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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   27493 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 28, 2025

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When they do price fixing, it's bad. When Trump does price fixing, it's bad.

Trump's actions will make things worse, not better. He's not proposing something like I don't know we ban pharmaceutical exports to countries that refuse to pay market rates in order to make others pay their fair share. Imagine if he did that little bit of conflict theory! People would freak the fuck out and call him a mass murderer or something, but he'd be justified in threatening a trade war on that front such that America isn't paying for the bulk of innovation.

So this is a case where I think there is a Trumpian approach to perhaps make things actually better, but he's not doing that.

Trump is proposing the drug companies sell in the US for no more than they sell in other developed nations. As far as I can tell, the drug companies could refuse to sell to other price-controlled nations and retain their US pricing that way.

One weird trick diabetics hate.

But that would actually raise prices in the U.S., right, losing foreign sales, since it's typically not marginal cost of production that's the issue; it's the sunk cost of R&D.

So I'd prefer Trump take this issue on directly, and not make it harder for big pharma.

One weird trick diabetics hate.

Trump is always willing to shoot the hostage.

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