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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#101876: Sep 25th 2015 at 8:43:41 AM

As long as sociopaths like that exist, there will be a reason to regulate drug prices and the use of medical IP. I do worry a little bit that he will be held out by the mainstream drug companies as an obvious outlier that's being used to stir up populist resentment, rather than a canary warning of a deeper threat.

edited 25th Sep '15 8:44:04 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#101877: Sep 25th 2015 at 8:44:50 AM

Anytime a visible asshole does what other assholes do invisibly, they'll be pointed to as the bad apple rather than representative of a bigger problem. The other assholes have to do that, lest people come down on all of them instead of just the one with the big mouth.

That said, he jacked up the price of a drug that people needed. A lot of companies have done that. He only bragged about it. It's hard for me to imagine how companies will convince anyone by saying "This guy's the problem, not us" when really, the actual behavior is identical. I think people will know that what he did, not how he acted about it, is the problem.

He may have painted a punchable human face on the problem, but it's the problem that people hate even more than him. One can say "Drug prices need to be regulated" and companies can't possibly say "It's just this one guy, you know."

edited 25th Sep '15 8:55:05 AM by BonsaiForest

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#101879: Sep 25th 2015 at 9:41:42 AM

As long as sociopaths like that exist, there will be a reason to regulate drug prices and the use of medical IP.

Globally, I presume?

Keep Rolling On
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#101881: Sep 25th 2015 at 10:10:15 AM

Things do have to be done globally so companies don't just set up shop in a country that will give them preferential treatment.

That's why I have a problem with all these trade treaties that keep coming. They basically make it easier, not harder, for companies to screw around.

carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#101882: Sep 25th 2015 at 10:23:57 AM

Well, in the end I hope something good comes of the media spectacle. Other companies like Sanofi Aventis have been pulling the same shit for years but rarely make the news because the price increases happen over months/years instead of one instant jump.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#101883: Sep 25th 2015 at 10:34:45 AM

Bit late but I'm really not looking forward to Boehner leaving to be honest.

We need him around for this election to keep things under control.

Oh really when?
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#101884: Sep 25th 2015 at 10:57:28 AM

Editorial: Donald Trump is Saving our Democracy

Far from destroying our democracy, he’s exposing all its phoniness and corruption in ways as serious as he is not. And changing it in the process.

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#101885: Sep 25th 2015 at 10:57:38 AM

I don't see what's wrong about companies moving to nations that give them the most support. That stops the governments from abusing their power.

Leviticus 19:34
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#101886: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:01:48 AM

You got a point there. It's kind of a tug of war in a sense - go too far in one direction, and you get one problem. Go too far in the opposite direction, you got another.

I don't want too much government power any more than I want too much corporate power.

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#101887: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:17:51 AM

I think I've stated before that the only distribution of power I'd ever be happy with was one where I had absolute power.

In general, elites are a bad thing - one solution is citizen empowerment, but citizen jackasses aren't any more trustworthy than government or corporate jackasses (doxxing, for example, is not an example of the responsible use of citizen power - it's an example of internet vigilantism).

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#101888: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:20:55 AM

If you declare Hobbes to be correct and humanity basically a collection of selfish idiots, then no institution should be trusted with any kind of real power, but I rather prefer to live in the opposite world where you can make great things happen by choosing the right people to put into positions of authority and giving them the resources they need to do their work.

edited 25th Sep '15 11:22:37 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#101889: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:21:00 AM

[up][up][up][up]Think this way, X country or state has some regulations companies don't enjoy, Y state is desperate for some investment and industry so Y state lowers standards and drops regulations for the companies in X to move to Y.

Meanwhile those companies screw around as much as they can legally in Y and another Z state is trying to attract more business for the same reason was Y, then both Z and Y engage in a fiscal war to see which one is more attractive for the companies.

After a while every citizen in X, Y and Z get screwed because those regulations were in place to not let them get fucked over some stuff like labour rights, unfair pricing and exploitative work.

edited 25th Sep '15 11:22:01 AM by AngelusNox

Inter arma enim silent leges
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#101890: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:30:25 AM

[up][up] A Technocracy?

edited 25th Sep '15 11:36:05 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#101891: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:34:56 AM

[up] I'm not sure how that follows. I mean, I'd love to have folks like Krugman telling governments how to run economies, as opposed to, say, Paul Ryan. So if that makes me a technocrat, sure, why not?

However, we have seen in Europe the horrible consequences of setting technocrats to run things — they bring their pet theories to governance, which may or may not have anything to do with reality, and demonstrate woeful ineptitude at being in charge of nations.

edited 25th Sep '15 11:37:02 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#101892: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:44:20 AM

ascribing to a single philosophy or ideology for governance seems to be asurefire way to, whichever way you go, create a rigid, inflexible system that cannot be perfect

It is hard to remember or cope with the fact that nothing "perfect" exists

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#101893: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:45:41 AM

The ideal ruler of a nation or group of nations needs to be a generalist: someone with a broad capacity to absorb and make sense out of vast amounts of often contradictory information. Specialists tend to get trapped in the limited scope of their fields of expertise.

Generalists surround themselves with specialists in order to gain access to the depth of knowledge they need to inform any given decision, but relying on the specialists to make those decisions is likely to lead them into error.

Paul Krugman, as awesome as he is at economics (and Civil War history) is not leader material — first, because he's about as eloquent on a podium as an acne-stricken teenager, and second, because he would be sacrificing his proven areas of expertise in order to deal with stuff that he has no background on whatsoever.

edited 25th Sep '15 11:48:58 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#101894: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:47:03 AM

Another change Trump may bring about is a GOP rethinking of its embrace of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision unleashing unlimited campaign contributions. Citizens United was supposed to be a weapon wielded mainly against Democrats, but Trump is using it as a club to bludgeon Republicans. “I’m using my own money,” he said when announcing his candidacy. “I’m not using lobbyists, I’m not using donors. I don’t care. I’m really rich.” By Washington etiquette, it’s a no-no for a presidential candidate to gloat about his wealth. Especially if you’re a wealthy Republican, it’s axiomatic that you follow the George H.W. Bush template of pretending to savor pork rinds. But Trump has made a virtue of flaunting his fortune and glitzy lifestyle — and not just because that’s the authentic Trump. His self-funding campaign may make him more effective than any Democrat in turning Citizens United into a political albatross for those who are enslaved to it.

This is from the article I'd been reading. It's a super long one, be warned.

But I find that excerpt very interesting.

Keybreak (Long Runner)
#101895: Sep 25th 2015 at 11:47:36 AM

Perfect is a subjective term to anybody who uses it. :p

Even the best case somebody can imagine may not be perfect by their own standards, but somehow they'd still know it if they saw it.

And governments need to be able to change. New things are learned and new problems arise. The same rules won't always work for a changing world.

You gotta believe me when I scare you away, all that I wish for is that you would stay
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#101897: Sep 25th 2015 at 12:05:32 PM

Oh, boy. Let's publicly doxx welfare recipients so that gun-toting redneck vigilantes can pay them a visit.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#101898: Sep 25th 2015 at 12:06:26 PM

[up] Bull, it's more like 'let's publish everyone's names online so people can target them and discriminate more', DIAF much

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#101899: Sep 25th 2015 at 12:07:07 PM

I'm trying to think of some kind of intelligent response for this but I can't

Fuck that guy.

Oh really when?
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#101900: Sep 25th 2015 at 12:08:38 PM

By his logic, everyone who receives any government benefit should have their personal information made public. So, about that tax subsidy for your expensive office building...

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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