This past weekend I finally finished one of my most favorite TV programs of all time, Breaking Bad. I’m really excited because I just learned it may not be totally over with extra seasons being produced.
If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s about a high school chemistry teacher, diagnosed with lung cancer. Long story short, Walter White became the greatest Meth cook in the southwest US amassing over $80,000,000…all in the name of helping his family. It’s not the feel good story of the year as he has had to lie, cheat, steal, and murder to accumulate this wealth. The people that are most affected are the very reasons that he went into this shady industry.
If you’ve ever read anything previous, you may have seen me quote a statement that ‘contradictions lead to destruction.’ Walter White lead a life of contradictions that lead to destruction upon destruction of everything he valued in life. He committed criminal acts to gain wealth all in the name of supporting his family.
My question to you is, would you invest in Mr. White’s ultra pure blue Meth drug cartel to make a couple bucks to retire comfortably? Would you invest in ISIS so they can get buy up some more weapons and persecute and destroy more lives? Would you look at Hitler and think, ‘that guy’s onto something, I gotta get a piece of the action?’ If you’re running in my circles, I bet the answer is easily, no.
You’ve probably heard that you are your greatest investment and asset and I don’t deny that. But I want you to take a look at your actual monetary investments. What type of investment vehicles are your IRA and 401K parked?
Are you cursing pharmaceutical companies for lying, cheating, stealing, and murdering yet have 80% of your retirement in funds with Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson? Then why not put your money in the local meth dealer? It’s no difference.
“Dr. Kurt, how can you call drug companies criminals?” Because they have been charged as such, and have faced heftier penalties than any illegal drug ring.
November 2013: Johnson and Johnson was charged and found guilty of criminal and civil allegations surrounding the drugs Risperdal, Invega, and Natrecor. They paid a fine of $2,200,000,000 ($2.2 BILLION).
September 2009: Pfizer was charged with fraud in their promotions of drugs Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, and Lyrica. Their ‘cost of doing business’ was to the tune of a $2,300,000,000 ($2.3 BILLION) fine.
July 2012: GlaxoSmithKline paid a whopping $3,000,000,000 ($3 BILLION) to settle criminal and civil charges as well as failure to report safety data concerning their powerhouse drug Paxil.
There are many other charges and fines of hundreds of millions to billions in settlements for criminal actions…just like ISIS, Hitler, and Walter White.
If you want to really change our wasteful, ineffective, and outright dangerous model of health delivery, you’re going to have to hit it where it counts…their giant pocket books. You can’t get pissed about our healthcare system if you’re retirement accounts are funding the ultimate decision makers of your health outcomes. Your doctor and even the FDA are just subsidiaries of the massive influence of the drug companies. If they weren’t, then they would shut down the drug company like the DEA would shut down a basement meth lab.
You can do what you like. If health is on your value system than you have to sit and ask and answer some tough questions regarding the congruency of your beliefs and actions. Just remember, contradictions lead to destruction. The more your practice investing with purpose and making sure your money goes to organizations that support your values, you will have success that is far greater than the monetary value in your retirement account.