in part 2, the gang wraps up their presentation on private equity - an entity that is eternally in dialectical relation to seemingly unrelated things: upcoding, out-of-network providers, political economy, and - most importantly - helicopter insurance.

we relate the importance of understanding the horrors and contradictions of late Modernity as

* -a systemic, structural issue (the capitalist mode of production, whose phenotype manifests in America as bourgeois white cisheteropatriarchy)

* -that necessitates a systemic, structural solution (new social relations, arriving through the vehicle of multiracial, queer, feminist, proletarian struggle)

* -which therefore cannot be resolved through individual action alone (the primary logic of neoliberalism, which systemically reveals itself as the 3-headed-hydra of privatization, deregulation, & austerity).

incorporating simultaneous perspectives, rather than incorrectly choosing between identity politics (a social analysis) and class politics (an economic analysis), is ‘the move’ that takes us one step closer to our collective liberation.

correction: at 40:26 - medical debt is the #1 cause of *BANKRUPTCY* in the US.

music:

intro - created by fidel cashtho

closing track - you can get it by BUMPER

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the gang accidentally endorses Passive Suicidal Ideation as the official State ideology of M&M, but then gracefully recovers with a grand rounds-style presentation on the pervasive creep of Private Equity into healthcare. just what is this elite sub-class of vampiric capitalist bastards up to? u gotta hear it (because podcast) 2 believe it.

tunes:

intro: created by fidel cashtho

closing music: C.R.E.A.M. by Wu-Tang Clan

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bae rightly scolds fidel and sigmund for fomenting chaos at mcdonalds (trying the mcrib), but sigmund redeems herself by presenting a terrific case study of the historical rise and fall of Hahnemann University Hospital (Rest In Power) in Philly. winners: real estate moguls and private equity psychopaths, specifically Joel Freedman. losers: patients, students, healthcare and hospital workers, and increasingly the future of medicine in the united states.

further reading:

* long-form exposé of Allegheny Health Network’s role in Hahnemann’s eventual demise by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Anatomy of a Bankruptcy”

* “Hahnemann University Hospital real estate comes up for sale in 'generational opportunity'“

music:

* intro: created by fidel cashtho

* old timey music: blue room by benny goodman

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.marxismandmedicine.com

in part 2, we finish our discussion on philanthrocapitalism, as well as attempt to explore what 'democracy' actually means, what it should include, and what it might actually look like.

music: bill gates must die - john vanderslice

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fidel's partner gets laid off, sigmund fraud has another simpsons reference, and bae guevara presents our discussion of a little something called philanthrocapitalism - the space our modern business aristocracy inhabits at the intersection of charitable giving and profitable ventures. doesn't really make sense when you say it that way does it? yeah it actually doesn't. so why does it exist? we're not really sure! it's episode 1! (but actually episode... 3? it doesn't matter, everything is fake, life is meaningless, etc.)

opening music: created and produced by fidel cashtho
closing music: Before The Water Gets Too High - Parquet Courts

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we couldn't resist bringing you this special *~EMERGENCY POD~* folks. it's politics time in America, and it's looking like uncle joe is stealing the throne from the danged cheeto. Helen Killer, Bae Guevara, & Fidel Cashtho discuss the conservative meltdown over Jo Jorgensen aka "Yo Yorgensen" aka "JoJo" and her surprising performance; liberals with terminal brain damage who are excited at the prospect of 'renewed bipartisanship' with the odious bloodthirsty maniacs that comprise the GOP establishment; and some 'common sense reforms' that can make a 'democracy' such as the USA an actually democratic nation.

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Welcome to our pilot episode of M&M!

Kirby Sigston, Lord Gaddafi, & Maximilien Zapata explore the thrilling world of presidential candidates’ healthcare platforms.



Sources:

Trump: https://www.promiseskept.com/achievement/overview/healthcare/

Joe’s Vision: https://joebiden.com/healthcare/

Howie Hawkins - Green Party: https://www.gp.org/single_payer

Jo Jorgenson - Libertarian Party: https://jo20.com/issues/healthcare/

Three pinocchios for calling Singapore’s far superior healthcare system “like ours” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Singapore

“Healthcare in Singapore is supervised by the Ministry of Health of the Singapore Government. It largely consists of a government-run universal healthcare system with a significant private healthcare sector. [...] Approximately 70–80% of Singaporeans obtain their medical care within the public health system. Overall government spending on public healthcare amounts to 1.6% of annual GDP.”

Comrade Gloria La Riva - Party for Socialism and Liberation: https://www.lariva2020.org/program

The Other Phil Collins - Prohibition Party: http://prohibitionists.org/Background/Party_Platform/body_party_platform.html

Kanye West - Birthday Party: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West_2020_presidential_campaign

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.marxismandmedicine.com

this serves as a bridge from the podcast formerly known as 'reunion.' this episode covers Friedrich Engels's seminal text - Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880). using this pamphlet, we explore how we should interpret modern day capital-M Medicine through a Marxist lens. just like you see throughout other sectors of society, the medical-industrial complex has its own division of labor and class distinctions that consolidate power into an owning/ruling class with the ability to dictate the conditions of healthcare finance and administration. what are these classes? who constitutes these classes? how do we use that information to understand politics? to create a better healthcare system? all of these important questions will be answered - and more! (whether u like it or not.)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.marxismandmedicine.com

what's good yall? (nothing right now to be exact.) #1 & #2 are back in this admittedly long ass episode where we dissect COVID-19, its implications on our healthcare system, and (importantly) the potentially drastic social-economic effects on the world's most vulnerable people. stock exchange is down, anxieties are up, and Clorox® is MIA. what's the best way to interpret a pandemic in the 21st century? by boldly traversing uncharted territory - something nobody else is trying - doin a podcast.

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welcome back to our 2-part special on the medical-industrial complex... part 2. today #1 returns to center an important piece of modern propaganda - the individualisation of struggle - which tells us that our choices alone determine our future, while ignoring the collective economic shitstorm of society that plays a much bigger role in the poisoning of our social relationships in general.

how do we understand the improvement of society as an intersectional, collective struggle? a struggle based on individual needs, but more fundamentally class, as well as identity? how do we connect health justice with other societal goals like housing justice? the women's movement or queer liberation? reproductive justice? black, brown, and indigenous emancipation?

capitalism is an economic system that gives rise to certain political structures and social/cultural formations. it digs its claws into every aspect of our world to make money and commodity the primary endpoints of human life rather than mutual aid and cooperation across our planet. it divides people based on constructed differences of class, race, gender, sexuality, or citizenship status, people who are otherwise like-minded and want the same things: safety and prosperity for themselves, their families, and humanity. it is an economic system that creates leisure for the few and suffering for the rest; and while privatized healthcare is merely one way this suffering is extended to the masses, it interacts with many other sectors of society like education or food or child care to create the perfect storm of exploitation.
we cannot interpret anything in a vacuum because it's all connected - just like each and every one of us, no matter how alienated we all sometimes feel from each other.

[email protected]
episode art by @toosphexy on instagram
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.marxismandmedicine.com