New: The pharmaceutical industry has been lobbying the Biden admin to punish foreign countries pushing to use American patents to produce their own low-cost coronavirus vaccines. interc.pt/3rfnu5M
The current global vaccination plan, approved by the drug industry, relies on voluntary deals negotiated by drug firms that owns covid vaccine patents. The industry-friendly approach means much of the developing world may not be vaccinated until as far as late 2023 or early 2024.
The slow delivery of vaccines to low/middle income countries will mean more death, a slower recovery and the potential for new dangerous mutations.
The current debate around coronavirus vaccine intellectual property is a great example of corporate solidarity. Business interests at large would benefit from sharing IP to end the pandemic as fast as possible. But virtually all corporations are silent or siding w the drug lobby.
The National Association of Manufacturers -- the lobby group that reps ExxonMobil, Toyota, Alcoa, etc -- opposes any IP exemptions to share vaccine patents globally, claiming doing so would "undermine innovation"
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the lobby group for hundreds of large corporations, similarly claims the proposal to share vaccine IP to end the pandemic "would distort trade" & "create an uneven playing field for innovative U.S. businesses."
Nancy Pelosi previously sponsored single payer "Medicare for All" style health reform. In 1994, she demanded a vote on it. "It is interesting to see how, under scrutiny, when people really take a look at these bills, how brilliantly the single payer plan stands out," Pelosi said.
Given the recent "discourse" around this topic, surprised no one has pointed this out. Pelosi sponsored the single payer bill, even serving as the pitch person introducing it at committees, appearing on TV to argue for it. Makes basically all the same points as Bernie does today.
"I advocate a single-payer system, and I would like to see us move in that direction" -- Pelosi, SF Chron, 9/23/93.
"I am pleased to be here with my colleagues in support of a single payer approach to health care reform" - Pelosi, 2/1/94 before the Energy & Commerce Committee.
If you own a racehorse, the coronavirus stimulus legislation has a tax break for you
The so-called 'three martini lunch' tax deduction, used by business to deduct food and beverage expenses, is in there.
The PPP bailout money for small business originally covered payroll and rent -- the new stimulus legislation now says PPP can cover "cloud computing" services, which potentially means the gov is now picking up the tab for automation.
CDC guidelines for vaccine priority recommend 87 million non-healthcare “essential workers” — an amorphous group that includes various interest groups, journalists, the financial industry — over the elderly in part b/c the elderly are overwhelmingly white. cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/…
The CDC guidelines are nonbinding but are used by states to set the distribution of the vaccine. Those w/lobbyists and organized advocacy are pushing to be counted as “essential workers.” The elderly and less well resourced workers may be out of luck. theintercept.com/2020/12/10/lob…
The CDC guidelines above (footnote pg 8) cite the DHS critical infrastructure “essential worker” list published in August. That memo explicitly says people who work in banking, defense contracting, even the manufacturing of “fragrances” are essential cisa.gov/sites/default/…
Hollywood deployed lobbyists close to Gov. Gavin Newsom and key Dems to win exemptions to strict California coronavirus lockdown interc.pt/3a1dWph
Newsom was caught indoor dining w multiple households last month at the French Laundry. He was celebrating the birthday of Netflix lobbyist Jason Kinney. Netflix has tripled its lobby spending and won the right to continue filming in LA as other businesses are shut down.
California listed the television and movie film studio industry as “critical infrastructure” allowed to avoid the shut down, given studios permission to avoid nightly curfew orders after Paramount Pictures, Disney, Warner Bros, Netflix & the MPAA spent big to lobby the governor.
In California, gig companies paid off woke groups to lie and claim helping drivers unionize was racist and harmful to people of color, bail bond industry paid woke groups to claim ending cash bail was racist, oil refineries paid off woke groups to prevent higher taxes. It worked.
Industry groups — from Uber to Chevron to the entire predatory bail bond industry — paid off woke activists to invoke racial justice rhetoric in order to convince voters to back far right positions for Prop 15, Prop 22 and Prop 25. Business groups prevailed in all of them.
In the not too distant past, business advanced neoliberals goals through racist white racial grievance politics. In this cultural era, especially in Democratic regions of the country, the same neoliberal goals are advanced through bad faith woke social justice front groups.