of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that went belly up overnight while its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried absconded with up to $2 billion of client funds.
John Ray, the appointed CEO of FTX’s bankruptcy stated: “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here.”
FTX’s ESG score really ought to have been nonexistent. Cryptocurrencies are extremely energy-intensive and wasteful (the “E” in the score), customer satisfaction (part of the “S” in the score) within the crypto space had been tanking for over a year, courtesy of the repeated evaporation of wealth.
As for the “G,” FTX had no board of directors, an “irregular ownership structure,” was rife with conflicts of interest and self-dealing, and had no financial controls whatsoever. Bankman-Fried didn’t even keep an accurate list of accounts. Yet at the time of FTX’s demise, it had a higher governance score than Exxon Mobil. As reported by Forbes:10
“Of the many dimensions of the FTX fiasco, the most shocking is the comprehensive failure of corporate governance, now becoming clear as the bankruptcy process unfolds. Sloppy and likely illegal management practices at FTX have raised doubts that extend beyond the company to call into question the whole crypto premise. They also cast doubt on the integrity of the ESG rating business …
ESG — broadly, let us call it ‘virtuous investing’ — is now a big business in the investment world. ESG ratings … purport to score capitalists (i.e., private-sector profit-driven corporations) against a melange of ‘goodness’ indicia of all sorts. Does the company’s business model help or hurt the Amazon forest?
Does the firm have enough ADA-rated bathrooms? Does it offer paternity-leave to its employees (regardless of gender)? Does it have board members who check all the right diversity boxes? …
ESG has captivated many, on both the ‘buy-side’ of the market … and on the ‘sell-side’ … But ESG is still a fluid concept, and much has been made recently of the inconsistencies and discrepancies in the ratings. For many, the core of ESG is G … Governance is the tip-of-the-spear when it comes to creating sustainable business models. It all starts from the top, which guides every other aspect all the way down …
According to a recent academic study of six prominent ESG rating agencies … ‘ESG ratings from different providers disagree substantially…’ Most of the divergence/confusion arises from differences in measurement methodology and execution. But there is also evidence of bias: ‘we detect that the rater’s overall view of a firm influences the measurement of specific categories’ …
The panoramic failure of FTX this month highlights a flawed governance framework, which today’s simplistic virtue metrics fail to reflect accurately — hence the absurd rankings cited for FTX vs Exxon and others.”
FTX isn’t alone in falling short of expectations though. According to a September 2021 report by climate change think tank InfluenceMap, more than half of the 723 funds marketed using ESG claims failed to meet the Paris Accord rules on carbon emissions and clean energy, and more than 70% of funds with broad ESG goals failed to meet global climate targets.11
Similarly, a May 2021 report12 by the Economist concluded some of the largest ESG funds in the world are “stuffed full of polluters and sin stocks.” A 2019 report by the Wall Street Journal13 also noted, “Eight of the 10 biggest U.S. sustainable funds are invested in oil-and-gas companies, which are regularly slammed by environmental activists.”
In short, the ESG investing scheme is yet another globalist scam that allows them to promote their own agenda outside of the democratic process.
Wind turbines, solar panels and electric-everything is touted as the answer to the purported climate crisis, yet most of these “green” solutions are far more environmentally destructive than oil and gas.14
Many also end up requiring more fuel rather than less. Importantly, there aren’t even enough minerals in the world to allow even a single country to go 100% electric. As just one example, to replace the 31.5 million vehicles in the U.K. with electric cars will require twice the global supply of cobalt!15 The math just doesn’t work.
So, are the globalists stupid? No. They’re fully aware they can’t replace all gas-powered cars with EVs, be it by 2030 or 2050. See, they know you won’t even be allowed to travel very far by the time the EV goals and mandates go into effect, so you won’t need a car in the first place.
Forcing states and countries to transition to EVs merely speeds up the end goal of preventing you from owning a car and driving anywhere. It also justifies the creation of “15-minute cities.”
Farmers Are Being Pushed Into Carbon Slavery
As Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., cofounder of the Indian NGO Navdanya, has warned, we are being ushered into carbon slavery. As explained in Navdanya’s report, “Earth Democracy: Connecting Rights of Mother Earth to Human Rights and Well-Being of All”:16
“If ‘feeding the world’ through chemicals and dwarf varieties bred for chemicals was the false narrative created to impose the Green Revolution, the new false narrative is ‘sustainability’ and ‘saving the planet.’
In the new ‘net zero’ world, farmers will not be respected and rewarded as custodians of the land and caregivers … the providers of our food and health. They will not be paid a fair and just price for growing healthy food through ecological processes, which protect and regenerate the farming systems as a whole.
They will be paid for linear extraction of fragments of the ecological functions of the system, which can be tied to the new ‘net zero’ false climate solution based on a fake calculus, fake science allowing continued emissions while taking control over the land of indigenous people and small farmers.
‘Net Zero’ is a new strategy to get rid of small farmers … through the burden of fake carbon accounting. Carbon offsets and the new accounting trick of ‘net zero’ does not mean zero emissions. It means the rich polluters will continue to pollute and also grab the land and resources of those who have not polluted — indigenous people and small farmers — for carbon offsets.”
Bill Gates has alluded to this double-standard in responding to those who criticize him for the hypocrisy of being a serious polluter himself, with a 66,000 square-foot mansion, a private jet, 242,000 acres of farmland and investments in fossil fuel-dependent industries such as airlines, heavy machinery and cars.17
This pollution is acceptable, Gates said, because, “I am offsetting my carbon emissions by buying clean aviation fuel, and funding carbon capture and funding low-cost housing projects to use electricity instead of natural gas.”18
Focusing solely on carbon reductionism also misses the point that lands, forests and ecosystems are more than just the carbon stored in them, and putting carbon conditions on small farmers will only make environmental injustices worse. As noted by Navdanya’s report, “Conditionalities put on the nonpolluters by the polluters who want to continue to pollute is unjust and ecologically, morally and ethically bankrupt.”
The Carbon Trade Scam
Carbon trade refers to the buying and selling of credits that allow a company to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide, and by buying credits from nonpolluters, industry can continue to pollute. Basically, like ESG investing, it’s nothing but a globalist scam that lowers the living standards of the poor while having no negative impact on the wealthy.
Indeed, you can be assured that the carbon restrictions that will be placed on humanity will not apply to the globalists. They can simply buy enough carbon credits to maintain their lifestyle, while the lower-, middle- and even upper classes of “regular” folk will be forced to make major sacrifices to theirs. Ultimately, carbon slavery will apply not just to farmers but to all of us, as our personal carbon footprint will be part of our social credit score.
The first credit card with a carbon-emission spending limit was introduced in April 2019. As explained by the World Economic Forum,19 “Everything we put in our shopping basket comes at an environmental cost … Swedish fintech company Doconomy has launched a new credit card that monitors the carbon footprint of its customers — and cuts off their spending when they hit their carbon max.” Isn’t that nice? They’re helping you do your part to save the planet!
Or are they? “Helpful” tools like this will ultimately become tools for control. Eventually, your carbon footprint will dictate what you can eat and wear, where you can live and how far you can travel, and you won’t even need a special credit card. Meanwhile, there will be plenty of loopholes for the rich.
ESG, the carbon trade and personal carbon footprint tracking will all become barriers of entry — a way to keep the peons out of the rich boys’ club. Needless to say, rigged schemes like ESG and the carbon trade also make it difficult for startup companies to compete, which will facilitate consolidation of companies and industries into mega-monopolies.
Last but not least, the focus on carbon emissions has made the world turn a blind eye to other far more harmful kinds of pollution, such as dioxin — thought to be the most toxic molecule on Earth — which in March 2023 was allowed to contaminate huge areas of Ohio without government lifting a finger to address it.20
Nourishing your body with a whole-foods diet that’s rich in vegetables and low in processed foods, grain-fed meats, excess carbohydrates, and unhealthy fats.
Purifying your environment by reducing your exposure to environmental toxins. Eat organic when you can, filter your water and air, and choose non-toxic cleaning supplies and beauty products.
Calming your mind on a daily basis with stress reduction and management techniques such as doing yoga, walking, coloring, or even napping.
Activating your body. Doing gentle, restorative exercise every day (yoga, tai chi, qigong) counters the modern-day pitfall of being too sedentary.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 