Previously the drug cost $13.50 a pill, but in Shkreli’s hands, the price quickly increased by a factor of 56, to $750 a pill. At a health care conference, Shkreli told the audience that he should have raised the price even higher.
Are laws in place to prevent the inflation of prescription drugs and other necessary items? Or is the whole purpose of a capitalistic society to see how expensive they can get?
byzantine
The word byzantine sounds familiar from past classes that I have taken, but I am unable to form a real definition in my head. Now after looking it up, I see it has a meaning that is totally separate from the Byzantine Empire. LOL. The definition is "(of a system or situation) excessively complicated, and typically involving a great deal of administrative detail."
Comptroller
I have heard the title Comptroller before but I am unsure of what it entails. The Oxford Language dictionary states that it is "a controller (used in the title of some financial officers)."
This is a capitalist society. It’s a fatalistic mantra that seems to get repeated to anyone who questions why America can’t be more fair or equal.
! I think this really hits the nail on the head. Capitalism is used as a justification for why things are not fair and equal, when really the system was created to give individuals economic freedom and a fair chance. It is crazy how far it has spread from its true message and morphed into many different systems that ultimately are reflect the morals of a country's leadership.
At a health care conference, Shkreli told the audience that he should have raised the price even higher. “No one wants to say it, no one’s proud of it,” he explained. “But this is a capitalist society, a capitalist system and capitalist rules.”
Raise hand emoji This reminds me a lot of something that was said in the model commentary I read today about healthcare. The muckraker said that the power to charge whatever they want for the drug is at the hands of the healthcare provider, as most individuals will pay whatever the price is for life-saving medication. This is one of the most messed up parts of capitalism, and it takes advantage of people's dependency to gain profit. It also reminds me of one of the political cartoons we looked at a few weeks ago that showed the price of oxygen masks on planes. These are instances where money is favored over people's lives, which is unfortunately typical in a capitalistic society.