Three American Systems of Oppression

There are three American systems of oppression that have been growing, some would say exploding over the past 20 to 30 years.  Two are familiar, but the third may be new to the reader.

1.  The wealth gap, especially the racial wealth gap, has exploded over the past 30 years.  Rec. books:  The Politics of Rich and Poor, 1990; Toxic Inequality, 2017.

2.  The mass incarceration of Blacks and Hispanics.  Rec. book, The New Jim Crow, 2010.

3.  The American medical system is broken,  exploited by corporate capitalism.  "The system isn't working for anyone now," says a new book written by a doctor-journalist titled An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business.  This book may become to to healthcare what The New Jim Crow is/was to mass incarceration.

Here are some descriptions of An American Sickness:  "filled with fury and compassion"; describes a medical system that is "dangerous, expensive, and dysfunctional"; "How did things go so bad so fast?"

The cleverest systems of oppression are those which are tied to a legitimate social need; a society must have a criminal justice system, a healthcare system, a financial/economic system.  One financial expert wrote that about half of America's financial experts are unneeded; they are parasites on the economy.  Without question we need doctors, nurses and hospitals and they often provide quality care.  But corporate capitalism doubles the cost.

An editorial in the April 17, 2017 Des Moines Register titled "Wellmark, Aetna exits call for public option."  Iowa will have few private insurers for Obamacare.  A federal 'public option', federal insurance, is needed.  Tax credits and allowing people to buy insurance across state lines will not suffice.

"While much of Obamacare works well, the law's heavy reliance on private insurers to cover millions of Americans is not sustainable in the long run. . . . Insurers are in a position to demand more and more money from taxpayers and customers.  And when they decide not to sell policies, Americans will be uninsured. . . .   Uncle Sam has been a dependable provider of health insurance for more than five decades.  Nearly 120 million Americans---about one third of us---rely on government-run Medicare and Medicaid.  Instead of funneling tax dollars to private insurers who may or may not be there next year, the money can fund a public option administered by a federal government that will be there."

Most of our knowledge about criminal justice systems, financial/economic systems and medical systems is anecdotal and fragmented.  The above recommended books reflects years of careful research.