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Comment by ilikecakeandpie | Hacker News Reader

Behind the Bastards recently did a two part podcast on the blood industry in America, particularly how lack of regulation and taking advantage of the incarcerated (focused on Arkansas) led to the spread of blood borne illnesses and how it killed a lot of people. I had no idea blood was such big business and that it was in our top 10 domestic exports

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-one-how-tainted-h...

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> and that it was in our top 10 domestic exports

Note that a main point of the article is that it is not in the US' top 10 exports

Well one of these has to be incorrect then as this was said it was the US's ninth largest export

https://app.podscribe.com/episode/130950753

Like the GP said, the whole topic of this article is getting an accurate figure, and how the 2%/9th largest figure is incorrect.

Incorrect, yes, but to be fair .67% and 2% occupy the same "wow, that's a large proportion of the economy" order-or-magnitude band of surprise (for me). Obviously not as charismatic/sensational, but still significant and surprising (to me).

BtB is not a serious news source, its mostly ragebait.

It's a big scandal in the UK. Over 30,000 people were infected with HIV or Hep C from US blood stock in the 70s and 80s. The UK Government will be paying almost £12bn as compensation, which to put into context is over a third of our education budget.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48596605

> The UK Government will be paying almost £12bn as compensation, which to put into context is over a third of our education budget.

Presumably that's a one time compensation, and you are talking about the annual recurring education budget?

I remember reading that the presence of for profit prisons in an area increases the rates of incarceration in that area. So many of them have heavily under minimum wage, almost free forced work, and now blood harvesting. Modern USA is so dystopian in a lot of places

https://youtu.be/hBA0AH-LSbo?si=tGr6FPzWQ8ry2b33

That silicon valley skit, bryan johnson, and Theranos are all starting to come together now

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