The money machine

When you want to find out who’s behind something, follow the money – all the way to Washington. Last September I wrote about Don Rumsfeld and the money he’s made from the pharmaceutical industry. You didn’t think that was all in the past, did you?

Some of the huge portfolio that Rummy owns consists of shares in Gilead and he’s already made at least $5 million from selling shares of the company on whose board he sat for years. Back in 2004, he owned another $25 millions worth and that share has probably grown enormously, even though it’s a drop in the Rumsfeld bucket. His net worth is probably in the hundreds of millions.

Further details are not likely to become known until Daddy Warbucks Rumsfeld makes his next disclosure in May - and that we will ever know the truth, is an assumption based on the hope that the report is a bit more honest than most of what issues from this war monger and fear profiteer.

Is the H5N1 strain of flu really that dangerous? It’s possible that many have had it and survived without incident and the mortality figures are wildly skewed. Will it really mutate? Maybe, maybe not. Does Tamiflu effectively treat it? There is doubt in some circles and the record is not encouraging. Can we really trust any of the crusades promoted by that vast bastion of greed in Washington? Of course not. Does Rumsfeld’s promise not to be involved in any particular matter when the matter would directly and predictably affect his financial interest mean anything? Don’t make me laugh.

One thing we can depend on is that the Bush mafia and their capos in the drug, insurance, oil and munitions businesses will get even richer from promoting fear, war and rumors of war.