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Direct Action! Billionaires for Wealthcare on the Tails of Single Payer Advocates

by San Francisco for Women's Rights
All along the windy waterfront of San Francisco, health care activists fell as if dying at the feet of busy shoppers in one of San Francisco's busiest markets. Who better to dramatize the disparate treatment of rich and poor in America's healthcare system but the satirist group "Billionaires for Wealthcare"? Dressed in vintage furs and oversized sunglasses, the Billionaires stood at the side of the dying with their banner: "If we ain't broke, don't fix it".
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Satire artists Billionaires for Wealthcare mocked demonstrators at a die-in for healthcare reform in San Francisco with slogans including "Let them eat Advil!" and "Sick people make me rich!"

Activists for a single payer healthcare system know that the Stupak amendment to the US Congress' bill is not only an affront to women's rights, but that it is an attack on poor women's access to reproductive care. When they took their message to the streets the Billionaires were not far behind.

Winding along the waterfront in San Francisco, dozens staged the demonstration on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The Billionaires for Wealthcare posed with mock sneers next to large orange signs calling for abortion "on demand and without apology". The satirical street theater activist Billionaires acted up in front of hundreds of shoppers and diners who stopped and stared as the Billionaires mocked the dying with slogans and songs, including "We Shall Overcharge" to the tune of the well known civil rights song "We Shall Overcome".

The Billionaires insisted all their furs were vintage from thrift shops. The cigars were real. Photos from flickr collection by Endenizen under Creative Commons License excepting photos of Sacha Birthright and Manny Gotbucks.
§Rehearsal near the Ferry Building
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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A billionaire in purple hat explains to a passerby that the show will soon begin
§Two of the Billionaires "strike a pose"
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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§Stupak amendment has got to go
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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§Recording for "Making Contact" nationally syndicated radio program
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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We Shall Overcharge!
§Billionaires in front of the Ferry Building
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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§The Dead Collapse at the entrance to the Ferry Building
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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§Billionaires give the press mock reaction immediately after the Die-In
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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"At least they went quickly...saves us health insurance execs lots of money!"
§Another billionaire enjoys the San Francisco skyline
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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Sacha Birthright
§Survival of the Richest!
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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Manny Gotbucks makes his appearance
§Billionaires Perform a Final Number
by San Francisco for Women's Rights
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