DEMOCRATS WORRIED that Joe BIDEN TOO FEEBLE lacks mental alertness to TAKE ON TRUMP

Dirius said:

The issue with drug prices is about patents - essentially government granted monopolies.

This allows for some corporations to purchase as many patents as they can, and then gouge the price of drugs.

Remove patents, and you end artificial monopolies.

Click to expand...

ElenaJ said:

I really shouldn't start talking about this, but we also have free education.

Click to expand...

That's ok ElenaJ - that's interesting

ElenaJ said:

The current Minister of Education finished high school. And makes all the decisions.
The normal scene of the beginning of school year here, end of September, has at least one third of the teachers not yet hired for the year, and they don't arrive until mid-October. There is a national application for teaching positions that you have to try for, and if you are lucky enough to know someone, you might get in.
There is a shortage of medical personnel here, but there is a limit as to how many medical students can be taken by the university, so the shortage is never filled by Italians, but typically the jobs go to Indians or other non-EU physicians.
Computers or iPads, etc for the students is unheard of. Bring your own.
And you buy your own books. Which normally are those written by influential teachers or professors, who thereby get to sell their texts. And this can come to several hundred dollars per student per year.
The Minister's solution to social distancing in the schools was to order expensive chair/desks combinations that have wheels. Unfortunately the kids turn them into something like bumper cars!
And now there isn't money for teachers.
It's maddening, like an Alice in Wonderland world.
The successful bright Italians have all studied abroad.
Want to guess where their favourite country is? Right, it's the USA!

Click to expand...

david starling said:

Is there a downside to that?

Click to expand...

david starling said:

Is there a downside to that?

Click to expand...

Dirius said:

That exists already, the mentally/physically gifted have acces to scholarships. In a free market, universities compete for the top students to join their institutions.

There is also the question of why normal people have to pay taxes for universities if they don't seek an university education themselves? Why should an actor or farmer - who didn't seek university education - pay for the education of others? Seems quite unfair.

Click to expand...

• The 400 richest U.S. families now pay a lower overall tax rate than the middle-class, the first time that's happened in 100 years, according to economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.
• Factoring in federal, state and local taxes, those ultra-wealthy households pay a total rate of about 23% — that compares with just over 24% for the bottom half of households.
• The U.S. now "looks like the tax system of a plutocracy,"

JUPITERASC said:

Click to expand...

Dirius said:

Its hard to say. Modern medicine evolved along side patents, so there is no data on what could happen.

Development of new drugs could slow down as a result, at least until corporations establish new methods to profit from drug innovation.

Some patents last for 20 or 30 years, and corporations use loopholes to extend their duration.

A good middleground is to set their duration on 5 or 10 years.

For example, the reason why insulin costs about $150 is because of patents. If there weren't any, you could get it for $2 or $3.

Click to expand...

The U.S. tax system is supposed to be progressive, meaning that wealthier households pay a larger share of their income to the taxman than the middle class and the poor. Yet after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, that's no longer the case: For the first time in a century, America's 400 richest families now pay lower taxes than people in the middle class.



While Mr. Trump vowed that middle-class families would be helped by the tax overhaul, experts say most working-class families saw only a minimal benefit, while the wealthiest citizens got the lion's share of breaks.

Click to expand...

Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the frontrunners for the Democratic presidential race, called for a 2% annual tax on the wealth of individuals that have assets in excess of $50 million and a 3% tax on the wealth of people with over $1 billion.




Instead of promoting class envy and antagonism, maybe our elected leaders should design a fair and equitable tax system and install checks and balances on how they waste our tax dollars.

Click to expand...

david starling said:

Bumper-desks! The bullies must be having fun with those!

Click to expand...

ElenaJ said:

I thought the patents were to protect them so they would have sole rights to sales in order to pay for the research they invested in.
If they don't have that, where does the research money come from?
So basically, if I understand this correctly, having the patent they then set the price and go for the stars? Is that what this is all about?

Click to expand...

Dirius said:

That is the idea yes. However the time limit for patents is a total arbitrary number. Insulin for example, has been patented for the last 90 years, which seems excesive.

If patents lasted for 10 years, that would give each corporation enough time to profit from the drug they discover, but eventually lower prices.

The problem is mostly with the loopholes and nonsensical protections and extensions patents get, which allows corporations with the help of government officials, to virtually create an endless monopoly over certain pharmaceuticals.

Why do you think big pharma invests so much money in politics?

Click to expand...

FOX News ADMITS their HUGE Mistake in Election Coverage

david starling said:

Just like Trump, who said he was going to "Make America Great Again", made things worse in his first term and now says he needs another term as President. He should have had a new slogan for 2020: TRUMP'S NEW SLOGAN"America: I Broke It and Now I'm Going to Fix It!"

Click to expand...