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bleh commented on the blog post Free Markets Are for Suckers: Drug Makers Know the Money Is in Monopolies
Partly “yes of course,” and partly, “Jeezus how could intelligent people be so stupid?” But unfortunately, mostly the latter.
Pharma is NOT a monopoly. At every stage, and in every aspect, competition is intense. To assert otherwise is ignorant.
A patent — in ANY industry — confers a limited monopoly on its holder, for reasons so obvious they’re actually written into the Constitution! No patents, little or no invention, lots more suffering and death. Full stop.
And BTW, thanks to meds, health care is a LOT cheaper and more effective. Could it be more so? Of course, and for a myriad of reasons and in many ways (eg, single-payer). But even with all its imperfection, the system with today’s pharma is an order of magnitude better than without.
Beware of simplistic dump-the-filthy-bathwater solutions. Tinkering and adjustment, yes definitely. Ending ridiculous privilege (eg, no negotiation by Medicare), duh. But revolution? Don’t be an idiot.
~~~ModNote: Welcome to FireDogLake. Best practice: not to call your fellow participants ‘stupid’, ‘ignorant’, ‘idiots’ in your first-ever comment.~~~
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bleh became a registered member
