> As you are against corporate theft, you obviously are against the tariff > and quota structure that adds so much to the prices of all the goods we > buy. To reel you in, I had better say that raise the prices of goods bought > by poor people. > > So you are a free trader.
[Bruce Leier] Where do you come up with this nonsense? > I know too that you are against the patents that raise the prices of drugs > to old people. [Bruce Leier] ok. As I've mentioned, I have belonged, for forty years, to one > of the best HMO's in the country - Kaiser Permanente. I get drugs at a big > discount. Generic drugs are $10 (for say 100 pills). The patented drugs are > $25 - though they often supply two rather than one for the price. I'm sure > they use their mammoth buying power to get the cheap prices. I use an > asthma treatment spray. Two sprays cost me $25 dollars and last for 100 > days - about $87.50 a year. > > I checked Cosco for the price. It was $71 a spray - or about $500 a year. > This is a new spray that replaced another which was long used but sometimes > gave problems. The old spray was a generic. Four were supplied for $10. > These lasted for 148 days. So the annual cost was about $25. However, at > Cosco, the price for one was $63. For a year, this would cost me $630. > > My asthma is mild, so I wish they hadn't changed. Maybe severe cases need a > better treatment, but they have to standardize to get a good price. On the > other hand, did the pharmaceuticals get to Kaiser and turn them to a more > expensive spray? Kaiser is run by the doctors - but faced by mounting > costs, is this (and perhaps other instances) their way to increase revenue? > > I don't know, but I doubt it. I trust them to do whatever will generally > best treat their patients. > > However, as I said, for years I used an asthma spray that cost me about $25 > a year. If I had paid the brand name price it would have cost me $630. > > Same spray - the difference is the patent law.. > > The difference is the privilege bestowed on the pharmaceutical companies by > the people who are supposed to represent us. Then, liberal thought is > apparently to tax these receipts of privilege. This means the money is > collected from poor and ill people by the pharmaceutical corporations - > there to suffer taxation. > > Then, continues liberal addled thinking, the poor will be subsidized by > universal health care, or medicaid, or some other such program. These > programs will then pay the high price of drugs, which goes to the > pharmaceutical corporations, to be taxed, so it can pay part of the cost of > the high priced drugs. [Bruce Leier] What was that all about? > Brilliant! > > If they were radicals instead of wimps, liberals would get rid of the > privileges. [Bruce Leier] Liberals can't be radicals. The tautology may be fundamentalist-conservative-radical-moderate-liberal (in no particular order meant or implied). > > But? > > Oh, but then research in new drugs would end. [Bruce Leier] Why is that? It is of course utter nonsense from a "true believer'. Oh, my gosh! So, now we get > the new drugs, but the majority of people can't afford them anyway, so > their invention doesn't matter much to most people. > > In fact, as I've said, half the drugs research is not carried out by the > pharmaceutical corporations. Again, the corporations spend more money on > advertising than research. Yet, again, I wonder how much those corporations > spend on their sycophants (there is a pharmaceutical lobbyist for every two > congressmen). > > This is only one part of the network of privilege that is provided by > government to the fat cats who screw us. > > I bet Al Gore would have done something about it (after he had handled > Global Warming, of course). > > So, Bruce, if you want to light a candle rather than curse the darkness, > support free trade for the US and hammer privilege - perhaps beginning with > patents. > > I suppose that's my rant for today. [Bruce Leier] It sure was. rofl > > Harry > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Bruce wrote: > > >"Really free market" is what? Other than a fairy tale! They are a > >problem as long as they are considered "persons" and have perpetual > >life. > > > >There are a lot of us who do not try to externalize costs my friend! > >There are many who recognize theft when we see it and are about justice > >to work to see the stolen returned or paid for by those who benefit from > >the theft. > > > >Bruce Leier > > > ****************************** > Harry Pollard > Henry George School of LA > Box 655 > Tujunga CA 91042 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Tel: (818) 352-4141 > Fax: (818) 353-2242 > ******************************* _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
