(MG) An article by Gabriel Nash appearing at the Dissident Voice website present a number of coherent reasons to oppose the Israeli Lobby. The following paragraph from Nash's analysis slapped me in the face like a frigid winter blast. I have broken the paragraph apart, sentence by sentence. The impact is profound:
We can estimate the total direct costs borne by Americans thanks to successful lobbying by the healthcare industry.
The Healthcare lobby is the prime culprit behind the unfortunate fact that the U.S. spends on healthcare about twice as much per capita as other developed nations.
Spending on healthcare grew from 5.2% of GDP in 1960 to 16% in 2004.
Let us conservatively assume that adopting a less industry-friendly healthcare model would have reduced spending by only 20% (i.e. still leaving costs far above their level in other countries.)
A quick calculation shows that from 1960 to 2004 the healthcare lobby separated Americans from a cool $6.3 trillion (in 2004 dollars.)
These are only direct costs.
The full social effects of poor healthcare are not counted.
Compare that to the cost of aid to Israel, put by M&W at $140 billion (2003 dollars).
(MG) Playing the devil's advocate, I would add, speaking of the $140 billion
(MG) These are only direct costs.
(MG) The full national and international effects of poor US policy in Israel are not counted.
According to these numbers, it will take close to 45 Israel lobbies to inflict on American pockets the amount of damage caused by one healthcare lobby.
(MG) To repeat: The full social effects of poor health care are not counted.
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