Health

Big Pharma spent more on Stock Buybacks and Dividends than on Research and Development even during COVID

Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) – The 14 largest publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies spent $747 billion on stock buybacks and dividends from 2012 through 2021 — substantially more than the $660 billion they spent on research and development. So argue economists William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at University of Massachusetts, and Öner Tulum, a […]

Corporations

Parasitic Private Equity is Consuming U.S. Health Care from the Inside Out

F. Douglas Stephenson

Gainesville, Fl. (Special to Informed Comment) – Private equity has succeeded in depicting itself as part of the productive economy of health care services. even as it is increasingly being recognized as being parasitic. The essence of this toxic parasitism is not only to drain the host’s nourishment, but also to dull the host’s brain […]

Climate Crisis

As Climate Change Provokes Mental Health Crisis, Psychiatrists call for Better Government Support

Clean Energy Wire

By Carolina Kyllmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – The “Climate and Psyche” taskforce of the German Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Association (DGPPN) has called for better political support for mental health care through the climate crisis. In a report examining the direct effects of climate change on the psyche, the DGPPN found global […]

Climate Crisis

8 billion people: Four Ways Climate Change and Population Growth combine to threaten Public Health, with Global Consequences

The Conversation

By Maureen Lichtveld, University of Pittsburgh | – There are questions that worry me profoundly as a population- and environmental-health scientist. Will we have enough food for a growing global population? How will we take care of more people in the next pandemic? What will heat do to millions with hypertension? Will countries wage water […]

Climate Crisis

The “Rules-Based International Order” Has a Priorities problem, stressing War over Food Security and Climate

Rajan Menon

( Todmispatch.com ) – Washington’s vaunted “rules-based international order” has undergone a stress test following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and here’s the news so far: it hasn’t held up well. In fact, the disparate reactions to Vladimir Putin’s war have only highlighted stark global divisions, which reflect the unequal distribution of wealth and power. Such […]