The Most Hated Man In America

Discussion in 'Politics & Government' started by Tom Galty, Mar 10, 2018.

  1. Tom Galty

    Tom Galty Veteran Member
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  2. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    After a quick read, I understand that he did indeed shed a few alligator tears but to no avail.
    The judge not only sentenced him to 7 years in prison and a $75,000 fine but he was ordered to forfeit his entire net worth of 27+ million dollars and the single copy Wu-Tang album he was holding hostage. As a singular commentary on the album, I wouldn't give 50 cents for the rap album much less the 2 million Shkreli paid for it.

    The judge also ordered that congress was to reset the price for Daraprim, a life saving drug for those with HIV and other immune system disorders. So again, the American taxpayer has to pay congress to fix what a singular person's greed screwed up. Everytime congress "sits", it costs us millions.

    My question is who gets the 27 million and the rap album? The investors, the government, the state...........? And as an after thought, I do wonder if one of his new cellmates has HIV?
     
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  3. Hedi Mitchell

    Hedi Mitchell Supreme Member
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    So glad at least he was slapped across his ever smiling face by the judge! He deserves everything he ot and then some- for being so greedy.
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    To ask a provoking question, in a country that prides itself on being a capitalist country, shouldn't he have the right to charge whatever he wants for a product that he owns? Do we want to empower the government to determine just how much of a profit is fair?

    Boatloads of Swedish farmers, including my family, moved to the United States after the Swedish government began setting the prices of what they could charge for their crops, telling them what they needed to grow, and who they could sell it to. The government made all the decisions but the famers held all the liability for failure.

    I haven't followed this case too closely because I have been trying to avoid the news, so I may be wrong, but if we concede that he could legally charge whatever he wanted for a drug that he owned the rights to, is it not an abuse of authority on the part of the government to go after him for whatever else they could get him on?

    Moving the discussion into something we might be able to better relate to, if my town has no ordinances stipulating that I cannot paint my house purple and black, if that were the objections they had with me, would it be just for them to target me in every other facet of my life, hoping to pressure me into giving in and painting my house another color? If the police were to follow me around, waiting for me to violate some road law, and if the code enforcement officer were to dig into anything possible that he could get me on, as far as a code violation that actually is on the books, wouldn't that be abuse?
     
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  5. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    A good question @Ken Anderson and definitely worthy of some good thought.
    I agree that whatever a person intends to sell, the worth of the item is whatever the seller believes it should be.

    In this case though, I do not believe it is quite that simple. Most meds are either fully or partially covered by the insurance companies and my wife in particular has had problems in the past about which meds the insurers will cover and which ones they will not. Obviously, if the prescription is too costly and there is a generic brand that is as good but costs less, the insurance companies will go for that.
    Now, is Daraprim an exclusive medication for which there is no generic substitution? If there is then there shouldn't be any problem with whatever the owner wants to sell it for. If there isn't a substitution then it stands as a monopoly which is supposedly illegal in the U.S. and further, if it is a one of a kind drug which will make the difference between human life versus death then yeah, maybe the government does have the right to step in and levy the price.
    The FDA already decides which meds will be able to hit the market as it is and if the medication in question were not absolutely valuable to some people then they could pull it altogether.

    Bottom line is I agree that widgets in general should be whatever the seller wants for it but when it comes to medical services and those things related to those services I think the government should have a little oversight.

    If we remember the Lyndon Johnson days, he placed a wage and price freeze on all products and jobs in the U.S. for a couple of years. Was it a good thing? No, but the government can do it. Do we really want the government to have that much power? No, but it does.
     
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  6. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    Let me pose a less provoking answer with a question. As a country like ours, grows, the population increases and ages, is it ever possible or maybe necessary to adjust from our one time view to realize there are some things in the public interest such as pharmaceuticals that might require adjustment and that is different from say a city ordinance forbidding a house be painted purple house does not carry the same significance or affect as vast a population as does a cure for a common disease. Some might say it's not fair. S ome might point out it ought to be common sense. Maybe that's why in some disputes we have a suprene court to weeighand pass judgement on some questions. I'm trying to decide if this comment makes sense.
     
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  7. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    So medical socialism is all right? Please don't misunderstand. I tend to agree that this guy is scum, but I am concerned with the precedent. As it is, US taxpayers subsidize drug development, yet legitimate pharmaceutical companies will charge US citizens far more for the drug than is charged pretty much anywhere else in the world. That doesn't seem right either, but I don't see the government going after pharmaceutical executives and members of their board of directors, targeting them with prosecution on unrelated charges.

    True, our government has the ability to be socialist, and to be unfair. I don't know that we should use the fact that the government has the power to act contrary to the constitution and the law as a reason to say that it has acted appropriately. I disagreed with much of what Lyndon Johnson did, as did many others, which may well be why he dropped out of his bid for reelection in 1968.

    Can we ethically, and within the reasonable boundaries of our constitution and laws, come up with a way in which we can prevent a wealthy person from buying up the rights to a life-saving drug and then withholding it from pretty much everyone who needs it?
     
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  8. Tom Galty

    Tom Galty Veteran Member
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    For are English members.

    Do you think his Lawyer IS Del Boy
     
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  9. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    But hasn't the precedent already been implemented via oil and gas companies who were caught in the act of price gouging?
    Just a few years ago, 6 I believe, we were informed in the morning that there was going to be a fuel shortage and most of the stations suddenly went up to and past $4.00 a gallon just before rush hour just to return back to around $2.50 a gallon 2 days later. I can't remember all of the details but the staged shortage was bogus and some pretty unhealthy fines and possible jail sentences were in the wind concerning some top execs of the companies they represented for price gouging. An expensive team of lawyers can do wonders because I cannot recall anyone larger than a few gas station owners being fined for it.

    In the case of price gouging of necessary commodities in an emergency situation and the government's ability to intervene with penalties and sanctions: how would it be different from necessary pharmaceutical owners who price their product well beyond what the public can pay and price gouge the insurance companies? (government controlled insurance companies)
     
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    Last edited: Mar 10, 2018
  10. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I guess what we've got is government who no longer does what its population can't do for themselves and is no longer ruled by the governed, but rather has gathered power unto itself, whose engine has run amok much like a robot gone askew, who now believes it know best what is good for us and how we should be governed and is more able to pick the color of our house. I really don't know about all this; I just live here.
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I used the house color illustration, by the way, because we had a couple of town councilors here who actually wanted to do that a few years ago. They wanted to develop a theme for the town, and to require anyone who was going to remodel their homes to follow the theme that the town would develop, and that was to include house colors, trim, type of roofing, etc. Any new housing would have to fit the theme, and before a use home could be sold, it would have to be remodeled to fit the theme.
     
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  12. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Like Santa Claus, Tx and even the French Quarter in New Orleans. In order for ANY exterior work to be done, one has to go through the building commission for approval. And, I suppose that it also applies to anyone who has a home in an historical district.
    Dunno why anyone would buy such a home or for that matter a home or a condo which is governed by a homeowner's association. It kind of takes the word, "own" to whole new level of duh...................
     
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  13. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    IMO, this is sort of like if I put my house up for sale. I am asking $500,000 for it. Somebody who can't afford that much wants me to sell it to them for a lot less. I refuse the offer. The government thinks I should sell it for less. I refuse. The government digs around and finds I broke the law. Maybe I jaywalked or didn't pay a parking ticket. So they put me on trial.

    Another example of Big Brother sticking it's nose into our business.

    Not that I think he is a nice guy. I don't know enough about him to form an opinion. From what I do know, I think he is not so nice. BUT if he owns something, the government has no right to tell him how much he can charge for it.

    I wouldn't worry too much about him going to prison, though. He will probably go to one like Martha Stewart went to, with all the amenities. With time served, time off for good behavior, etc., he'll be out soon. Watch this young man. You haven't heard the last of him.
     
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