Since relinquishing my US citizenship in 2011 and shedding the most toxic aspect of my life here in Canada, I now worry about another kind of toxicity. Let me explain: For about ten years I’ve dealt with two nagging and debilitating conditions: peripheral neuropathy and tendinopathy. It came to a head in November 2012 when Cathy asked me to put some carriage lights up on our garage and I twice fell off the ladder, missing the last rung and falling on my butt, and I also missed a step on the way to the garage and fell on my face. This was the result of the growing issue of peripheral neuropathy–not able to tell where my feet were causes loss of proprioception. So I went on a low carb high fat diet (LCHF) and lost 40 lbs, and most of the neuropathy went away. But then in the Fall of 2013, I started having the relapses of tendinopathy which were worse than anything I’d had before–quadriceps, achilles, IT bands, rotator cuffs, neck, toe, elbow tendons–even today, I’ve had to use crutches since last Wednesday and medicate myself (ibuprofen) for throbbing pain in my right foot. This has caused me to cancel an academic trip to Switzerland planned for next week.
I
n October 2013 I was searching for a dietary solution to my tendon problems and I learned that Cipro, an antibiotic in a class called fluoroquinolones (FQs) is the likely culprit of both my tendinopathy and my neuropathy, as well as several other problems (dysbiosis, weight gain, etc.). In 2008, the year after I stopped my last dosage, the FDA issued a black box warning for tendinitis and tendon rupture for Cipro. I now belong to a group of people called “Floxies” because FQs (Levaquin, Cipro, Avelox, etc.) all have the stem “flox” in their scientific name. On Facebook there is Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Group with over 3000 members, many of whom are suffering much worse than me. Despite these problems, Cipro and other FQs remain a very well-prescribed drugs as doctors hand them out as though they were candy for sinus infections, traveler’s diarrhea, and other common ailments, when FQs should only be used for life-threatening bacterial infections when other antibiotics have failed.
Agency Capture
Today, having nothing better to do as the pain had me pretty much laid up on my back (as the ibuprofen kicks in), I decided I would watch the film Bought which can be viewed live-streaming for free until the 15 March. It describes what I think is the most important component in American style corruption, agency capture. Bureaucrats and political appointees that control powerful agencies like the FDA are too often former executives of the industries that they are supposed to regulate–and then after their tenure in Washington is over, they go back to the industry, usually to a six if not seven figure salary. With insiders in the agency, their products pass into usage without any real scrutiny. If an agency catches a drug company in malfeasance, the company agrees to pay a fine which is a small fraction of the profits that they gained through lying about their products. The government thus allows the public to be exposed to dangerous chemicals and GMO foods that damage the health both children and adults. This is how Washington DC has become the most corrupt capital in the world and instead of schooling the world in human rights as the US did after WWII, Washington is now showing the world how corruption is done on a large scale. Allow the industry to capture the government through the promise of lucrative future employment.
Mordor’s Heart, the Department of Treasury and the IRS
So now, have I tweaked your interest? Are you wondering if agency capture affects the IRS and the Treasury Department? Judging by the people hired and where they go after their stay in Washington, i.e., back into the financial industry, I would claim that agency capture works perfectly in the case of bankstering and the Treasury
Department. Jack Lew for example used to work as an executive a Citigroup, and apparently his lack of success as a trader was no black mark against him. Democrat Jon Corzine went from governor of New Jersey to MF Global and stole a couple billion from customers accounts and has managed to avoid going to jail. While he didn’t work for US Treasury, he does illustrate how important it is to have friends in high places. What about our good friend Douglas Schulmann? Apparently he now works at BNY Mellon.
And what about 30-year IRS Vet–who used to comment frequently at the Isaac Brock Society in the early days. Some thought he was trolling for business at Isaac Brock, though I never accused him of that. Apparently, the going rate for a cross-border compliance condor lawyer is now $1000 per hour. So work as a litigator for the IRS for 30 years, retire to a nice compliance industry private practice, and rake in a few million a year. So it is clear that the creation of complex laws and regulations helps the the former insiders to rake it in, all while collecting a government pension.
I saw a recent survey that showed that the top job for US persons working abroad was in financial industry. It would appear that US banking regulations, thanks to FATCA, has become the USA’s chief export. FATCA has made some clear winners, but ordinary expats with retirement savings are not among them. We are just scratching the surface here, but I think the few examples I have given illustrates the true problem in the heart of Mordor.
How I knew you would never fail me Petros! And as I scrolled down, there he was, my favourite, Schulman!
Now I have to waste more time on him, finding out what ill-gotten gains he is looking into now……
In the course of a generation or two the US becomes what it claims to abhor. The beacon on a hill degenerates to “Mordor”.
We could repeat this exercise over and over. But we lack names to check.
The Harvard triad Schulmann, Schumer, and good old friend Levin. I have a lot of respect for Harvard as an institution, but those three were not Harvard’s best graduates for US ex-pats.
They just didn’t care.
I’m sorry you aren’t doing well health-wise Petros and had to cancel important travel plans. I hope the approach to spring lifts your spirits and finds you on the road to recovery soon.
for further inspiration:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkeman-column/2015/mar/11/bureaucracy-tedious-frustrating-capitalisms-fault
Petros –
Good reminder of how dangerous those fancy legal drugs can be.
I like to say that my personal pharmacy serves up four remedial substances: caffeine, ethanol, acetylsalicylic acid, calcium carbonate. And mainly the first two.
That survey indeed was quite scary. The politicrats know how many jobs are involved in control functions. Real jobs in value adding are on their way out.
There was once an article out that showed that domestically, Merca had so many guard functions per capita (prison guards, private security guards, police, army, etc). Can’t find it though. Guard and control are domestically the greatest employer as is export.
Sorry for your suffering Petros.
But what comes to my mind is: how to stop or undo this? I cannot see any way. Its like people`s hearts would have to change from the inside. Thats not likely to happen.
@Mark Twain, Sam Bowles & Arjun Jayadev’s work, maybe? See e.g.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/one-nation-under-guard/?_r=0
http://www.econ-pol.unisi.it/bilancini/crisi/guardLabor
Hi Petros, Sorry you’re not well… Here’s a very interesting paper that speaks to the corruption in the finance industry, and the lack of regulation. It’s a little off topic from FATCA, but I think it’s important reading for anyone with an investment account. This is a paper from the Office of the President of the United States, titled “The Effects of Conflicted Investment Advice on Retirement Savings.” It’s an easy read, and shockingly enlightening.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/cea_coi_report_final.pdf
@Don
Harvard generally seems to produce people who are antagonistic to Americans abroad:
Teddy Roosevelt
John F. Kennedy
Michael Kirsch (J.D. Harvard)
Samuel Huntington
I suspect that part of the problem is that they are thinking about prominent Americans they know who have gone abroad after making loads of money in the U.S. (Eduardo Saverin was a Harvard grad). If you are at Harvard or especially a Harvard-educated lawyer, it is probably very easy to forget that not everyone living abroad has loads of money from U.S. sources.
@eric
That’s the one.
One in five are guard (domestically). Add control to that and it is probably over 50%.
Public control is at least IRS, accounting & compliance (including private), law, regulation, legislation, govt administration.
There isn’t much potential for production in domestic USA. So why not export the same non-value-added industry?
So sorry to hear of your health issues Petros.
Thanks everyone–I still expect to get better. But here is a nice little story on FQs, if anyone is interested:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/03/11/safety-advocate-powerful-antibiotics-being-overprescribed/
Sorry to hear, @Petros, and hope you feel better soon!
Thank you for this link, Petros. I agree — after IBD diagnosed in 1972 and all the drugs since then, including prednisone and Cipro and their many side effects, I pretty much agree with you on all you have researched. I am dismayed to hear of the further health issues you’re dealing with on top of maintaining this site for us, for which I am ever so grateful. Take special care of yourself.
@Petros I hope you feel better soon as well.
And lets not forget about Treasury weenie Robert Stack.
Where will he go after completing his mission of spreading the plague of FATCA throughout the world?
@ Petros
This is where the internet can be such a blessing. Researching the side effects of drugs was darn difficult in the past — doctors weren’t prone to discuss such things with their patients. We can all “thank” John D. Rockefeller Sr. (son of a snake oil salesman) for the pharmaceutical-based nature of medicine today. He didn’t practice what he preached and profited from though — lived to nearly 100 using homeopathic remedies. Best of luck getting your health problems solved and resolved and so sorry you missed out on what would have been a great experience in Switzerland.
@Petros
I can relate much to what you are saying about Cipro and wish you well with your health challenges. I will watch “Bought” tonight or tomorrow. I had an experience with bacitracin, an antibiotic widely used in our food supply as an additive to animal feed.
A couple of years back, the additives and chemicals in our food, medicine, personal care and household products began to take a toll on my life. I developed allergies/sensitivities to a few goodies like bacitracin, formaldehyde, benzophenome 3, carmine and synthetic fragrances. (These substances are found in many common products and foods these days) Fortunately it only manifested as an allergic contact dermatitis. My family doctor was wise enough to send me to a dermatology clinic for a “patch test” after the usual allergy testing didn’t find the cause of my mysterious inflammatory reactions.
The dermatologist gave me information on how to avoid these toxins. I do a lot of label reading now before purchasing my organic food and “free and clear” products. It has been a real wake up call as I continue to try to develop a healthier lifestyle.
FATCA is just the tip of the iceberg in this brew of corruption. I am sure that the United States would get the grand prize in this arena.
Since Petros brought up the subject of drugs and diet on this thread I thought it might be okay to bring up the documentary called “Bought”. Someone mentioned it somewhere but I forget who and where. Anyway the free viewing has been extended to March 15th if anyone is interested in watching. I haven’t watched it yet so I have no comment on it but this is the introductory blurb I found:
http://www.boughtmovie.net/free-viewing/thank-you.php?AFFID=NONE&email=eexi@aol.com
Thanks for the link to “Bought” Petros. It is an absolutely hair raising account of corruption between government, pharmaceutical and food industries. I had heard some of this before but film brings it all together. Very informative on GMO’s and vaccines. I agree that US is not progressing but going backwards. No need to feel remorse giving up “toxic citizenship”.
@ Pat Canadian
My palm slaps my forehead — THAT’s where I saw the mention of “Bought”. Right here in plain site in Petros’s post. Anyway I watched it last night and found it to be be very professionally done and very informative. Perhaps due to extra traffic on the download site the video was constantly buffering which meant I spent over 3 hours watching it in short bursts … but it was worth it. I was so pleased to see they included the plight of the bees in what is becoming an increasingly toxic world for them too (e.g. neocontinoid, glyphosate, HFCS feedings).