Capitalism, Corruption, or Business As Usual?
Extort: to wrest or wring (money, information, etc.) from a person by violence, intimidation, or abuse of authority; obtain by force, torture, threat, or the like.
Today's example of America's economic system at its finest! Here's how it works:
some politicians think they can get reelected by helping their constituents, in this case by passing a law to lower drug prices for the elderly
big corporations (this time it's Big Pharma) realizes that this could reduce profits by a few percent
industry lobbyists go on the attack, threatening to stop giving bribes to any politicians that vote for the good of old folks
industry goes on to say that they'll stop doing good things for everybody if the law passes (they'll stop working on cures for cancer and Alzheimer's disease)
Too bad that the pharmaceuticals industry is in such decline that they have to make threats to stay in business. Just kidding! This article says "It was a good year to be a pharmaceutical company, especially one that came up with a product to combat COVID-19. Of the world’s top 20 pharmas ranked by 2021 revenues, 12 had at least 10% growth, including five that saw their sales boom at least 40%."
And about those cures for cancer and Alzheimer's.... ain't never going to happen with our for-profit healthcare system. There's no profit in curing, lots of profit in treating!
