gas over $4 is here! is $5 gas far behind ?
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From: Eeyore on 20 May 2007 20:53 "Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > > > In short, the US health care market is > > being manipulated against the comsumers' interest. > > Is limiting the amount of money companies can make with new drugs, and > therefore can invest in research for even more new drugs, really in the > consumers' interest? Very few diseases actually need new drugs. For a long, long time existing drugs have been able to treat most conditions very adequately. Spending a fortune on new exotic drugs does indeed force up the cost of healthcare for those who don't even need those drugs. Graham
From: Eeyore on 20 May 2007 20:54 "Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > Joe the Aroma wrote: > > > > > A government loan is a subsidy. > > > > A loan is a loan. > > > That's a remarkably reflexive comment, it is. You should consider that a > loan at a lower than market rate by the government is by definition a > subsidy. Not if the government gets something additional in return. Such as guaranteed employment and additional tax revenue. Graham
From: Eeyore on 20 May 2007 20:57 "Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > "Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" wrote: > > > Eeyore wrote: > > > > "Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" wrote: > > > > > > > > > Airbus is a subsidized company > > > > > > > > Wrong. It's a commercial company just like Boeing. > > > > > > Of course it is "commercial", it's also subsidized. > > > > It's not subsidised. If you're going to make that claim you'll have to provide > evidence of > subsidy. > > You acknowledge below market loans from the government. I do. What's wrong with that. The government has an interest in high employment and increased tax revenue wheras a bank doesn't. So the government can offer better terms. It's the market at work effectively. Graham
From: Eeyore on 20 May 2007 20:59 "Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > "Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )" wrote: > > > > > Boeing competes for its military contract sales. > > > > Airbus describes them as 'pork barrel contracts'. > > What does Boeing's commercial division have to do with its military > division? The fact they're part of the same company ? Graham
From: Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' ) on 20 May 2007 21:02
Jeffrey Turner wrote: > > Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' ) wrote: > > Eeyore wrote: > > > > > >>In short, the US health care market is > >>being manipulated against the comsumers' interest. > > > > Is limiting the amount of money companies can make with new drugs, and > > therefore can invest in research for even more new drugs, really in the > > consumers' interest? I think that all first world countries should > > equally share this burden. So I do think that Americans are being > > treated unfairly. > > Because who knows where we'd be without another new drug for "erectile > dysfunction." > You make a valid point that drug manufacturers go after lucrative markets that maybe aren't as important to the well being of the entire society as they are to their own bottom line. One idea is to subsidize drugs that would be effective for diseases that otherwise might not pay enough for them to be created. > Of course, the drug companies spend a lot of their income > on advertising, not to mention executive salaries and profits. > That's the free market at work. They seem to think that "Go ask your doctor" about their product that they then give a list of side effects for that seem maybe worse than the actual disease makes you want to do that. > So the > idea that without being able to charge what the traffic will bear they'd > never have enough money to develop another new drug is just silly. > If there's no choice, then letting them charge any amount isn't probably the best thing. If there is choice, just don't buy their new fancy drug. And a lot of this sort of thing is me-too meds which by definition aren't the only choice. -- "There are some gals who don't like to be pushed and grabbed and lassoed and drug into buses in the middle of the night." "How else was I gonna get her on the bus? Well, I'm askin' ya.", George Axelrod, "Bus Stop" |