From the article:
The news has once again rolled around that the EpiPen, a specific brand of epinephrine auto-injector, has risen in price astronomically – far beyond the normal rate of inflation. Most recently, the company behind the EpiPen, Mylan, has reportedly raised their price from $100 to $500 per pack – right when school is about to start. Naturally, this has made things more difficult for working class parents to acquire the item by their own means, and caused outcry (especially in liberal media) about how once again this is an example of “runaway capitalism” at work where greed is allowed and exploitation is real. After further review, they've determined that the FDA regulations have actually decreased competition which CREATED the same monopoly that allows Mylan the opportunity to raise their prices. For one thing, Mylan holds a patent on a type of design that meets specific legal requirements hoisted upon schools for auto-injectors. Mylan therefore exploits this. Also, the FDA is reportedly barring competing companies that do manage to meet the same technical requirements by recalling their offerings based on higher standards than set for EpiPen, or by asking them to undergo more arbitrary testing before true consideration is offered. Insert cronyism here. Most members of the decision-making board of the FDA are huge stockholders in multiple big pharmaceutical companies. This is a blatant conflict of interest. Any person or entity who benefits financially from the profits of a particular industry should never be allowed to hold a position which exercises regulatory control over that same industry. It should be highly illegal. It probably already is and just isn't being enforced. At this point, Big Pharma enjoys a government enforced monopoly. While new drugs should be verified, the fact that it costs an average of $802 million and over 7.5 years before your drug is brought to market and you make your first sale is proof that there are significant barriers to entry created by the government.
From Encyclopedia.com:
It would not stretch matters to say that the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 (P.L. 59-384, 34 Stat. 768), also known as the Wiley Act, stands as the most consequential regulatory statute in the history of the United States. The act not only gave unprecedented new regulatory powers to the federal government, it also empowered a bureau that evolved into today's Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The legacy of the 1906 act includes federal regulatory authority over one-quarter of gross domestic product, and includes market gatekeeping power over human and animal drugs, foods and preservatives, medical devices, biologics and vaccines. Other statutes (such as the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, the Sherman and Clayton antitrust laws, and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914) have received more study, but the Pure Food and Drug Act has had the longest-lasting and most widespread economic, political, and institutional impact. Today, the FDA regulates $1 trillion worth of products a year. Could the FDA reduce it's regulations and cut it's budget and market effect by 50%? I think so. To find out more about the FDA's charter, check out there page here.
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The Jason Stapleton Program is an outstanding current events show focusing on liberty and common sense.
He discusses why Seth Godin's book All Marketers are Liars is a must read for any entrepreneur, business owner or anyone crafting a message about their company, brand or product. Check out the full stream at the end to see how he shows this evidence by politicians in general and Hillary Clinton's campaign specifically (She's promising free broadband to all citizens). Check it out here:
Seth Godin is the author of eighteen international bestsellers that have been translated into over 35 languages, and have changed the way people think about marketing and work. For a long time, Unleashing the Ideavirus was the most popular ebook ever published, and Purple Cow is the bestselling marketing book of the decade.
His book, Tribes, was a nationwide bestseller, appearing on the Amazon, New York Times, BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. It's about the most powerful form of marketing--leadership--and how anyone can now become a leader, creating movements that matter. His book Linchpin came out in 2008 and was the fastest selling book of his career. Linchpin challenges you to stand up, do work that matters and race to the top instead of the bottom. More than that, though, the book outlines a massive change in our economy, a fundamental shift in what it means to have a job. Since Linchpin, Godin has published two more books, Poke the Box and We Are All Weird, through his Domino Project. He followed these with The Icarus Deception via Kickstarter, which reached its goal in less than three hours. Joined by Watcha Gonna Do With That Duck and V is for Vulnerable, those books are now widely available. In late 2014, he announced his latest, What To Do When It's Your Turn, sold directly from his website. In addition to his writing and speaking, Seth was founder and CEO of Squidoo.com,. His blog (find it by typing "seth" into Google) is the most popular marketing blog in the world. Before his work as a writer and blogger, Godin was Vice President of Direct Marketing at Yahoo!, a job he got after selling them his pioneering 1990s online startup, Yoyodyne. You can find every single possible detail that anyone could ever want to know at sethgodin.com
Check out Seth's book on Amazon:
All Marketers are Liars slideshow
Full Jason Stapleton Program episode is streamable here:
More from LibertyLOL:
Are you a member of Liberty.me? Why not? It's marketed as The Global Liberty Community!
They have tons of articles, podcasts, discussion boards, a marketcenter, and, maybe best of all, an awesome library of liberty-minded resources. One such resource is a free 19-page e-book titled "Reclaim your privacy: 5 Things you can do right now" written by by Bill Rounds, Esq. & Trace Mayer, JD. It's a pretty solid read. From the introduction "In this guide, we present information that, no matter where you are on your journey toward privacy—unless you’re Jason Bourne—you will find useful and actionable. These five areas are not the only categories that require diligence, but they are areas in which a lack of privacy is pervasive and must be addressed in order to maintain privacy and security." Topics include: REMOVE PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET MAINTAINING A PRIVATE ADDRESS CELL PHONE SECURITY SURFING THE WEB and USING FREE ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE
Download and read at the link below. Then go sign up over at Liberty.me You'll be glad you did.
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I Won’t Be a ‘Servile Puppy Dog’ for Trump
Ted Cruz won't endorse Trump! Is it funny or sad when the right claims that Bernie is a 'sellout' but can't applaud Ted Cruz when he sticks by his principles? It's interesting that because he has principles he is now labeled as 'self righteous' and 'politically suicidal'. Yeah we get it, you want everyone to unify the party so you can beat the bad guys (gals)... But isn't that kinda the problem with the two-party system? You search up a bunch of bad stuff to say about each other and you speak fervently about how the other is unfit to lead. But when you're expected to fall in line at the convention it sure makes the public's view of politicians seem fake and disingenuous. Cruz gave up on any chance he had for getting a cabinet position because he's got principles. The only ones who are angry right now are the hardcore Trumpers because they have their feelings hurt this morning.
Cruz struck a chord this morning when he spoke to the TX delegates this morning.
"How many people here are frustrated by politicians who will say anything?" "It's the politically easy option to stand up and pledge your allegiance to the party nomination." "How many of you would like to see more leaders stand up to John Boehner?" Full response is here: Check out more from LibertyLOL:
Please share this story to help our friends at Being Libertarian get their page back. They’ve worked arduously to build a loyal following of more than 90,000 fans who enjoy their daily content, and would appreciate if you could give them a helping hand.
Liberty Hangout reports that Facebook has shut down "Being Libertarian" a FB page with over 90,000 followers due to the following post:
Liberty Hangout reports:
"Being Libertarian has reached out to Facebook in hopes of receiving a media inquiry about the deletion of their page. After Facebook was recently caught tailoring their news towards liberal sources, it was believed that their relationship with non-liberals would improve. But this week’s turn of events indicate that things aren’t getting any better. We know that conservatives are being censored by Facebook, but the censorship of libertarians is even worse."
One thing that separates us from the Neanderthals is that we follow principles. The principle of Free Markey Economics tells us that while banning BEING LIBERTARIAN is quite outrageous, FB is the private property of Mark Zuckerberg and he can do with it what he wishes. A key theme of free market capitalism is that we have the ability to not use a product or support a company that acts in a way we don't agree with. Unfortunately, with FB, we're not rushing to reactivate our Myspace pages any time soon. I'd recommend sharing this article, sharing other articles that are reporting the same, and getting the word out as much as possible. It's important as we lead up to prime election season that , at the minimum, the politically illiterate are at least tapped into the fact that FB might not always be the most 'fair and balanced' place to start their research. Also, neither is Fox News...
Our politicians have no shame and they will tell us whatever we want to hear. The latest in the long list of lies was Hillary’s speech today in Illinois. During the speech, Hillary chastised Trump as a man who would never respect the separation of powers.
Don't get whiplash but Hillary Clinton said the following words: Of course now that she's won the Democratic nominee process against the ultra-left, self-described socialist Bernie Sanders, there's really no reason to position herself as a progressive. Usually a candidate will wait and slowly pivot to a new position. Maybe this new speech will appeal to those who don't follow politics but for the rest of us, it's quite laughable. No, we won't be reconsidering the Hillary ticket anytime soon... Transcript of her speech: Read more on Breitbart here: Hillary: Trump Has ‘Shown Contempt for And Ignorance of Our Constitution’ The long-classified pages detailing alleged ties of the Saudi Arabian government to the 9/11 hijackers has been released by Congress today. Unfortunately, many of the redactions are less than satisfying. Before you dive into the report, it is important to take note that Saudi Arabia is now championing this release (with redactions) while just a few months ago, they said they'd sell off our bonds if we released them. "FINDING: While in the Unites States, some of the September 11 hijackers were in contact with, and received support or assistance from, individuals who may be connect to the Saudi government. There is information, primarily from FBI sources, that t least two of those individuals were alleged by some to be Saudi intelligence officers. The Joint Inquiry's review confirmed that the Intelligence Community also has information, much of which has yet to be independently verified, indicating that individuals associated with the Saudi government in the United States may have other ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups." Here is the 28 pages to include the Joint Inquiry's executive summary. It can also be downloaded here. The following document is redacted to protect the guilty: As some of the redactions are necessary to prevent disclosure of CIA and FBI personnel's identity, many of the redactions fly in the face of those who expected transparency by the Joint Inquiry's release. It doesn't help that the report does unveil that quite a bit of suspicion should fall onto the Saudi government. The heavily redacted document provides information to fuel the Saudi-linked speculation but allows for just enough unknown evidence that it is almost worthless. Write your congressman/woman and demand full transparency. The United States shouldn't continue to be allied with a country that freely operates within our borders as the document infers but doesn't prove (as redacted). White House stance: This document “does not change the assessment of the U.S. government that there’s no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded Al Qaeda,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said on Friday, quoting the commission’s finding word for word. |
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