Thread by @doctorow

Back in 2014, a pair of political scientists published a study of 1,779 US "policy issues" over 20 years, concluding that elected officials make policy to benefit the richest ten percent of the country to the exclusion of the needs of everyone else.

cambridge.org/core/journals/… 1/

If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2021/11/18/bip… 2/

This was true irrespective of whether there was mass pressure from citizen groups. In the USA, politicians make sure that richest ten percent get whatever they want and do nothing for the rest of us. 3/

I find this study incredibly depressing and do my best to keep it out of my mind. After all, while this is true in *nearly* every case, we all know about instances in which policy supported the many and not the few. 4/

The formation of the FTC and EPA was not the product of a fallen civilization in possession of lost and unfathomnable technology. 5/

So I soldier on, telling myself "This isn't the kind of fight we win, it's the kind of fight we fight" (as the epigraph from my 2019 collection *Radicalized* has it), but every now and then, well... Ugh. 6/

The Democrats set to kill pharma price controls in the #BuildBackBetter plan.

khn.org/news/article/d… 7/

Americans pay 300% more for their medicine than people outside of the USA. 95% of Democrats want Medicare to negotiate drug prices (that's right, the US government *doesn't negotiate the price it pays for drugs*) (seriously). 8/

82% of independents support Medicare drug-price negotiations. 71% of Republicans support this, too.

It's not just Medicare. 84% of Americans support price-caps on drugs used to treat chronic illness (think: insulin):

rwjf.org/en/library/res… 9/

93% of Americans think that pharma companies will still be able to fund drug research with these measures in place (90% of Republicans agree). They're obviously right, because the bulk of critical pharma R&D is paid for by the USG, not pharma.

khn.org/news/article/p… 10/

And yet. The latest Build Back Better pharma proposal is basically a nothingburger in a my-eyes-glaze-over bun of bureaucratic nonsense. 11/

In the current proposal, Uncle Sucker will be allowed to choose up to ten drugs per year (or as few as zero drugs per year) to negotiate prices on. Not just any drugs: those ten (or zero) drugs must have been on the market for at least 13 years.

Then...nothing happens. 12/

Until 2025, when the controls kick in. If the new Senate, Congress and presidential administration decide to make them stick. 13/

And since the Dems are not delivering any benefit to the American people until after the next presidential election, the politicians who supported this measure won't be able to campaign on its benefits to win re-election and ensure it actually takes effect. 14/

Why is this bullshit the best we can get? Why were the incredibly popular, stronger versions of this measure not a slam dunk? 15/

It's really uncomplicated. The pharma industry bribes key Democrats to block it.

For example, @SenatorSinema campaigned on drug-price controls. Then pharma gave her $100,000. Then she killed a House proposal that would have lowered the prices Medicare pays for 250 drugs. 16/

94% of Arizona voters supported the measure. She killed it for the price of new Mercedes SUV.

Then there's @SenatorMenendez, whose state (NJ) includes 13 of the 20 largest pharma manufacturers. 17/

And @RepScottPeters, whose San Diego district is also heavy with pharma companies. Their *constituents* want lower drug prices. Their corporate donors don't.

You and the people you love might die because of this. 18/

The country will throw billions to the pharma industry as a result of it. The lobbying bill for @PhRMA, whose bribes account for those bodies and those billions? A mere $23m so far in 2021.

washingtonpost.com/business/2021/…

It's a goddamned steal. 19/

We know the names of the executives, lobbyists and politicians who took pennies that cost us billions while we died in our droves. We won't forget. Someday, there has to be a reckoning.

I mean, doesn't there? 20/