'Bernie' is not running for President.

The sooner people get that through their heads, especially his well-meaning supporters, the better it will be for our people and our country.

The fact is Sanders campaigns not to gain the Democratic Party's nomination for President, but to weaken if not wreck the 'Democratic Establishment'. For 'Bernie', ousting Trump and ending the Republican majority in the Senate is barely an afterthought to this long-standing purpose. Once Sanders' supporters face this fact squarely, they may be able to decide honestly what their best course in this election is: voting against 'Bernie' in any future primary, and for Mr. Biden and Democrats all down the ticket to the lowest office on the ballot come November.

It is probably true that Sanders sees destroying the 'Democratic Establishment' as an essential precondition to defeating Trump et al, and so by his own lights he means it when he says he will do all he can to defeat Trump. But that belief is so self-serving and delusional it deserves not just scorn but contempt.

As with Trump, the only real cure is to deprive the man of the oxygen of worshipful attention. The effect would be that of a bucket of water on the wicked witch of Oz....





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

a lot of us have issues with the pharmaceutical industry and with good reason. The prices of prescription drugs in the United States is outrageous and people are dying because they can't afford their medication.

That said, I will give them credit when it is due and I am glad to hear they came up with a rapid testing procedure. That does not, however, absolve them of years of price gouging at patients' expense. I did not support Bernie Sanders for president, but he was right on this one.

....they'd like people to believe, and they conflate medical research, medical treatment, pharmaceuticals, and insurance into one big entity that's making hundreds of billions, but they're four individual industries, not one, and the profits aren't as much as claimed.

For example, Abbott Laboratories, the company that developed this test, isn't a pharmaceutical company, it's a medical equipment company.

Sure, these companies make a profit but a big part of that is reinvested into equipment, personnel, and training for research. They can spend years and millions of dollars to come up with a test or a drug that goes to market.

Unfortunately many of those politicians who bash these companies don't have financial backgrounds, they don't understand what goes into funding such companies, they just look at a bottom line.

Take the healthcare insurance industry. It surprises many that the gross profit margin of the healthcare insurance industry is a mere 3-5%, which is actually lower than that of the corner grocery store or convenience store.

Having said that, yes indeed - there are bad apples in the bunch, but in general these entire industries are not nearly as bad as people think, but we only hear about the bad ones and it's projected onto the entire industy.

The opioid crisis, insulin price gouging, industry lobbyists influence of congress, focus on maximizing profits for existing drugs rather than research, etc.. Not just a "few bad apples" but serious problems with the industry. If you are totally fine with getting the crumbs they leave us, there other other who are not. As for the insurance industry, well if you want an expert, how about Wendell Potter?

over the past 15-20 years has been predominately negative. I've seen prices increase 4 or 5 fold in relatively short periods of time, even when the product hadn't changed in any way. This is not just one or two drugs or just a few companies. Now I have to order most of my medications from overseas or basically go without. One inhaler that I rely on used to cost me $35, now the price is $380. I can get it from Europe for $35. There are other examples, but I won't list them all.

I am not alone. This is happening to many people. Of course, I will give these companies credit when it is due, but I would be much more comfortable if profit and shareholders were not involved. No other developed nation allows drug companies to advertise to consumers or to make unreasonable profits off of medications and healthcare.

Patent exclusivity rules for things that require an extensive approval process, like new prescription drugs and medical devices. A company can spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing a new drug and getting it through the multi-phase approval process and at the end, by left with only 2-4 years that it can sell the drug exclusively. Of course drug prices are going to be high to recoup sunk money.

This is what should be done:

New Drugs: Grant 15 years of exclusivity starting AFTER the drug has gotten final approval.

Orphan Drugs: Set strict pricing restrictions on all drugs in this category. The restrictions must make the drugs affordable to all that need them. Set up a new organization that include three representatives from the FDA, and three congress members from each major party. If a company wants to price outside the published guidelines, it must go before that body to defend the price increase request and provide data that proves the price increase is needed. The company can increase the price to the new level ONLY if the new board UNANIMOUSLY approves the price increase.

to everyone who needs it.

and Johnson has announced they've developed a vaccine. It'll take several months to pass trials and prove it won't kill people too, but evil J&J is going ahead with developing the giant production capacity needed to start turning out a billion doses as needed around the planet as soon as it's approved.

on the phone tonight that GM refused to make respirators and that's why Trump had to invoke the War Powers Act to force them. He just couldn't imagine a company so evil that they'd refuse to make respirators, but now they're getting what they deserve as Trump takes control. (This is a guy who'd excuse their selling cars without brakes if Democrats objected to it.)