bgraeve

mother, wife, sister, aunt, music lover, harmony junkie.

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

In 1900, John D. Rockefeller controlled approximately 90 percent of all petroleum refining in the United States. He was, by some calculations, the richest private individual who had ever lived.

He had a problem. Scientists were discovering that compounds derived from coal tar, a petroleum byproduct, could be used as synthetic medicines. Aspirin, derived from coal tar, had been launched by Bayer in 1899. The petroleum waste stream Rockefeller had previously had to dispose of could now be sold back to the public as medicine at a markup of roughly 10,000 percent.

He had another problem. American medicine in 1900 was a competitive ecosystem of homeopaths, herbalists, naturopaths, osteopaths, midwives, and traditional doctors who used food, plants, water, and lifestyle as the primary tools of healing. Approximately half of all American medical schools taught some form of natural or alternative medicine.

Rockefeller bought into the German pharmaceutical industry, eventually taking a substantial stake in IG Farben, the conglomerate that included Bayer, BASF, and Hoechst. He then commissioned a report.

The report was written by Abraham Flexner, an educator with no medical training, funded by the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations, and published in 1910. It declared that natural and alternative medical schools were unscientific quackery. It recommended the closure of more than half of all American medical schools and the standardisation of the rest around medicine based on synthetic patented drugs.

Congress acted. Half of American medical schools closed within a decade. The remainder accepted Rockefeller and Carnegie funding on the condition that their curricula be reorganised around pharmaceutical treatment. Nutrition was removed. Herbal medicine was removed. Lifestyle intervention was removed. The doctor's job was redefined: diagnose the symptom, prescribe the drug.

The drugs were petroleum-derived. The petroleum was supplied by Rockefeller-controlled refineries. The medical schools were funded by Rockefeller. The journals were funded by Rockefeller. The AMA was supported by Rockefeller. The hospitals were funded by Rockefeller.

By 1925, the American medical system was a vertically integrated extension of the petroleum industry, operating under the marketing slogan that it was scientific.

This is the system that exists today.

The pharmaceutical industry generates approximately $1.5 trillion in annual revenue. The American population, 4 percent of the global total, consumes approximately 50 percent of all pharmaceuticals manufactured.

The system was not designed to make people healthy. The system was designed to manage symptoms in a way that produces lifetime customers. A healthy patient is a former customer. A managed patient, who takes the pill every day for the rest of their life, is an annuity.

The objective has always been to keep you in that profitable corridor between healthy and dead.

Long enough to keep buying. Not so well that you stop.

The doctor who advises you to fix your metabolism by changing your diet is, from the point of view of the system that trained him, a defective product. The doctor who prescribes you a statin, a metformin, an antidepressant, and a blood pressure medication for life is performing exactly as designed.

The system was designed by an oil baron who needed to sell the waste products of his refineries.

It still functions, 116 years after the Flexner Report, exactly the way he designed it.

You are the customer.

The corridor is where you live.

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

@jenvanlaar It was $7.20 last week in Simi.

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

I just subscribed to ☕️ Coffee & Covid 2021 🦠 https://t.co/vl9IYmqEhQ

[Dave Rubin @RubinReport]

You guys get it yet, or nah?

[Brit Hume @brithume]

This was in 2019.

[Brit Hume @brithume]

And this was in 2009. Chuck Schumer said, “People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally.” Watch it here:

https://t.co/9baC7N56pz

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

Voting is a Sexy Thang - Los Angeles Valley Choirs (with RuPaul) https://t.co/JbCVXXJvGW via @YouTube

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

Hope you can join me for this upcoming concert! Message me for tickets. 🎵😊🎵. Metropolitan Master Chorale

[Metro Master Chorale @Metro_Sings]

Another season is just around the corner, and we need voices. Please share yours with us on the dates listed.

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

The Metropolitan Master Chorale opens their season this Saturday, November 3 at 7pm. Los Angeles Valley College Recital Hall. Beautiful singing to fill your soul. 😊

[Keith Derrick @KeithGDerrick]

Tonight Mrs. Graeve directed her last show for Royal High School. Finalé ended the only way it could, with a surprise performance by dozens of her alumni showing how much she has meant to them. #RoyalLife https://t.co/otvUyYIrEc

[CBS News @CBSNews]

This 8-year-old boy didn't know he was being filmed when he selflessly stopped to help an elderly woman struggling to walk up steps.
Now, his random act of kindness is going viral https://t.co/OBtk222EyE

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

Having a moment as we prepare for Finalé..... Sofia is fine...

[RHS Vocal Music @royalvocalmusic]

An incredible weekend with the New York Voices at the Oceanside Jazz Festival. #DreamTeam2018

[Royal Activities @Act4Royal]

The annual Mr. Highlander pageant in honor of Mr. Verry is coming soon...

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

Lady Gaga (Sofia Ingersoll) having fun at the RHS Winter Rally. #DreamTeam

[bgraeve @bgrhs]

Lady Gaga (Sofia Ingersoll) having some fun at the RHS Winter Rally. #dreamteam