On today’s BradCast: The story of why Americans are still paying the health care price (in both blood and treasure) in 2022 for “free market champion” Ronald Reagan’s 1987 Executive Order that gave away the tax-payer store to Big Pharma. Plus, a bunch of other somewhat happier stories. [Audio link to full story is posted below this summary.]
First up today, an update in the still-broadening criminal conspiracy probe by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into Donald Trump’s many faceted and failed efforts to steal the 2020 Presidential election in Georgia. With 17 known “targets” in the probe so far, including Rudy Giuliani and 16 fake Trump electors, the prosecutor tells Washington Post in an exclusive interview that there will be more “targets” announced soon and that she believes some are likely “facing prison sentences.” She has yet to decide if the former President will be among them, though, with dozens of witnesses who have already been subpoenaed and testified to her Special Grand Jury in Atlanta, Willis says the Grand Jury should wrap up by year’s end. A decision whether to call Trump in to testify — or declare him a target — is likely “to be made late this fall,” she says.
Next, now that far-right retired Brigadier General and dyed-in-the-wool conspiracy theorist Don Bolduc won the GOP nomination in New Hampshire this week to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan this November, he’s…um…re-evaluating some of his previous positions. During a primary debate with fellow GOP candidates before the primary, he proudly denied Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. “I signed a letter with 120 other Generals and Admirals saying that Trump won the election and, dammit, I stand by my words!,” Bolduc bravely declared to cheers from Party faithful. When asked about his position this week on Fox “News,” however, after winning the GOP nomination, Bolduc hemmed and hawed his newly discovered belief after “a lot of research on this”, finding the 2020 “election was not stolen” and that “President Biden is the legitimate President of this country.” Granite Staters will undoubtedly fall for his pretend new “moderate” line, right?
Then, newly reformulated COVID vaccine booster shots from both Pfizer and Moderna, designed to combat both the classic coronavirus and several newer Omicron variants, are now available to the general public in the U.S. The White House and CDC are recommending Americans get the new shot by Halloween to lessen the chance of infection — or killing your grandmother — over Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays when a new surge is expected. (They also recommend getting a flu shot at the same time.)
But why are new COVID vaccines even necessary more than two years into the pandemic? One reason is thanks to the fact that, despite tens of billions of tax-payer dollars given by the federal government to private companies for the development of the life-saving vaccines, the private pharmaceutical giants who make them refuse to give up their patent and intellectual property rights to make the vaccines available to the world. That means new variants continue to emerge, leading to more infections and the need for updated vaccines and, yes, more profit for Big Pharma. It’s a pretty nice deal…for them.
So, how did we get here? We’re joined today by ERNEST A. CANNING, longtime legal analyst at The BRAD BLOG, who recently took a deep dive into a 1987 Executive Order by Ronald Reagan that gifted patents and profits that go with them to huge, for-profit pharmaceutical companies that used tax-payer dollars to develop their inventions. That, from the Republican idol who, ironically, once declared: “We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down.”
The pharmaceutical industry may disagree, even if they won’t say so out-loud. “No matter how big a company and how much money was poured in by federal government for research and development, the patent would belong to the giant company,” Canning explains. “We’ve been paying, just in general research, about $28 billion in pharmaceutical R&D every year.” Given the “value of those patents,” he notes, “we’re talking trillions of dollars in a gift, not just tens of billions.”
He also explains how all of this came about (beginning with Jimmy Carter) and why its now so difficult for Joe Biden to merely repeal Reagan’s Executive Order in regard to the COVID vaccines.
But Canning also offers some brighter news related to patent abuse by Big Pharma, which he also recently wrote about at The BRAD BLOG. In a landmark initiative, the state of California is now fighting back. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced the state will begin manufacturing insulin and will make the hundred-year old drug available for just slightly more than it costs to produce. Canning explains why that has become necessary as Big Pharma takes advantage of loopholes in Intellectual Property laws to bilk diabetics with outrageous prices for the inexpensive, life-saving medicine.
Finally, a private company that is — shockingly enough — apparently doing the right thing for the country and the world. (What?!) The family that owns outdoor gear brand Patagonia, headed up by its 83-year old founder, announced this week that they will be “making Earth our only shareholder”. While the company will remain a for-profit entity, currently valued at around $3 billion, it will now begin giving away all profits — about $100 million a year — to two newly created entities, a trust and a non-profit, both devoted to combating our climate crisis.
(Any chance we can coax Patagonia into the pharmaceutical business while we’re at it?!)
As for the Patagonia donation to a non-profit, our US tax code makes such transactions very profitable, paid for by US taxpayers. Depending on the basis in the company and the current value, the donor may make more money on the transaction than they donate.
Whereas, on a sale, the seller pays tax on the appreciation of the property, ie, the difference between the cost and the sale price. On the donation, the donor gets to deduct the fair market value (sale price) from their tax return, avoiding tax on the total value of the donation as well as the tax that would have been paid on the appreciation. Also, as you mentioned, the value avoids 45% estate tax. While it is better to donate to the environment than to right wing think tanks, we need to reevaluate our approach to charity, rather than investing in the public good as a government.
Kathy @1:
I’m still having trouble understanding the math here, particularly in your first paragraph. Can you give me an example of how that would work, as if I’m a first grader (because, when it comes to non-profits and business taxes, etc, I am!)