Shkreli is being grilled about the practice he has adopted
of buying up the patent rights for certain drugs and then jacking the price up
in order to bleed profits out of the people who must have the
drug in order to survive. For these
people Shkreli is like a ticket scalper selling entry to a stadium that
contains all of the breathable air on Earth – you can pay, or you can die a
slow, choking, painful death.
Most people pay – but they don’t have to be happy about it.
I agree that Shkreli is a contemptible, debased, horrible
person. I appreciate the sentiments
expressed by people who wish him to rot in hell, choke on the money he worships
or, (my personal favourite) the one who wishes for a 3-D printer to be developed
that will allow him to reach through his computer screen and punch the smile
off Shkreli’s smug face. I would donate
money to develop such a printer and I would be near the head of the line to
test it out. (I might add as an aside –
if it worked I’d nominate a certain New York landlord for the second round of
testing).
But I’m also a realist – and I have to recognise that while
Shkreli is an insufferable horse’s ass, and while he might well be criminal due
to his hedge fund activities before becoming the poster boy from hell for Big
Pharma – it is likely that his price gouging activities are, while totally
immoral, not illegal.
Think about that for a second. It seems it is completely legal for a company
to use a government granted monopoly (which is what a patent is) as a means to
force the price of a drug up from $13.50 to $750 per pill, a 5500%
increase.
If that is true (and it very likely is) then some of the
testing of that knockout 3-D printer has to be reserved for America’s
lawmakers. To illustrate why I think
this is so – consider this scenario.
The other day I was going through Facebook and saw the
following video posted.
First of all – this is amazing footage. I could watch that robot cut trees all day
long. I mean – what the hell is that
thing? I strongly suspect that those are
the robots that end up taking over the world in the “Terminator” films.
Now, let’s say there was a country – I don’t know – we’ll
call it, um – “Ireland”. In “Ireland”,
for the sake of argument, let us assume that there were no laws governing a
person’s ability to cut down trees. No
matter what land they were on, or what kind of tree they were – or what
importance they might have – tree cutting was fully legal. Let us say then that I gained control of the
only tree-eating robot in “Ireland” – and immediately set about cutting every
god-damned tree I could find.
Remember – there are no laws stopping me from cutting as
many trees as I want in Ireland. I can
go on to your land – cut your trees – and there’s nothing to stop me. With my magic freaking robot I can clear cut
your hillside in about fifteen minutes (give or take) – and I will do it.
After I finish with you I can go cut down every tree in a
watershed – leading to massive floods in the region. Like a certain smug little pharma
CEO I can paddle by the flooded out cottages with a wise assed smirk on my face,
waving to the now homeless citizens who struggle through their water-logged fields. "Hello little swamp rats" I'd say, "want to buy some wellies? Only €3,000.00 a pair"...
But I’m not done – I keep cutting – there’s nothing to say I
can’t. I now target historic trees –
let’s say in “Ireland” I know where the oldest tree in the country is (let’s
call it the “Silken Thomas Yew Tree” – mainly because the Silken Thomas Yew
Tree is, in truth, the oldest tree in Ireland). I can cut that sucker down,
carve little wooden shamrocks out of what is left, and sell those things to
gullible tourists for €45.00 a whack. By
the time I’m done there won’t be a tree left in “Ireland”. But don't worry - I'll funnel a portion of my profits into R&D exploring how I can re-forest Ireland - so I can cut those trees down too.
This would never happen you say. Before I’d get Gorgo the tree cutting robot
into the first grove of trees somebody in Ireland would simply pass a law
preventing me from doing this. And you’d
be correct. Nobody would ever tolerate allowing some little shitheel to run roughshod
over the country’s landscape.
So then – explain to me why these sanctimonious representatives
in Washington are able to whine so convincingly about the actions taken by
Shkreli when the obvious solution is to pass a regulation preventing him from engaging
in the kind of price-gouging they so loudly condemn? If you leave your boots out in the desert –
snakes and scorpions crawl inside. Make no mistake - Shkreli is a demon– but
he’s an entirely predictable demon – and to the lawmakers in question his
greatest sin is not one of existence, but one of degree. If they really wanted to stop him – they
could. The fact is – they just wish he
would go away and not be so blatant about his market abuse. They pine for the days when Big Pharma would
drive people to despair and death quietly, like gentlemen.
This sin of omission is explained in the attached article
(though I think it may let Shkreli off a bit too lightly). http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/everyone-hates-martin-shkreli-everyone-is-missing-the-point Shkreli’s unlimited patent rights and the unregulated
industry he operates within amounts to Congress giving Big Pharma a fleet of
tree cutting robots and turning them loose on America’s forests. Goodbye redwoods. See ya Yellowstone.
Also remember that this is not like government sticking its
nose into an area where it has no business.
Patents are granted by governments.
In a truly unregulated industry there would be no such state
sanctioned monopoly and the likes of Shkreli would have to operate in an open,
free market. If government creates the
limited market surely it’s not too much to ask that it regulate it?
Of course – to do so would mean speaking out against one of
the most powerful special interests there is – Big Pharma. Given the amount of money they funnel into
congressional and party coffers – that just doesn’t seem likely to happen
anytime soon. But what really gets me is
how “shocked – shocked” these legislative buffoons seem to be by Shkreli’s
actions. Dudes – if he’s a monster (and
he is) you’re Dr. Frankenstein.
So next time you’re looking at a picture of Martin Shkreli
and wishing he would find some way to crawl up his own ass and die – remember
to save some room for Congress in there.
Don’t worry – he seems to be a big enough anus to accommodate both
houses.
