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John Oliver is a weird one to talk about. On one hand, I am so glad he got his own show on HBO. Its allowed him to develop his own "brand" apart from The Daily Show. He also has much more freedom. I do believe he is able to bring up serious issues in a comical and satirical manner. However the reach isnt what the daily show or colbert report successors have, and frankly they suck. He's much better, as is Samantha Bee. Its just the way it goes.
He does have a channel on YouTube with 3m subscribers. Each weeks main news piece from the show is on there. For some reason the US gets all of them but the UK Youtube only gets select ones.
So John Oliver.
A British satirical comedian who has his own news show on HBO called Last Week Tonight. The show is mainly taken up by one large news story each week that unveils a wrong that needs to be righted, in a way that offers comedic & also knowledgeable information.
This week he tackled debt. He spoke mainly on the ease of getting into debt (no fault of your own) because of hospital bills or college loans that precede into high figures. Then what happens to that debt. The debtor can't pay the bill and creditor doesn't want the debt. So the debt is then sold to another creditor for a much lower rate, mainly cents on the dollar. So a creditor can buy, say a $5000 debt for $100 but then can collect the full debt. Not only does this new creditor get the debt, they get your name, address, telephone number & social security number.
The worrying part is in some states such as Mississippi & Arkansas there is no legislation on who can be a debt collector. Basically anyone can buy debt and then start banging on doors looking for their money. No different from the days of Al Capone.
In his latest good samaritan deed and under advice from debt buying charity, Rolling Jubilee. John Oliver spent $50 on creating a company called Central Asset Recovery Professionals. Soon after CARP was formed they were offered almost $15 million in medical debt which they bought for $60,000 which is around half a cent on the dollar. If he wanted to, Oliver could then let CARP start calling the debtors & get some money out of them. Of course, he didn't do that. Instead he turned it into a TV give-away, trying to beat Oprah's car handout record. All of the $15 million was given to RIP Medical Debt, a charity who eliminates any original debts. 9,000 people have had their medical debts wiped out.
Here's the whole piece. US Only
It's also worth having a look at his piece on Donald Trump. It's very funny.
Then there is also his piece on the tobacco industry. Uncovering the lengths these companies go to, to keep the consumers puffing away. Giving Marlboro there own mascot. If you type Marlboro into Google Images, see if you can spot their new mascot, Jeff the Diseased Lung.