Just before he left the White House for the last time, President Eisenhower warned the nation about the dangers and threats of the Military Industrial Complex. To simplify it, the military was always looking for new and better weapons, and the industries were eager to supply them. Sometimes the industries sent their sales personnel to the Pentagon to convince the military that they really needed this new rifle or weapons system, explosive, plane, or something else. When the transaction was completed, the cost was added to the Department of Defense budget. It is one of the largest portions of our country’s expense. Now, take one guess who gets to pay for all of this stuff? You and I do. Every April when we send a love letter to Our Uncle Who Art in Washington, we are expected to increase our “gift” to cover the tab. It’s everything from uniform buttons and shoelaces, all the way to weapons they keep secret from us.
The M-I is still at it, and more efficient than ever. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones operating in this racket.
It seems to me that the Food, Insurance, and Nursing Home Complex is just about as greedy. We know we have to eat, but even if we try to eat healthy, each year we are still eating more unhealthy food. Much of it is heavily laden with more chemicals, micro-plastics and other toxins. There is really no escape from it. That daily apple we eat to keep the doctor away is loaded with the bad stuff. It comes from the fertilizers put on the soil, the herbicides and pesticides, the production of the food itself, and all the way to the flimsy plastic which is used to wrap it. It continues in our kitchen with the ‘no stick’ pots and pans, cooking oils, and spray-on lubricants. Chemicals and micro-plastics are in our furniture, clothing, and everything else we own. These toxins are quite literally, everywhere and leaching ever deeper into the soil where our food is grown.
The worst of it is the highly processed foods, and the Big Food corporations found a way to make us addicted to it: The chemicals on the label, especially the corn syrup sweeteners, tell the story. The companies have been doing it for years, beginning with TV dinners and sugary Pop Tarts. Probably, some of the same corporations who make lethal weapons for the military are making those additives.
Periodically we turn up at our doctor’s office and are told that we need to put down our electric fork and cut back on how much we are eating and drinking. While we are at it, we are advised to get more exercise. Oh, goody-goody gumdrops! That means we have to take responsibility for our own wellbeing, and who wants to do that anymore? Start walking or running so we can breathe in more micro-plastics from a factory far off the distance such as China, the oil refineries, plastic manufacturers, or a forest fire in Canada.
Most of us really do not want to put in the time and effort to get in better shape, so guess who has come up with a pill, injection or some formula to help us lose weight. Big Pharma to the rescue. Their products are expensive, which is why they double-down with all of the advertising in hopes of luring in more customers. We see the advertisements, and then the warning – may cause heart trouble, nausea, organ collapse, headaches, fatigue, or lead to suicidal thoughts. Even if that does not happen, you just ingested a whole lot of chemicals that might not leave your body.
Between the food chemicals, all the forever chemicals around us, and the medications, we get to clog up our arteries with bad stuff, slowly destroy some of our vital organs, and fill up our brain with the toxins that will speed our brain into flying “off with the fairies” as my British friends say.
Sadly, even our homes are becoming our enemy. It is the chemicals that we turn loose when we light a candle, spray room air freshener. It is from the carpet, furniture, and drape, wallpaper and paint.
Do not worry. It’s Big Pharma to the rescue once again, this time with a brand-new set of medicinal chemicals that can clear out all of those forever chemicals. We will be good to go, so long as we renew our prescriptions.
The other piece of good news is that either the Big Pharma or a health insurance company will help pay the cost. You might even get it for free. Before we get carried away, let’s remember the old adage, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Pure and simple, no messing, someone is going to pay for this, and we know the answer: We all are.
We know that no matter how hard we try, how carefully we monitor our health, eventually we are going to age. I don’t mean just get old or pile on the years; I mean we really age. The body starts to give out, we walk more slowly and unsteadily, and our mind starts to slow down.
Somewhere along the line, a well-meaning person (or so we hope) suggests it is time to downsize and move into some sort of facility. We’ll call it “Ground Hog Day Village” because their unspoken and unofficial motto will be “every day is a repeat of the day before just like the movie.” Same activities, same food, same underpaid assistant bursting into our room in the morning to ask, “And how are WE this morning?” or asking embarrassing personal questions about the efficiency of our digestive system.
Hidden away in these joints is a back office where someone who knows a thing or two about money begins to realize that your bank account is moving toward the “E” – as in empty. This can be alarming to corporation that owns Ground Hog Day Village because they want to time things out perfectly. I am convinced they want us to fall off your perch just after they have squeezed every penny out of our savings. Children and grandchildren get left out in the cold on what they had once hoped might be at least a small check.
There you have it – the results of living in the modern age. Pay your money and take your choice – the ‘bomb’ or a combination of the unholy alliance of Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Nursing Home. We came into the world with nothing, and between the M-I and the Bigs, they are going to make sure that we go out with nothing.
