Rummy Makes A Killing Off Bird Flu Scare.

Source: The Independent Online Edition

So it seems Donald Rumsfeld has made more than five million dollars in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu. I guess mass hysteria and a world pandemic are the very things for Rummy's bank accounts.

Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (2.9m British pounds) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease.

More than 60 countries have so far ordered large stocks of the antiviral medication - the only oral medicine believed to be effective against the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease - to try to protect their people. The United Nations estimates that a pandemic could kill 150 million people worldwide.

Mr Rumsfeld sold some of his Gilead shares in 2004 reaping--according to the financial disclosure report he is required to make each year--capital gains of more than $5m. The report showed that he still had up to $25m-worth of shares at the end of 2004, and at least one analyst believes his stake has grown well beyond that figure, as the share price has soared. Further details are not likely to become known, however, until Mr Rumsfeld makes his next disclosure in May.

It looks like the imminent arrival of the bird flu to America's shores in 6 months could serve several interests:

* Scaring people away from the polls. Low voter turnout during crucial Congressional elections would be a hey-day for the GOP with fresh news of scandals and crimes almost daily.

* Large stockholders of the company producing Tamiflu, Gilead Sciences, stand to reap in a fortune as the demand for the drug would outpace supply. Kaching--Rummy sees dollar signs and smiles.

* Then there's this other thing. Denial of proper protection or services like in the wake of Hurricane Katrina would serve as a tool to wipe out, by proxy, the millions of lower-class and poor in this country. People that many in the Republican party despise. The vivid cuts in social programs while giant tax cuts for America's wealthiest proves this.

I guess the deadly H5N1 strain hitting the U.S. shores 6 months from now would be the GOP's dream come true, in more ways than one.