Huffington Post: Scare Mongering Or Taking The Lid Off?

America has attracted adventurers in droves in the past two centuries. It’s a country that has challenged human limitations of thoughts and actions. At a time when the mainstream media (MSM), by and large, prostrated itself in front of the altar of profit and greed, several alternatives to provide “real” news to the public appeared on the scene.

One fascinating example is The Huffington Post , often referred to as HuffPost or HuffPo, that has emerged as “a top destination for news, blogs and original content” in the past four years.

Why and how? Just read two recent articles in HuffPost: Bill Maher’s “New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit”; and Arianna Huffington’s “States Forced to Cut Services to the Bone: The Opportunity Cost of the Bank Bailout.”

These two articles will give you a fairly good idea why and how The Huffington Post has become such an influential media brand — “The Internet Newspaper” — of the world.

Let’s begin with Bill Maher’s article: “”Did you know, for example, that there was a time when being called a ‘war profiteer’ was a bad thing? But now our war zones are dominated by private contractors and mercenaries who work for corporations.

“There are more private contractors in Iraq than American troops, and we pay them generous salaries to do jobs the troops used to do for themselves ­– like laundry. War is not supposed to turn a profit, but our wars have become boondoggles for weapons manufacturers and connected civilian contractors.

“Prisons used to be a non-profit business, too. And for good reason –­ who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition you’re going to have trouble with the tenants. But now prisons are big business.

“A company called the Corrections Corporation of America is on the New York Stock Exchange, which is convenient since that’s where all the real crime is happening anyway. The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money.

That’s why America has the world’s largest prison population ­– because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line.

“…And finally, there’s health care. It wasn’t that long ago that when a kid broke his leg playing stickball, his parents took him to the local Catholic hospital, the nun put a thermometer in his mouth, the doctor slapped some plaster on his ankle and you were done. The bill was $1.50, plus you got to keep the thermometer.

“But like everything else that’s good and noble in life, some Wall Street wizard decided that hospitals could be big business, so now they’re run by some bean counters in a corporate plaza in Charlotte.

“In the U.S. today, three giant for-profit conglomerates own close to 600 hospitals and other health care facilities. They’re not hospitals anymore; they’re Jiffy Lubes with bedpans. America’s largest hospital chain, HCA, was founded by the family of Bill Frist, who perfectly represents the Republican attitude toward health care: it’s not a right, it’s a racket.

“The more people who get sick and need medicine, the higher their profit margins. Which is why they’re always pushing the Jell-O. Because medicine is now for-profit we have things like ‘recision,’ where insurance companies hire people to figure out ways to deny you coverage when you get sick, even though you’ve been paying into your plan for years.

“When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you could do for your country, ask what’s in it for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.”

More here…

And click here for Bill Maher’s homepage…

And here’s Arianna Huffington’s post: “Consider: at least 39 states have imposed budget cuts that hurt families and reduce vital services to their most vulnerable residents. The litany of those affected includes children, the elderly, the disabled, the sick, the homeless, the mentally ill, as well as college students and faculty, and state government workers.

“America’s states are facing a projected cumulative budget gap of $166 billion for fiscal 2010. Even more budget gaps are expected for fiscal 2011. Total shortfalls through 2011 are estimated at $350 billion to $370 billion — and could be even higher if unemployment continues to rise.

“These are massive numbers. But when you remember that we spent $180 billion to bail out AIG ($12.9 billion of which went straight to Goldman), you realize that that alone would be more than enough to close the 2010 budget gap in every state in the union.

“Toss in the $45 billion we gave to now-making-a-profit Bank of America and the $45 billion we gave to now-making-a-profit Citigroup and we are well on the way to ensuring that no state’s vital service are cut through 2011.

“But instead that money has gone to the banks without any fundamental reform of the system, and without any strings attached about how much they had to turn around and lend to help the real economy recover. Or, indeed, without any strings attached about having to tell us what they did with our money. So all across the country the fiscal ax is falling.”

More here…

So its no wonder that The Huffington Post has 22 million unique users each month and is the most-linked-to blog on the Internet. See here…

(Photo above: Arianna Huffington, who founded The Huffington Post along with Kenneth Lerer)