GREED, FEAR, MYLAN AND THE EPIPEN

As long as greed is stronger than compassion,

there will always be suffering. 

–Rusty Eric, author

Full disclosure:     I have come as close to death as one could caused by multiple wasp stings. Since then my life is dependent on having EpiPen available at all times.   I am extremely fortunate to have insurance and the money for co-pay to cover this life-saving medication.  My sister-in-law has the same condition as I do.  The EpiPen has saved her life more than once.  She has a great challenge paying for hers.

There are approximately 15 million Americans dependent on EpiPen to quickly administer the adrenaline for a multitude of allergic reactions.  Many simply cannot afford this price-gouged drug.

EpiPen can be bought from Canada or any other nation.  How much would it cost?  $50.00 or less.  In the United States?  $600.00

This sleazy price-gouging by Mylan is the model for corporate GREED in American today and Heather Bresch is the cheerleader.  There are other examples of corporate greed too numerous to mention, but here are two.  “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli did the same thing with the AIDS drug, as did Valeant with a crucial heart drug, soaring from $13.50 a tablet to $750.00 overnight.

What is going on?  It might be enlightening to step back and look at large businesses in general.  I see this as a giant pendulum swinging between greed and fear.  When the news broke about the EpiPen crises, the pendulum began to swing quickly from greed to fear.  Ms. Bresch gave the lame excuse saying it was the natural result of research and development.  When that didn’t work, increased fear got the organization scrambling with coupons and a lower generic EpiPen.  All without compassion.

The reality is: until “we the people “ use our influence as citizens to put the right people in office, this plague will continue as it has for centuries where power and monopolies held sway over the hardworking citizen.

In my opinion, the first step would be for our government to put a halt to the trickery of what is called corporate “inversion.”  If we continue to allow U. S. corporations to merge with foreign corporations to evade paying U. S. taxes, there is no hope.  Greed and fear will continue to reign.

Let’s use Mylan as a worst-case example of greed and fear to fix the system and make American capitalism work again.  Perhaps a new pendulum can swing from fear and greed to compassion.

Imagine That!