President Joe Biden uses real-world stories to expose drug company thievery and to sell Build Back Better.
Joe Biden swings
I have a few comments about his necessary but incomplete commentary.
- The president did not discuss the fraud that is our patent system that allows drug companies, chemical companies, and others to use it to jack up prices. The shameful practice has been abused for decades and I cover many aspects of it in my book As I See It.
- The president gave unnecessary kudos to pharmaceutical companies. Forcing Americans to pay $300 for a $6 drug is not just wrong, it is murderous. Business models that do this are inherently evil.
- Most drugs have their genesis with tax dollars, In other words, grants from the NIH and other governmental organizations.
- Drug companies spend more on marketing than on research and development. It is false that high drug prices lead to more innovation. Scientists and engineers are the innovators and on average a fixed cost. They don’t generally think about money when in the innovating mode. They just innovate. High drug prices are just wealth transfers from the poor and middle-class to the rich shareholders and executives.