At breakfast this morning, one of my brothers from another mother educated me a bit on recession proof careers.  He informed me that despite the economic woes that have decimated the value of our houses and stocks, cost thousands of jobs, limited our ability to borrow and reduced our incomes, NYC prostitutes are doing just fine!  They are still charging the same for their services and are as busy as ever!  You’ll recognize the picture above as Ashley Dupre, ex NY governor Elliot Spitzer’s infamous call girl, flashing the “piece” sign.

I had no reason to doubt him, but before posting, I felt a need to confirm sources.  I found the original article in the New York Daily News, and dozens of blog posts about this.

Other recession proof industries were mentioned on the blogs.  Among them are smoking, drinking, gambling and drug trafficking.  And of course, being a doctor and knowing the medical business never slows down, I mentioned the health care industry is recession proof as well.

Hmmm.  Sex, smoking, drinking, gambling, drug trafficking... and health care!?!  What does that say about my industry!?!

Off the top of my head, I can think of famous health care prostitutes like these. 

But when I think about it, the reality is that all doctors and patients are being pimped.  And it’s not just by Oprah!  We are victims of unspeakable crimes perpetrated by health insurance companies and large hospital systems, not to mention drug companies, etc. 

They make all the decisions about access to the health care system, what will be covered, they set the prices, they determine how much they will pay out, and have gained control over all aspects of health care, at the local, state, and national levels.  At the end of the day, they walk out with all the dough.  Dough that should be used to either take care of patients, or to reimburse the good nurses, doctors, therapists, pharmacists, etc. who are actually doing the work.  And these health care pimps have their pimp brothers in government.  Bipartisan pimps. 

And that’s why we are all still in “the life.”  We have nowhere to go.  If we try to get far out of line, patients and providers alike can expect to get bitch slapped by the powers that be.

What’s the answer?  Death to the pimps!  We don’t need health insurance companies.  They suck the life out of us and provide nothing that couldn’t be managed without them.  We need less government intrusion, not more.  When has government intrusion ever provided a cost effective solution?  We do not need closed, “integrated” hospital systems limiting our choices while lining their pockets with our hard earned money.  We don’t need our elected officials protecting the perpetrators.  We victims need a stronger voice from our leaders!  We need more control over these basic services.

Power to the people! 

So, I guess the sex, smoking, drinking, gambling, drug trafficking, and health industries do have something in common.  Recession proof rapists of America.