It made for some snarky comments on social media, and then apparently everybody moved on. Pfizer CEO Albert Boula told uber-insider Swamp think tank the Atlantic Council Nov. 9 that his Big Pharma goliath is receiving “a lot” of briefings from the CIA and FBI concerning public reaction to his company’s product.
Why are Americans taking in stride such an alarming red flag? It signals yet another grave danger from the coronavirus hysteria of the past two years: the further blurring of the lines between government and big business – an unholy alliance.
Only Dark Forces Don’t Love the Corporation
When asked how “fake news” (more accurately known as public skepticism over his vaccine product) affected “us,” i.e., the human race’s fight against the virus, Boula replied:
“I’m afraid it [caused] quite a lot of damage and particularly with us, we were targeted by a lot of, let’s say, dark organizations that you don’t really know [who owns them]. You suspect that there are some countries behind. We were getting a lot of briefings from CIA, from FBI, about cyberattacks that may happen to us, but also about the spread of misinformation.”
This is shocking on many levels. First, Boula is acknowledging that America’s two largest federal investigative agencies are working with his private company to stave off criticism of its most lucrative new product. Second, a tight nest involving a powerful D.C. think tank – with intimate ties to those who promoted the two impeachment efforts against former President Donald Trump – the CIA, the FBI, and a Big Pharma corporation is operating in harmony to promote a narrative: Criticizing this new product is akin to being a part of those same nefarious “dark forces” that supposedly were associated with the Trump administration in the Russia hoax.
Corporate and established political power are working together to frame global narratives.
Americans have seemingly become so inured to the rampant corruption in Washington, D.C., today that the fact that our top intel agencies are providing intelligence briefings to a gigantic private corporation is just another blip in the 24-hour news cycle. Meanwhile, the melding of big government and big business continues at a brisk pace.
Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Big Military
The examples are numerous and way too many to list in full here. But just a casual review reveals how the global health and terrorism fears of the past 20 years have proven a boon to those participating in this rotten game. Three former Food and Drug Administration commissioners are now on the payrolls of Big Pharma:
- Stephen Hahn, who served under Trump, is “chief medical officer” at Flagship Pioneering, Inc., the venture capital firm behind coronavirus vaccine manufacturer Moderna.
- Scott Gottlieb, who preceded Hahn in the Trump administration, sits on the board of directors for Pfizer.
- Ex-George W. Bush administration commissioner Mark McClellan is on the board of Johnson & Johnson.
Three coronavirus vaccine makers, three former FDA commissioners. And nobody bats an eye.
Tom Vilsack
(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Biden administration Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was so cozy with a certain global chemical agriculture megacorporation during his initial tenure running the department for the Obama administration that he earned the nickname “Mr. Monsanto.” After leaving his government post, he promptly took a lucrative job with the U.S. Dairy Export Council. The export council is a program of Dairy Management Inc., the powerful American trade association behind the “Got Milk?” ad campaign. Dairy Management Inc. has been criticized for doling out lavish salaries to its executives while small dairy farmers, who are forced to fund the association, go out of business.
Successful Farming reports: “Vilsack was paid a salary just shy of $1 million in 2018, his first year leading the USDEC, according to publicly available records. More than 1,600 dairy farms had shuttered across the country the previous year.”
“It’s insulting to me to be asked this question,” Vilsack asserted of the propriety of his taking the Dairy Council gig, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in 2019. “The dairy industry came to me and offered me the job — I didn’t seek the job. I didn’t ask for the job.”
Vilsack is now back for a second go as Agriculture secretary, and one of his chief responsibilities will be dealing with the same moneyed dairy interests that paid him so well after he left the Obama White House.
And then there is the use of our nation’s highest-ranking military members as tools to advance corporate profits in Washington, D.C. Retaining retired four-star generals is par for the course today, and the crassness of what they have to offer their employers – access – is clear for all to see.
Here’s how the Bristow Group, a “leading global provider of vertical flight solutions,” described its appointment of retired four-star Air Force Gen. Maryanne Miller to its Board of Directors in May:
“’Maryanne brings a wealth of military and global mobility experience to our Board of Directors, and we look forward to leveraging her experience as Bristow pursues opportunities in adjacent markets such as government services, offshore wind and advanced air mobility globally,’ said Christopher S. Bradshaw, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer.”
During the heyday of U.S. military interventionism in Afghanistan and Iraq, such profiteering off of position was especially prized. The New York Times reported in 2008:
“In the spring of 2007 a tiny military contractor with a slender track record went shopping for a precious Beltway commodity.
The company, Defense Solutions, sought the services of a retired general with national stature, someone who could open doors at the highest levels of government and help it win a huge prize: the right to supply Iraq with thousands of armored vehicles.
Access like this does not come cheap, but it was an opportunity potentially worth billions in sales, and Defense Solutions soon found its man. The company signed Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general and military analyst for NBC News, to a consulting contract starting June 15, 2007.”
The vast and sweeping dimensions of the U.S. war machine constructed since September 11 and now the U.S. industrial health complex crafted since the coronavirus hype went into overdrive in early 2020 have gone a long way to advancing big corporate-government partnerships that threaten the individual sovereignty of American citizens and the overall well-being of the nation.
~ Read more from Joe Schaeffer.
