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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter!
Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
Partners in CrimeEugenia Tsao reports on the upcoming revision of one of the most important books in America, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Here’s where the drug lords, the shrinks and the insurance companies collude in establishing hundreds of bogus psychic conditions requiring the psychotropic drugs from which they reap billions every year. There are about 250,000 migrant laborers in Israel, mostly from the Philippines and Thailand. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Palestinians can’t find work. From Tel Aviv, Yonatan Preminger reports on Israel’s vicious employment strategy. Also in this latest newsletter Andrew Cockburn updates his CounterPunch world exclusive on how the U.S. has secretly helped build Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents.
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Today's Stories July 3-5, 2009 Eamonn Fingleton July 2, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff Wendell Potter Ellen Hodgson Brown Christian Christensen Iran: Networked Dissent? Patrick Irelan Binoy Kampmark Returning Iraq Nicola Nasser Brian Tokar Dan Bacher Website of the Day July 1, 2009 Vijay Prashad Alberto Vallente Thorensen Paul Craig Roberts Robert Weissman Manuel García, Jr. Victor Figueroa-Clark / Pablo Navarrete Norman Solomon Franklin Lamb Martha Rosenberg Diane Rejman Website of the Day June 30, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Benjamin Dangl Jonathan Cook Franklin Lamb George Wuerthner Todd Gordon Ron Jacobs Kenneth Libby Julian Vigo Website of the Day
June 29, 2009 Ishmael Reed Nikolas Kozloff Clifton Ross Patrick Cockburn Uri Avnery Conn Hallinan James G. Abourezk Ralph Nader Carol Miller Greg Moses Website of the Day June 26-28, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Doug Peacock Daniel Wolff Mike Whitney John Ross David Rosen Emily Ratner Gareth Porter Farid Marjai Nadia Hijab Paul Craig Roberts Fred Gardner Carl Ginsburg Paul Watson David Ker Thomson Farzana Versey Geoff Berne Todd Alan Price Ramzy Baroud Jeff Sher Dr. Carol Paris Despite My Arrest by Max Baucus, I Will Continue to Advocate for Quality Health Care for All Walter Brasch Adultery as Family Value? Glen Johnson Charlotte Laws Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 25, 2009 Kathy Kelly Jack Bratich Wendell Potter Charles R. Larson Alan Farago Jonathan Cook Gareth Porter Bitta Mostofi / David Macaray Mark Schuller Website of the Day June 24, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Dean Baker Andy Worthington James Bovard Diana Gibson / P. Sainath Gareth Porter Robert Alvarez Dave Lindorff Steven Colatrella Remembering Giovanni Arrighi Website of the Day
June 23, 2009 David Price Patrick Cockburn James Ridgeway / Dave Lindorff Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero Gary Leupp Brian M. Downing Robert Bryce Nicholas Dearden Yousef Munayyer Website of the Day June 22, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Chris Floyd Jack Z. Bratich Atash Yaghmaian Laura Carlsen Paul Craig Roberts Vijay Prashad Fred Gardner Andy Thayer David Macaray Website of the Day
June 19 - 21, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Al Giordano Henry A. Giroux Anthony DiMaggio Paul Craig Roberts John Ross Gareth Porter Carl Ginsburg Tommi Avicolli Mecca Joe Bageant Serge Halimi P. Sainath Jim Goodman Dave Lindorff Rannie Amiri Robert Fantina Harvey Wasserman Walter Brasch David Ker Thomson Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Ben Sonnenberg Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 18, 2009 Uri Avnery Robert Sandels / Anthony DiMaggio Robert Weissman Joshua Frank Jonathan Cook Reza Fiyouzat Norman Solomon Ali Jawad James Ridgeway Website of the Day June 17, 2009 Carl Boggs Dr. Bryant Welch Winslow T. Wheeler Liaquat Ali Khan Jonathan Cook Binoy Kampmark Karim Makdisi Dave Lindorff David Swanson Gene Marx Website of the Day June 16, 2009 Patrick Cockburn John Ross Afshin Rattansi Marc Levy Paul Craig Roberts Behzad Yaghmaian Brian M. Downing Merle Lefkoff David Macaray Robert Jensen David Swanson Website of the Day June 15, 2009 Michael Hudson Reza Fiyouzat Patrick Cockburn James Ridgeway Marjorie Cohn Rannie Amiri Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Leonard Schwartz Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day June 12-14, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Gareth Porter Mike Whitney Mark Ames Esam Al-Amin Franklin Lamb Patrick Cockburn Andy Worthington Heather Gray Felice Pace Ron Jacobs George Wuerthner Jeffrey Buchanan / David Ker Thomson Renaud Lambert Kevin Zeese David Macaray Evelyn Pringle Chris Genovali David Michael Green Brian J. Foley Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
June 11, 2009 Kathy Kelly / James Bovard Tristan de Bourbon Dave Lindorff Kevin Zeese Ralph Nader Harvey Wasserman Nicole Colson Mark Weisbrot Dan Bacher Website of the Day June 10, 2009 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Jennifer Van Bergen / Douglas Valentine Kathy Kelly Paul Craig Roberts Rev. William E. Alberts Peter Lee Carol Miller Emily Ratner Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day June 9, 2009 Winslow T. Wheeler Mike Whitney Stan Cox Sibel Edmonds Jonathan Cook David Macaray Robert Jensen Nadia Hijab Mark Weisbrot Website of the Day June 8, 2009 John Ross Paul Craig Roberts Franklin C. Spinney Franklin Lamb Uri Avnery Jonathan Cook Eric Toussaint Jim Goodman Norman Solomon Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day June 5 -7, 200 Alexander Cockburn George Galloway Paul Craig Roberts Jennifer Loewenstein Franklin Lamb Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Missy Comley Beattie Farzana Versey Stanley Heller John V. Whitbeck Robert Weissman Lee Sustar Dave Lindorff William Blum Ernest Callenbach / Greg Moses Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Tim Stelloh Belén Fernández David Ker Thomson Karyn Strickler Christopher Brauchli Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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Weekend Edition From Cars to HeroinBad Times, Worse HabitsBy SAUL LANDAU You know bad times have hit when Illinois budget cuts no longer permit the state to bury dead indigents. A letter to funeral homes from the Department of Human Services blamed “the General Assembly’s failure to approve the revenue plan proposed by Gov. Quinn.” Illinois paid about $15 million yearly to bury some 10,000 impoverished people. “Funeral directors predicted bodies will begin piling up at medical examiner’s offices.” (Chicago Sun Times, June 16) The living aren’t making well either. Despite President Obama’s generous bank bailouts and auto buyouts, US unemployment rolls rose to their highest levels since the Great Depression, claimed USA Today. (June 12, 2009) In response to economic bad news industry leaders encouraged the public to relapse into a bad habit as the way of saving the economy. Instead of advising people to join CBA (Car Buyers Anonymous), the manufacturers, bankrolled by the government, call for reversion to the car addiction. According to a New York Times headline, “Industry fear US May Quit New Car Habit.” (May 31) Permanently kicking this addiction could seriously derail key economic recovery. So, we get questions like: “Can American drivers live without the new car smell?” Times reporter Micheline Maynard, wrote that just two years ago “Americans appeared hooked” on new cars. Before the economic plunge sales had reached levels of “more than 17 million a year.” That’s the good habit. On the same NY Times front page, we get a different take on another habit. “In Heartland Death, Traces of Heroin’s Spread.” The article continues: “groups are…making new inroads across the country, pushing a powerful form of heroin…known as black tar.” Wait a minute! People get laid off, can’t find new jobs; or face job and pay cuts need some relief. How can they afford a new car? And will a new car help them deal with depression and anxiety? Compare the habits. The noble individuals on car lots who extol the benefits and beauty of shiny new gas consuming hunks of metal and plastic are called a sales force. They offer satisfaction for a good craving that 17 million people once had. Carvings change with the times, obviously. Job loss for some means pay cuts for others and reduced work time for even more. The paid work week now averages only 33 hours. Count furloughs and involuntary part-time work for some 9 million other people and the scene begins to reproduce conditions of the 1930s. Bummer! In some cities, especially those most hit by the bursting housing bubble, joblessness has endured for almost half a year: a post-Depression high of 22.5 weeks. “Baby boomers—79 million people born from 1946 to 1964—have been hit particularly hard,” USA Today states. Unemployment rates for workers over 45 have reached the highest level in decades. The US public as a whole had depleted its assets by $1.33 trillion from January through March. Multiply that by ten and you’ll get more or less the total loss in US assets since the down turn began – some $14 trillion. Numbers and statistics transform themselves into metaphors. To understand poverty, imagine yourself as the “typical American working family.” Your husband works in a factory near Cleveland where manufacturers announced impending layoffs. You work for American Airlines, which has also announced a major cut (1,600 jobs). You call a friend working at Delta, also chiming in with intentions to slash its work force. Try to sell that person a new car by telling him or her it will “answer your needs, improve your sex life and magically produce prestige and status! In May, foreclosure filings rose 18 percent (322,000) from last year. “There were almost one million foreclosure filings in a three-month period, and that’s simply unprecedented,” said California-based RealtyTrac Senior Vice President Rick Sharga. (USA Today) On TV shows, magazine and newspapers bad numbers abound alongside celebrity divorces, marriages and drug overdoses, to make you feel informed, anxious or depressed? Even that confusion will not easily stimulate the urge for a new car. In the first quarter of 2009, foreclosure filings exceeded 300,000. In 2006, less than 100,000 filings occurred per month. May also saw a rise in bank repossessions and RealtyTrac forecasted that some 4 million foreclosure filings will be made this year -- 900,000 more than the record number in 2008. Couples huddle in their kitchens as news reports flash that delinquencies on bank credit cards also rose in the first quarter of this year – by 11% over last year. Will they be able to make the monthly payment on their Visa or MasterCard? Does the story imply they should all pity the poor creditors? Or does it signify they will join the growing number of deadbeats? Such news more than dampens the car buying spirit, it could infringe on the nation’s larger spiritual values: daily shopping and new car waxing and washing. Luckily, the USA Today reader discovers, retail sales rose in May (0.5 percent from April). But – here comes the bad news -- so did gas prices, which accounted for much of the rise. May retail sales remained almost 10% percent lower than last year. The labor market – another wonderful euphemism -- remained weak with wages “flat or falling.” The Fed’s report also stressed that commercial real estate was in crisis; in much of the United States vacancy rates continued high and rising. So where are the dispossessed living? Deutsche Bank, reported the NY Times, offered a new report on residential real estate in which its experts predict a sharp drop in home prices in metropolitan New York City (Westchester, northern New Jersey and other nearby areas). The German Bank foresees a fall of 40% from March prices. More numbers! The New York resident who just received notice that his work week had been reduced cannot afford to pay inflated home prices (which peaked in the second quarter of 2007 at $552,000); nor can he rent at current prices. What will he or she do? In Chicago sales fell; manufacturing and capital spending declined. Dallas business was “bouncing along the bottom.” St. Louis area manufacturers announced shutdowns and permanent layoffs. The Obama administration’s recovery means the gross domestic product must rise by 1-2 percent later this year or early in 2010. If this happens, workers will not necessarily recover jobs or wages. The jobless rate might hit 10% percent by Christmas 2009 and the Wall Street Journal’s experts foresee the possibility of one million more jobs disappearing by summer 2010. In such a climate, Americans should at least compare the two habits. The NY Times presents new cars offered by great companies that manufacture them to “Mexican drug cartels” who “pushed heroin sales beyond major cities into America’s suburban and rural byways.” As Fiat buys Chrysler, the Times reports disparagingly about how Mexican cartels, “the greatest organized crime threat in the United States,” are “taking over heroin distribution from Columbians and Dominicans.” As car sales fall, the cartels are “making new inroads across the country.” The bad habit bears, however, introduced a new product into the heartland of the country that is selling like proverbial hotcakes. Heroin, peddled by “illegal immigrants,” killed Dana Smith, of Grove City, Ohio. Her two brothers are also addicted. The story elicited pity for the mother and blames those immigrants who sell dime bags on small town streets because they lost their jobs and couldn’t get new ones. It didn’t report how doctors and pharmacists make available similar albeit legal items to people who need sleep, euphoria, more energy – escape from reality. Nor did the Times compare the effects of each habit. 1999 statistics show some 43,000 people died in auto accidents compared to 19,000 who perished from drug abuse (not only heroin). The UN reported global drug business grossing $320 billion annually, the 21st largest economy -- after Sweden. Some 200,000 die each year as a result of the illegal drug trade; five million die from tobacco and 2.5 million from alcohol. Lousy habits – all of them. But the Times doesn’t ask: why should the premises of our society provoke so many destructive habits? Instead, like a stenographer, it reports industry’s attempt to extol the virtues of one bad habit, while morally demeaning another one that causes less death and environmental destruction. Bad times can encourage worse habits. Addiction to drugs – or alcohol produces disastrous results. But this should not become a reason to try to re-hook people on cars, as our environment warns us to make drastic changes in just such a habit. Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow. A BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD was published by Counterpunch/AK. His films are available on dvd from roundworldproductions@gmail.com
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
Spell Albuquerque:
Waiting for
Lightning
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