Trumpocalypse: No hanky/lanky

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by GoodForAnother, Mar 22, 2017.

  1. Aaron Hernandez

    Aaron Hernandez LikeMyPostCampaign: https://bit.ly/2kKJpot
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  2. Zap Branigan

    Zap Branigan I suffer from a very sexy learning disability.
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  3. AptosDuck

    AptosDuck Pedantic Hausfrau
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    http://truecostofhealthcare.net/the_pharmaceutical_industry/

    You* can disagree with the guy's analysis and conclusions, but the stats are the stats: the major pharmaceuticals, at least, spend less on research than they take as profit, and they spend significantly less on research than they do on marketing. I understand that it's easy to nix a costly research program if you think it'll just fail like so many others do, but if that's your mindset, maybe you shouldn't be in the pharma business to begin with.

    * generic you, not you specifically
     
  4. Joe_Pesci

    Joe_Pesci lying dog-faced pony soldier
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    no but i think i saw some meme and i liked it
     
  5. Drew Swinney Esq

    Drew Swinney Esq Successful Attorney in Atlanta
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    I realize I wasn't as clear as I intended with my points. Memorial Day drinking.


    Pharma companies do not set prices based on cost of R&D, or materials, or really the cost of anything but other treatments for the drug's indication and what they think the insurance companies/doctors/hospitals will pay for it. It's purely market based. The market run amok actually.

    I wasn't trying to stand up for pharma. What I was trying to get at with the cost of R&D is that the industry is kind of akin to a high risk lottery with a very expensive ticket. IMO these costs have a greater effect on budding companies and technologies. Almost all of the groundwork done to make new medical discoveries is funded by government research institutes because this work is exploratory in nature and may not have an immediate economic usage. Knowledge base builds and builds until one researcher or set of collaborators finds something potentially therapeutic and patentable. Then they're off to find funding to launch a company etc. This is a very volatile space and very risky for investors. The price of R&D here has a big impact. It's hard to navigate these costs without a product to sell and odds stacked against you. Money will still come pouring in if the company looks promising, but it's still a long shot and the valuations are based on the current high prices. If it was cheaper to bring novel therapeutics through the development and evaluation phases it would be easier to create competition to bring prices down.

    Instead of more competition what we have are the big pharma companies gaming the patent system. Paying off generic manufacturers to delay production of cost reducing competitors after patents expire. Finding new uses for previously developed drugs that don't have current generics being made and jacking up the price. Acquiring smaller companies that could be their competition. Pricing that doesn't reflect effectiveness. All kinds of bad practices. Squeezing out profits on what is approved already. They're doing what any industry in the free market would do if they could get away with it without repercussions. They would rather do anything except have to develop a novel therapeutic from scratch but are still taking chances there too.

    It's an incredibly complicated thing to fix. Even then, if you significantly lowered drug prices, prescription drugs are only around 10% of US health expenditures.

    Who knew healthcare could be so complicated?
     
    #32955 Drew Swinney Esq, May 30, 2017
    Last edited: May 30, 2017
  6. Drew Swinney Esq

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  7. BudKilmer

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    :pray:
     
  8. Bruce Wayne

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    Off to an early start this morning
     
  9. Where Eagles Dare

    Where Eagles Dare The Specialist Show On Earth
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    36 minutes to some absurd tweets
     
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  10. Where Eagles Dare

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  11. HoosDaMan

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    Russia, if you're listening, release the tapes!
     
  12. BudKilmer

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    I'll take what I can get but I'd rather see him betrayed by our IC
     
  13. blotter

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    I only skim his stuff, but Hot Tub guy pretty much said this yesterday. He might have embellished some stuff, but the basic premise was the NSA has Russia's side of things.

    also didn't see this posted, but Trump gave kushdog his kiss of death

    “Jared is doing a great job for the country," the president was quoted as saying. "I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars.

    some fluff





     
  14. HoosDaMan

    HoosDaMan Grumpy
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    Trump tweeting his heart out this morning.
     
  15. Drew Swinney Esq

    Drew Swinney Esq Successful Attorney in Atlanta
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    Does he know that Germany is in the EU and can't have it's own trade deal with the US?
     
  16. Festus McBadass

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    Probably not
     
  17. Wicket

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    yeah, i dont know why trump thinks that just because the us has such a ridiculously high defense budget why other countries should follow in this environment. Combined EU defense budget is still easily #2 in the world
     
  18. Wicket

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    i think i see the flaw in my statement
     
  19. Drew Swinney Esq

    Drew Swinney Esq Successful Attorney in Atlanta
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    Did he know that one of Putin's goals is to fracture US-Germany relations?
     
  20. CaneKnight

    CaneKnight FSU Private Board's Fav Poster
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    Fuck anyone that voted for this dumbass
     
  21. Trofie

    Trofie Well-Known Member
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    He's an idiot but Germany does have a rather pathetic military.


    " While the German military is the fourth-largest military in the EU, with about 180,000 active duty personnel, that is smaller than the militaries of France, Italy, and Britain, all of which Germany dwarfs in both economy and population. Despite the strength of that economy, Germany spends only 1.35 percent of its GDP on defense, far below the 2% requirement. As a result, they are facing serious problems with outmoded equipment and low readiness."

    In the late 80's, they had 12 divisions of 36 maneuverable brigades. Today they have 3 divisions of 7.5 brigades (half of one is French troops) and most are not battle-ready. Only four battalions of tanks and field artillery total.

    Germany's only major deployment in the last oh, 10-20 years was a brigade in Afghanistan until 2013. It was well-discussed among NATO that German's brigade avoided active engagement. 100,000 troops rotated through a tour of duty and only 54 were killed. They also had highly restrictive rules of engagement to keep the public appeased and not rebel against their involvement.
     
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  22. Redav

    Redav One big ocean
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  23. pez

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    Given their history, I'm generally pretty comfortable with a weaker German army.
     
  24. Redav

    Redav One big ocean
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    It's fun watching our country wither away under Trump's "guidance"
     
  25. Trofie

    Trofie Well-Known Member
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    I think he's referring to Germany exploiting a weak Euro to run up a giant trade surplus. But I'm not sure because he's yelling in his tweets
     
  26. BudKilmer

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    Trump is shook as shit
     
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  27. Trofie

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    It's generally pretty liberal now , if you view Russia as a threat in anyway you'd want a capable military in Germany.
     
  28. pez

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    You don't need capable individual armies when you have a capable European alliance. That's what collective defense is about. At least it used to be. Encouraging an arms race on Europe just doesn't seem like the right way to play this. Yes the US pay more than its share in NATO. But it likely also receives more than its share of its benefit.
     
  29. BudKilmer

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    Germany hasn't needed a massive military bc until retards elected a racist shit for brains, we had their back
     
  30. bertwing

    bertwing check out the nametag grandma
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    There must be some news dropping today that's got him all hot and bothered this morning
     
  31. Trofie

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    I get that, but you want them to oppose Russia.


    "Germany’s present unwillingness to do more to defend NATO’s East against Russian aggression is deeply frustrating but represents the logical outcome of many decades of policy and propaganda forced on the Germans by the Western Allies, America particularly. Widespread anti-Americanism in Germany today cannot be ignored either. In recent years, this has become an inescapable fact of life among many Germans, and alarmingly, Left and Right versions of anti-Americanism have functionally fused into a common narrative that presents the United States as a lawless and warlike failed civilization, awash in crime, debt, and losing wars of choice. Revelations of U.S. espionage leaked by Edward Snowden have hardly helped America’s image in Germany, but the problems go a good deal deeper. German frustration with the presidency of George W. Bush grew serious, between Middle East invasions, extraordinary renditions, Guantanamo Bay detention, and killer drones, but things have not improved under Barack Obama."


    And written in 2014

    : " “Germany has never figured out whether it wants to be part of the West,” says John Kornblum, a former American ambassador to Germany who is now a lawyer in Berlin. Within Europe, he argues that “the Germans are the strongest, but are totally without a strategic sense. At the moment, they are almost as dangerous as the Russians.” Ulrich Speck at Carnegie Europe, a think-tank in Brussels, sees the danger as a drift away from Germany’s Western identity and its strategic bond with America. “The more America confronts Russia to defend the principles of international order,” he says, “the more Germany will distance itself from America.” For Europe, as for Germany itself, any such shift would be disastrous." "
     
  32. Mister Me Too

    Mister Me Too Well-Known Member
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    I don't think that he's aware of how the EU works or how foreign exchange rates work, those things would be too difficult to explain in a 2-4 minute presentation.
     
  33. DelapThrows

    DelapThrows Comforter, Philosopher, and Lifelong Mate
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    :pray:
     
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  34. Bruce Wayne

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    What's the thought among Germans on having a strong military? Gotta imagine they're shorta gunshy about that kind of thing
     
  35. Professor Moriarty

    Professor Moriarty Well-Known Member
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    [​IMG]
     
  36. steamengine

    steamengine I don’t want to press one for English!
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    Wasn't Germanic culture built around warrior tribes invading the Roman Empire? They're probably pretty cool with it.
     
  37. GoodForAnother

    GoodForAnother I’d rather be down the allotment
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    Thanks
     
  38. Where Eagles Dare

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    I think that's the point
     
  39. Where Eagles Dare

    Where Eagles Dare The Specialist Show On Earth
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    So much for the fake leaks of a staff shake up
     
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  40. Bruce Wayne

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    Well ya but I'm sure some minor events in the 20th century might have changed the way that culture behaves wrt war and shit
     
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  41. pez

    pez Competent
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    I don't read that first passage in any way to support a strong German army. If anything it seems like a reason to not encourage a German build up. That reads like a German nationalist take on NATO and US involvement.

    And the second seems again like something that wouldn't support the current tact being taken either. Germany is uneasy about the west and their position , so let's alienate them, make them the scapegoat and encourage them to build up their army.

    I get what the ambassador is saying at the end and he obviously knows more than I would , but it's a bit illogical.

    And again, I don't want Germany to oppose Russia. I want NATO to oppose Russia.
     
  42. Where Eagles Dare

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    Pussy bitch had to wait until he left the EU before tweeting like a lunatic and calling out the Merkel to her face.

    100% Trump is scared of her.

    At least pence had the fortitude to Mean Mug North Korea while at the DMZ

    :bobbleresolve:
     
  43. Where Eagles Dare

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    Hard to do with just infographics
     
  44. pez

    pez Competent
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    And what's the context here? Can I see the source? Because I'm not sure I understand what they want Germany to do. Are they asking for Germany to send troops into Poland? Or the baltics? Somehow I think Poland wouldn't exactly be comfortable with that.
     
  45. Where Eagles Dare

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    Hey Poland, here comes Germany's army. Ignore the last 2 times....trust us they are friends.
     
  46. Redav

    Redav One big ocean
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    Piss tape is real
     
  47. steamengine

    steamengine I don’t want to press one for English!
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    Hmmm, don't recall.
     
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  48. Trofie

    Trofie Well-Known Member
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