3.26.20 Bee-otches of the Day: anybody who wants privatization of everything

BECOME AN AFFILIATE OF T-SHIRT HELL AND MAKE SOME MONEY!

Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday; Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Sunday morning on Chuck69.com.

-------

Name: various
Age: various
Occupation: various
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: not learning their lesson                                                                

----

By now, I think we're all tired of hearing about the coronavirus.

Here in Michigan, 2,900 people now have the virus, which has killed 60 so far in this state. In America alone, we have officially beaten China - the virus' originating country - as the nation with the most cases of COVID-19 with 82,500 people. The virus has now killed 1,200 people in America alone.

We all know where it all began: a meat market in Wuhan, China where animals are slaughtered on the spot. The market also sold animals that many of us would never eat, like dogs, cats and the animal linked to the virus, bats.

In China, there's hardly any government looking over the meat industry, which is why people got sick in the first place. Of course, the country deserves credit since they quickly built hospitals to treat the virus. Now, COVID-19 is all but a memory in China itself. As a matter of fact, movie theaters have reopened in the country.

The sad truth is that here in America, there's folks who all think that the government doesn't need to look over our backs and breathe down our throats. Those fucktards all think that EVERYTHING should be privatized, including Social Security and even the Post Office. They get scared when the subject of universal healthcare is raised. However, there's lots of socialized services that America has, like fire and police departments, schools and libraries.

Hell, there's the USDA, which inspects the food we eat. I remembered as a kid hearing about an Arab-owned supermarket in Detroit that sold meat that was ten years old. They kept relabeling the packages' expiration dates and they were caught. Sadly, there's other stores elsewhere who have all done this and the USDA won't take their shit.

Of course I mentioned the Post Office. Virtually every community in America has one, even in towns where there's maybe a few dozen people. Now, I grew up in BFE and my post office covered a lot of real estate. As a matter of fact, it was 8.6 miles away. To us, it was a convenience if we had a package, especially one that was too big for our mailbox. Now, just imagine if the Post Office was privatized. Let's say that the government was nice enough to sell it to some firm that decided to save money on their end by closing all of the Post Offices in rural areas and forcing people to drive 50 miles to pick up or deliver packages. Or even worse, they can determine that a certain area is too small for their company, so they will have to close. Where I'm originally from in northern Michigan, there's 143,000 in the Traverse City micropolitan area vs. 200,000 in Grand Rapids alone. Traverse City has seen some successful chain businesses close because the owners no longer saw them to be profitable enough to stay open.

Look at healthcare in America vs. other countries. If you get cancer here in America and survive, you end up bankrupt. In other civilized nations, you'll be just fine. Why? Because here in America, healthcare is privatized. In other countries - you guessed it - it's government-run. Not only that, other nations pay a helluva lot less in healthcare than here in America, where the CEOs of health insurance companies are millionaires.

Also, look at broadcasting and journalism. Government-run broadcasters like the BBC and CBC are often lauded for their journalism. Here, we have the corporate-owned media, which tends to skewer the news for their own good. Decades ago, TV and radio HAD to report both sides of a story. If the station manager gave out a commentary, a local could give a counterpoint free of charge. It was all because of the Fairness Doctrine, which president Reagan revoked in 1987. Because of Reagan, AM Talk Radio stations could now air far-right-winged morons 24/7 like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. OTOH, lefties like Thom Hartmann others are now being demoted to community-run stations with few listeners. Things only got worse with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed companies to have virtually no limit on what they could own. Companies bought up too many stations and in the end, many of them, like iHeartMedia and Cumulus all ended up bankrupt. Here in Grand Rapids, all three big radio groups ended up in bankruptcy. In Traverse City, there were once five big radio companies, and now there's three. One just sold four of their six stations for way less than what they paid for one station 20 years ago. Another group has all of their stations off the air due to poor management. In Ludington, long-silent WMOM 102.7 - which previously aired a CHR format - just sold for a mere $44,000 to one of the owners of WION-I1430  in Ionia and WGLM-M106.3 in Greenville.

And don't get me started on Traverse City's TV situation where the owners of NBC WPBN 7&4 and CBS WWTV 9&10 created backroom deals where 7&4 now operates WGTU ABC 29&8 and 9&10 operates Fox WFQX 32. To make matters worse, 7&4 and 29&8 are now operated by ultra-conservative broadcaster Sinclair.

The thing is, WE THE PEOPLE need to tell the government to do their fucking job and stop being lax to corporations that won't do their jobs! This is why we need more government regulations and not less. WE THE PEOPLE should have the right to work in a safe place where we don't risk dying daily. We demand to eat good food, get our damn mail daily and to watch newscasts where they intentionally make Bernie Sanders sound like Charlie Brown's teacher.

The fact that AMERICA now has more COVID cases than other countries should make us wake up. If Drumpf wins in November because his supporters are like, "OH, GOODY! HE PAID ME TO SIT ON MY ASS FOR THREE WEEKS!", we're doomed.

It's time to smell the roses. But, we'll do it after it warms up and COVID is gone because warmth will kill it.

--

  ----

Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

CHUCK69.COM IS ALWAYS ON!