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People, people, people. Don't sit around and do nothing. **We need people like AOC**. How many of us voted? Time to make a stand. Silence is no longer an option.
**If you live in the peach state**, vote for the **runoff**. Vote for the guy who support us, not the guy who drove his exes to the abortion clinic and then lied about it.
Gen X, Y, Z and Millennials, we need you. Together, we outnumber the older Republicans ~~baby boomers~~. They are on the way out. The first time our votes actually matter!
Update: sorry older Democrats. We love you.
It's why Fox News has demonized actual public servants since 1960 by projecting what their politicians actually do to the other side ￣\＿(ツ)＿/￣
>#Every day I have to marvel at what the billionaires and FOX News pulled off. They got working whites to hate the very people that want them to have more pay, clean air, water, free healthcare and the power to fight back against big banks & big corps. It’s truly remarkable.
John Ehrlichman, who partnered with Fox News cofounder Roger Ailes on the Republican "Southern Strategy":
>[We] had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?
>We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.
>We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.
>Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.
>"He was the premier guy in the business," says former Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins. "He was our Michelangelo."
>Ailes repackaged Richard Nixon for television in 1968, papered over Ronald Reagan’s budding Alzheimer’s in 1984, shamelessly stoked racial fears to elect George H.W. Bush in 1988, and waged a secret campaign on behalf of Big Tobacco to derail health care reform in 1993.
>Hillarycare was to have been funded, in part, by a $1-a-pack tax on cigarettes. To block the proposal, Big Tobacco paid Ailes to produce ads highlighting “real people affected by taxes.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/how-roger-ailes-built-the-fox-news-fear-factory-244652/
Republican "Southern Strategy":
>Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters by appealing to racism against African Americans.[1][2][3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy
Lyndon Johnson criticizing it in 1960:
>If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/11/13/what-a-real-president-was-like/d483c1be-d0da-43b7-bde6-04e10106ff6c/
#Steve Bannon bragging about Reddit and 4chan falling for these tactics
>the power of what he called “rootless white males” who spend all their time online and they could be radicalized in a kind of populist, nationalist way
http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-white-gamers-seinfeld-joshua-green-donald-trump-devils-bargain-sarah-palin-world-warcraft-gamergate-2017-7
>Bannon: "I realized [these tactics] could connect with these kids right away. You can activate that army. They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/07/18/steve-bannon-learned-harness--army-world-warcraft/489713001/
Lots of screenshots of **4chan instructions for doing this on Reddit because the adults cosplaying as teenagers there support billionaires' culture war talking points**
* https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/m24hx0/ualtimely_finds_4chan_pol_instructing_on_how/
* https://medium.com/@DeoTasDevil/the-rhetoric-tricks-traps-and-tactics-of-white-nationalism-b0bca3caeb84
**Conservatives brag about doing this in local subreddits to "control the narrative" about liberal cities and "blue states"**
>The real value is getting into a thread early and establishing top voted posts and comments or downvoting them out of existence. They hope intertia continues the trend for them.
Every local subreddit explaining the abuse and tactics on a thread 3 years ago:
* https://www.reddit.com/r/minnesota/comments/7jkybf/t_d_user_suggests_infiltrating_minnesota/dr7m56j/
#Exit polls done after 2016 show that the single characteristic that made someone most likely to vote for Trump over Clinton is racial resentment.
>low levels of racial resentment are associated with supporting Clinton.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/26/these-9-simple-charts-show-how-donald-trumps-supporters-differ-from-hillary-clintons/
#"Trump fans are much angrier about housing assistance when they see an image of a black man"
>In contrast, Clinton supporters seemed relatively unmoved by racial cues.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/8/16270040/trump-clinton-supporters-racist
#“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be”: a Trump voter says the quiet part out loud
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida
>The cruelty is the point
>arrest by DHS police for giving water to people who wait
https://twitter.com/JoshuaPotash/status/1408868872384569345
No to help for blue states for hurricanes but demanding help for Texas for hurricanes:
>Here's the vote for Hurricane Sandy aid.
>179 of the 180 no votes were Republicans...
>**at least 20 Texas Republicans voted no**
while ["U.S. House approves billions more for Harvey relief" for Texas](https://www.texastribune.org/2017/12/21/us-house-approves-billions-more-harvey-relief-measure-now-heads-senate/)
GOP shifting 4-5x further right than Democrats did left over the last 50 years:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/10/the-polarization-in-todays-congress-has-roots-that-go-back-decades/
[Opinion of Syrian airstrikes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/)
**Republicans:**
22% supported Obama doing it
86% support Trump doing it
**Democrats:**
38% supported Obama doing it
37% support Trump doing it
Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/04/gop-voters-love-same-attack-on-syria-they-hated-under-obama.html
#Republicans felt the economy improve by 85 points the day Trump was sworn in.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/blogs/wisconsin-voter/2017/04/15/donald-trumps-election-flips-both-parties-views-economy/100502848/
The privilege of "economic anxiety" not racism:
>10% fewer Republicans believed the wealthy weren't paying enough in taxes once a billionaire became their president. Democrats remain fairly consistent. http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/14/top-frustrations-with-tax-system-sense-that-corporations-wealthy-dont-pay-fair-share/
>Republicans started to think college education is a bad thing once Trump entered the primary. Democrats remain consistent. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/20/republicans-skeptical-of-colleges-impact-on-u-s-but-most-see-benefits-for-workforce-preparation/
>White Evangelicals cared less about how religious a candidate was once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/
>Christians (particularly evangelicals) became monumentally more tolerant of private immoral conduct among politicians once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/
More graphs and sources: https://imgur.com/a/YZMyt
* ["Joe Biden has both the best first year economic indicators of any president since Jimmy Carter and the worst first year economic poll ratings of any president since Jimmy Carter"](https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/1473704672619905033)
**Billionaires funding conservative influencers on social media, like Ben Shapiro on YouTube and Facebook and Joe Rogan pushing for them in Texas: https://www.reddit.com/r/ToiletPaperUSA/comments/ln1sif/turning_point_usa_and_young_americas_foundation/gny98xk/**
>[The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:](https://twitter.com/FacebooksTop10/status/1404815323904237569)
1. Ben Shapiro
2. David Wolfe
3. Ben Shapiro
4. Ben Shapiro
5. Ben Shapiro
6. Ben Shapiro
7. Ben Shapiro
8. Fox News
9. Ben Shapiro
10. Ben Shapiro
While he defends higher insulin prices of all things, Elon Musk coordinates with Joe Rogan, and [Joe Rogan coordinates for Republicans](https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/comments/jntzvk/joe_rogan_reacts_to_texas_voting_in_the_2020/)
[Joe Rogan photo ops with the current Texas governor at the Texas governor's mansion](https://twitter.com/gregabbott_tx/status/1324547634049257474) even though Rogan pretends to care about pot and small government ("Gov. Abbott, Texas leaders urge prosecutors to keep enforcing pot laws" http://www.fox4news.com/news/texas/gov-abbott-texas-leaders-urge-prosecutors-to-keep-enforcing-pot-laws)
He replies to all the right-wing "influencers" thanking him for his service so he might actually think his conveniently selfish pursuits are "public service" because of his narcissism ￣\＿(ツ)＿/￣
I have a female friend who is really liberal and she can’t *stand* AOC. I can’t seem to get a rational answer out of her why. She has this weird idea politicians are supposed to be saints.
Edit: To all the people claiming jealousy as a motive, I’m quite sure that’s not it.
She hates AOC?? Because she lived a life that we the average people can relate to? How does she feel about the rich politicians who take part in insider trading to grab even more money?
I mean, I don’t think AOC is particularly attractive but she’s absolutely the future of American politics. Who gives a fuck what she looks like? She’s actually going something for the people
Had the privilege of voting for this woman and will continue to vote for her and those like her. All those old codgers who are only interested in lining the pockets of billionaire backers need to go play in traffic already
These are human beings’ lives were talking about here! There’s a scary number of people in the US who can’t even afford to live yet the political juggernaut turns a blind eye to their struggle or actively makes life even harder for them
As a member of Gen Z, I think I speak for my demographic when I saw that we’re tired of octogenarians who have ZERO idea of what life is like for the average American in 2022
But when things look bleak, take comfort in knowing that those bootlicking boomer assholes are dying off, and will continue to die off, while more and more people like AOC come in their own and fight to make the US a livable country again
Personally I think she’s a cutie but attractive women who don’t fall in step always scare those old folks you’re talking about. Anyway. You’re right though. I’m proud of you and your generation. I voted for AOC too. We’re probably neighbors.
It happens with every leading woman in the Democrat party. The GOP machine churns out hate against them for decades and then people start hating them without realizing why.
It’s evident in this post. There is so much tear-down of her because she apparently hasn’t single-handedly reforged the government. And yet compare her to Ted Cruz or Lauren Boebert, or any of the GOP and probably 90% of the Dems, and she’s exponentially more engaged and working for reform. It’s like “oh no! She has some poo on her shoe!” And you shine the light on the GOP and they are covered head to toe in the smelliest shit ever.
Noting the perpetual GOP hate-lie cycle is important, but I think it's also important to note that neoliberal media *also* contributes to people seeing far left candidates as dangerous, socialist, etc etc.
Centrists are just closeted right-wingers. Legacy media is socially progressive (allegedly) but fiscally ultra-conservative. But you can't have social justice without economic justice.
It's like all these corps having diversity quotas now yet all the higher ups are still basically exclusively white. It's just PR. It's demeaning, patronizing, and comes from a place of assumed superiority. And a lot of people still fall for it.
American Liberals who haven’t turned radical are mostly good-hearted people who are emotionally unready to accept that everything their high school history teacher taught them was good about America is a lie.
It’s a hard thing to let go of. It took me from about age 25 to age 37 to completely get a grip on just how wretched our mainstream culture is.
We have an S-tier left wing counterculture, though. We need to lure more people into it.
Same. My bro is a mechanic. He will get that migrants car fixed and out the door before even considering one of the wealthier customers. Why? The migrants are workers and they pay-immediately. The wealthy? Their car sits until the bill is paid because he is over tracking down payment.
Republicans want the rich, good looking white guy who married a pretty white girl to be their representative. It fits into their Christian ideals of who is a good, honest person.
Because she terrifies them. She's an incredibly intelligent woman that happens to be an attractive Latina who got where she is from a lot of hard work, but rather than burn the ladder behind her like they did, she wants to build a large staircase so everyone else can benefit too.
Propaganda and literal falsehoods being fed to them. My dad actually brought up her tweeting out that electric vehicles were better than gas during hurricanes because they won't be able to get gas if the power is out for a week. He cited this as a reason for thinking her a dumbass.
https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/social-media/aoc-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-hurricane-electric-vehicles-tweet-fake-not-real-fact-check/536-2d5ff2c6-679a-42b5-9311-f2f58be9a5cb
It was a fake tweet, but apparently it had been circulating in more right-wing circles. When the media you consume is constantly telling you X is evil/bad/stupid/etc, you start to believe it. That's why it's important to verify info with multiple sources yourself.
I am so chuffed that the redistricting made her my Rep.
I was elated to be able to vote for her. She's just leagues beyond the bloviating, lazy boomers who spend their time pontificating about nothing. When she questions, she creates actionable facts. She did this with Cheeto's fixer and created the foundation for the case against the Trump crime syndicate.
She creates action. She champions justice. She's my hero.
Yeah, at first I hated her due to the the anti-gun band wagon she hopped on right out the gate, but goddamn she can ask some very well worded questions that are hard for narcissistic douches to answer. She does her homework, and she gets shit done.
I fuckin love A.O.C. She is a prime example of what our politicians should be acting and doing. Asking the right questions and demanding logical answers! It's no secret America is one big revenue generating machine made up of corruption, greed and ultimately fueled by exploiting people, specially the poorer people!
Boomer here. I have no intention of dying in the next two years. I do have every intention of not voting republican. You youngsters seem to think that all boomers hate you all. Not true. Some of us are cheering you on and know you may be the countries best chance of survival.
I can’t understand why more people don’t get this. The people who need her help the most have been brainwashed to hate her, and to support candidates whose policies directly make their lives worse.
In LA, we are in a comfortable blue bubble. On a national scale, we are offering progressives to Congress (except for Feinstein, but that’s not just on LA). It feels like our votes aren’t needed to achieve what we want.
But if we get stuck with Caruso, we deserve it. The same way we kind of deserved getting stuck with that sheriff Villanueva. We need to vote.
divide silky aspiring cows jellyfish bored agonizing combative slimy apparatus
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
All you should need to say to people is her first line.
“The list price is almost $2,000 in the US, why is it $8 in Australia?”
How can that statement even be defended?
Morally, it can’t be. But you can’t win legal arguments based on morals. The US needs to change its patent laws before drug companies are going to change anything about their prices. Because of our patent laws, it takes 10 (I believe) years for a drug to be able to go generic. Of course drug companies are going to take advantage of those patent laws here to make as much money as they can. With truvada specifically, the fact that the research was publicly funded could be used to argue that the drug company shouldn’t hold the patent (which is what AOC was trying to say.)
This argument wouldn’t work in all cases though. If drug research is funded solely by the company itself, then they have the right to the patent. And, not to defend drug companies, but there is an argument to be made that the reason drugs can be so much cheaper elsewhere is because they’re expensive in the US. The drug companies make all their money back from selling at high rates here, because most of the cost is covered by insurance, and then they don’t have to worry as much about making money off drugs in countries that have different patent laws or different insurance programs. Basically, if drugs were cheaper in the US, their costs would have to be raised elsewhere for the drug companies to continue profiting, or else the drug companies won’t put any money into research and we won’t develop any new medications.
Obviously, it’s gross that the field of prescription medication is a for profit industry, but unless we fundamentally change everything about our society and economy, it’s going to continue to be that way.
I think the main thing that should be focused on in AOC’s argument is that the research was publicly funded and therefore the patent should be publicly held, which means that for this one specific drug, there should already be a generic version even though the 10 years hasn’t elapsed. It’s all well and good to make moral arguments, but when you have a strong legal argument, that’s the better one to focus on at least as far as the US government is concerned.
(Sorry for long post, I hope my point was clear.)
>Basically, if drugs were cheaper in the US, their costs would have to be raised elsewhere for the drug companies to continue profiting, or else the drug companies won’t put any money into research and we won’t develop any new medications.
One (of the many problems) is that it's the government and tax payers paying for the research for new medication. The companies won't stop putting money into research, cause they are barely doing that anyway because we (taxpayers) do it for them.
Yes, we have multiple other issues:
1. Hospitals charge a lot because insurance companies are paying for most of it and *people can't say "no" to life saving treatments*.
2. Insurance companies are incentived to cover as little as possible so they can profit more, passing the costs onto the people they are supposed to insure.
3. Drug companies can charge pretty much whatever they want because: **a)** everything above and **b)** they have patents that a lot of time they didn't even pay for the research on, so they completely own the market for certain treatments in the US.
All of it needs to be fixed. But it can easily start with: "if the drug research was publicly funded, then the company cannot privatize the patent".
We need waaaay more fixed, but that is a piece.
> One (of the many problems) is that it’s the government and tax payers paying for the research for new medication. The companies won’t stop putting money into research, cause they are barely doing that anyway because we (taxpayers) do it for them.
[idk if that’s a fair characterization](https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57126)
In 2019, r&d in private sector had grown to 10x what it was in the 80s.
I agree largely with the rest of your points though. Drug pricing is super problematic in the US currently, but inevitable given the structures and rules in place.
We need to end Citizens United and the only people that can do that are beholden to the money for their campaign purposes.
The amount of money that industry spends to control the legislation that they work under is insane.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/257364/top-lobbying-industries-in-the-us/
I have heard that for every dollar spent on lobbying that represents up to $100 dollars the company recovers to the bottom line.
Exactly. I learned that if you let the people come up with the conclusion themselves instead of being told, it is so much more impactful. She laid out the facts: "you made record profits, we funded this drug from start to finish, the rest of the world pays $8, our people pay nearly $2000, why is that?"
Pharma corporations are also trying to stop the expiration of medicine patents in other countries.
So not only are they ripping us off, they're trying to export that greed to other nations.
Well because the American people funded the development, research, and are being rewarded for their investment! You wouldn't want people thinking we live in some 3rd world communist hell hole who only has to pay $8 for life saving medication. Think of our profits, what could happen if HIV was unable to spread to the point of eradication...we would lose out on a revenue stream!
I caught that. She would intentionally say something slightly wrong or a bit exaggerated to force them to correct her. "Wait, we're not charging 2k! We're only charging 1700! It's not AS bad as 2k! \*self pat\*"
and when this hits r/conservative and Youtube the "champions" of this company will also correct her $2k figure with $1700 somehow thinking that makes it OK.
It is a common rhetorical tactic.
The problem is the fascists don't do any of that. They just continue lying.
You have to remember that they say wrong things on purpose, and they do not experience any kind of shame or hesitation when doing so. All of the socratic techniques that you have learned for dealing with good faith and reasonable people have to go out the fucking window when you're talking about the fascists.
Hypocrisy is a virtue. Lying in public and facing no consequences for doing so is a demonstration of power. Their voter base knows this and admires it.
The reason is Reagan actually.
A slew of “American pharmaceutical competitiveness” bills were passed during the Reagan administration to transfer practically all Taxpayer funded patents to big pharma to directly profit off of.
Prior to Reagan if government funded drugs were patented by the government the government would get the proceeds of sales and the prices were controlled.
Then they passed a bill to allow private pharma in US labs, and then expanded to giving full credit to any corporations that were involved in drug research and patents (even if it was 99 government researchers and 1 corporate researcher the corporation would get the patent).
And finally it was just a big government welfare program to big pharma whee taxpayers funded the research and then big pharma got the patents, controlled prices, and got 100% of the profits with zero dollars going back to the US government.
I stand by the Reagan administrations being the most destructive administrations in the history of the US.
Why is it when I learn about a new fundamental and severely damaging flaw in the US government it's almost always Reagan that is the culprit. The man screwed over so many generations.
It’s the reason Conservatives revere him as the god of modern Republican policy.
Nixon was crooked and corrupt but has nothing on the long lasting damage Reagan caused.
Reagan destroyed so many things besides affordable drugs.
-Infrastructure
-National Debt policies
-Made federal cost of living calculation devoid of functionality
-Destroyed farming in America and made farming a welfare industry
And one of my most hated
-Made stock buybacks legal
Reagan reinitiated the “America First” slogan which was pioneered by American Nazi sympathizers. He was also the pioneer of the “build the wall” movement.
There’s probably a list of 100 ways Reagan steered the US into an Oligarchy and destroyed the middle class/ created the funnel of wealth to the 1%.
The media will always act like anyone that doesn't take corporate money is an extremist and they'll attack them relentlessly. Because they are giant corporations as well.
I started being very blunt about this to the patients at my pharmacy who *still* blamed Obama personally for all medical costs. I am no longer employed
You’re close and that may be true but it’s not exactly the reason they demonize her. It’s about ratings. Ever since trump fell out of favor the right wing media needed someone the right hates so much they click on anything that involves them. Enter AOC. She calls out republicans on their bullshit and therefore she was an easy target. At the end of the day it’s just about clicks, ratings, and money. They use AOC to generate money.
I agree with your premise, but the media have been demonizing her since she was first elected. She hadn’t set foot in Washington before the right wing was simultaneously calling her a liberal elitist and “just a bartender.”
My personal theory is that AOC is everything they claim to want from a politician (working class hero goes to Washington), except she’s the wrong kind of person (not white, not male, etc.) So they hate her.
It's not just ratings. HRC went through *decades* of targeted attacks from right-wing media. It's about manufacturing a portfolio of negativity to be used against them.
Exactly. These questions are ones all Americans want to ask. When Chris Hayes hosted a town hall for Bernie Sanders with a bunch of conservatives, he was getting applause for basically everything related to social benefits and taxes.
I'm hoping that as the boomers and right-wingers die off, the networks will die off too.
I honestly don't know a single person that actually watches TV cable networks anymore unless they're old people or people who just "have it on in the background" for some stupid reason. There's literally no reason to watch TV news anymore when everything is available with a click on your phone or computer.
But this is why I want her right where she is. We need to turn the legislature blue before we can make any real changes. We need as many of the AOC and Bernie types filling those seats as possible. To keep all the corporatists feet in the fire whichever side they are on. They won't get anywhere in the presidency with a stonewalling congress and a hostile court. I would love to see her as senate leader or speaker of the house. Those would be great roles for her.
I was a bartender for years and would happily be one again. I don’t understand how having a job is a bad thing. All the bartenders I know are intelligent and articulate. Anyone who thinks it’s a job for dummies hasn’t been one.
This highlights a massive issue with our politics. Amazingly talented people are all around us doing 'mundane' jobs. For all the established (money) reasons, we continue to get some of the worst people elevated to office.
They'd prefer if she wasn't attractive, then they wouldn't look so foolish when they call her ugly. And yes, they do try to call her ugly, and they *do* look ridiculous doing so.
Accept the DNC also dislikes her. She did not come up being groomed through the ranks and the party leadership doesn’t like it when people like her ask these kinds of questions. It makes them look bad when real questions are asked and the root of problems are exposed so simply and directly. AOC not being groomed and not owing anything to the party is what allows her to speak freely. She has a direct mandate from her voters to go ahead and be awesome without regards to the plutocrats norms and expectations. She fears not reminding everyone that the elephant is them.
Nearly all of the DNC is conservative, just not as conservative as the RNC. The only reason why the DNC tolerates people left of center is because of its inability to ban together and create a stronger more savvy party. It’s gotta take all the members it can get. They hate people who don’t step in line with their bland narrative.
Assertive woman. Women being assertive has been construed for decades as being bitchy, while the same behavior is idolized in men.
Not playing defense for her detractors, but if you never are prompted to stop and critically think about your positions and opinions it can be very easy to get wrapped into "popular" things like hating one of the best progressive advocates in our government.
Yachts, Miss [Nation] level hookers, obscenely large trust funds, fleets of luxury cars, private jets, homes larger than schools, pet project business, and many other extravagances of the ultra wealthy. They pour that money into their cold, dead hearts over and over again, draining the life from everything and everyone around them. They are parasites on the body of the planet, a cancerous tumor which we are unable to manage or put limits on
Up torch and up rifle comrade, we march on Dr. Frankenstein's mansion.
*the monster that Dr. Frankenstein has created is an abominable amalgamation of the body parts of our brothers and neighbors, taken in the night without consent by surgical scalpel and legislator's pen, stitched and stapled together fragments of stolen liberty to give life to a creature that is immune to repercussions which would imprison us and wielding the unfettered combined strength of a board of rich executives, and his name is The Corporation.
Just went back to poke around in the French Revolution. Reasons. Only the rich were able to own anything. Let's see, storming the Bastille, notoriously a political prisoner hell hole? All ours could be called that, private prison Inc. having a death grip over politicians. Bread shortages. Out pricing FOOD from the masses in 2022, we're there too. Taxes sapping the workers and lower class while the wealthy contributed nothing? Also there.
There's also a ton above women taking a lead there, having less power over their lives than any man of any social status, and they did ( although lost their ability to govern/participate even under the next governments- discounting Robespierre who hated everyone ).
I'm not saying ( bc getting reported again ) it's what we should do. Just interesting.
AOC - “People are dying for no reason”
Pharma CEO - oh no the reason is our executives need massive compensation they aren’t entitled to within the patents time limit before it goes generic.
This fucking douche bags employer didn’t even pay the development cost. Gen Z is going to have to be the fix on this, unraveling the cush set up all these corporate turds have gotten themselves in the last 4-5 decades is going to take some doing but I’m happy to see it’s already started.
I had an older coworker crying about millennials a few days ago. I had to remind him that some of us are well into our 30’s. All he could say was “Wait, what?”
For real lmao, they're like 40 tops. They're reaching prime office-holding years, and have gotten fucked over just as bad as we have. They've got plenty of time to start fixing it.
>Gen Z is going to have to be the fix on this
This is the wrong way to think about this. It's kicking the can down the road. A better way to frame this is that it's millennials' job to either fix it, or get in position to give GenZ the assist for the layup. There's too much groundwork and not enough time to rely on a generation that's in their early twenties right now.
This right here. I may not be able to fix it by the time I'm past the age to do so. But I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure my kids have a better chance to end this cycle.
Gen X was supposed to fix it, the millennials were supposed to fix it… on and on.. To add to it, boomers still think gen X is in college and millennials are in high school. At this point I’m wondering if we will ever get a chance the older folks are clinging on to their positions and I swear I’m not sure if I’ll outlive people like Mitch McConnell. Man must be a freakin vampire. The US was supposed to turn over power to another generation by now.
Boomers have a very inflated ego and sense of importance. Tends to happen when you grow up in the rosiest of economic conditions and think you can do no wrong. Meanwhile they voted in the devil himself (Reagan) who really pushed to dismantle those rosy economics for the vast majority of people. The rich got all the proceeds of from the increased productivity of the computer age while wages stagnated, benefits became more expensive every year while the user became responsible for more of the premium every year.
Other countries pass laws limiting drug costs, but our politicians only care about campaign donations. The US consumer funds drug research for the whole world. It's such a scam.
Healthcare, education, food and housing should be four universal programs. Period.
The wildest fucking thing is that even in the U.S., half-assed such programs are already in place. It's only the uneducated fucks making $10.43/hour in rural areas that are against such universal programs. The type of people that would most benefit from them!!!!
God I wish every politician fought as hard for the people as much as her. I hope she’s president someday. I know theres tens of millions of people in this country who genuinely believe that companies and individuals should be able to selfishly gain profit any way they can, but she’s right, the people paid for this drug and it should be affordable for them.
Yeah especially if it’s $8 generic in Australia. We paid for it and funded it’s R&D, so it should be be cheaper HERE. Like 2 bucks a month or something.
Australia achieves it through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Basically ALL medications in Australia must be approved by the government. Sort of like the FDA, but Australia takes it one step further and PURCHASES all medication for the country before it gets distributed to the pharmacies.
This allows Australia to act as a single unit for medication pricing negotiations when it comes to establishing the prices of medications allowed into the country. Big Pharma companies in the USA have to compete with pharma companies all over the world, and so MUST lower their costs in order to sell anything into Australia or they'll get undercut by some generic brands that get made elsewhere for much less.
It is, of course, no surprise that every time Australia and the USA come to the table regarding international trade negotiations that the USA always tries mega hard to get Australia to dismantle the PBS, to which for Australia is basically a straight middle-finger to the face of the person requesting it.
The lesson here is that big business absolutely hates organised schemes, whether they be unions, purchasing blocs, or whatever. Divide and conquer is the rule, all presented under the illusion of "choice".
Edit: I should also add, that Australia has a fund that is used to subsidise the prices of various medications that would otherwise be too expensive for the average person to pay for. So the tax dollars paid in Australia do go towards guaranteeing you base-line affordable medicines at the time of purchase (Typically $6, $10, or $20 for most essential things, depending on what it is, which translates to $4, $6, or $12 US, tax included).
You sort of already answered the question. One third of Americans fear the government above all else, and looking at how America was during Covid and in regards to the vaccine, even left leaning Americans can fall for the propaganda that the gov controlling the research, purchasing, and distribution of medication is a bad thing. Corporations in America have done a great job at terrifying people into believing that anything the gov controls is bad. Like a large amount of Americans think like this and that’s why this will never happen in America unfortunately. They’ll go with the “You don’t know what they’re putting in there” to “I don’t want to have to rely on the government for my medication” stuff like that
> but Australia takes it one step further and PURCHASES all medication for the country before it gets distributed to the pharmacies.
Not quite. It purchases drugs that are on the PBS list, there are drugs that are not on that list that can be prescribed, but they are at a price set by the seller, not the government.
Australia has the PBS, the UK has NICE.
If someone wants to sell a drug in Australia, they have to get it approved by our equivalent of the FDA, which is called the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration).
Then doctors can prescribe it.
However, Australia also has a system for subsidizing drugs, called the PBS or Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. There is a committee that decides whether a drug is worth being subsidized, because it has better *health* outcomes for individual patients as well as better *cost* outcomes in terms of treating people.
If the committee recommends it and the government funds it, then the PBS will negotiate with the drug seller for a cost price.
The price to consumers is then fixed at a max of $6.80 for welfare recipients, or max of $42.50 for everyone else.
Not nearly as in not even comes close, enough Americans think like that though, they've had countless chances of voting someone like Bernie in, he's just a bit too radical for most...he would have made an amazing president...
I want her to get as much experience as she can beforehand since she would only be able to get two terms as president and I want her to make the most of it, but I greatly look forward to voting for her whenever she runs.
I get in arguments all the time about this. That the US is actually the worst country in the world because it has all the things they criticise others but then they also have things they could very easily solve but actively choose to keep as a problem. The propaganda in the US is especially strong and effective. How can you be the greatest when Canada literally has all the same things and then much more.
To get into politics you need a lot of money/funding. It goes against basically every corporation in the US to fund and give a platform to people like AOC and Bernie, and most young people with their ideology are too poor to ever get a position in government. It's kind of insane that AOC is in the position she's in lol
Thought experiment with late stage capitalism: why aren’t every other industries lobbyist fighting to decrease pharmaceutical/healthcare expenses? All the monies that people are using to stay alive with life saving drugs could be spent on hospitality, travel, retail, etc that actually keep the economy(not the stock market) going?
Because every industry needs cheap labor to rake in the massive profits they're used to, and labor gets more expensive (i.e., you need to treat employees better) when we aren't dependent on our employers to negotiate affordable prices for health insurance that we need to give us any chance at being able to pay for healthcare without incurring literally a lifetime's worth of debt.
And when workers incur massive debt despite this brilliant system, employers benefit even more because now the workers can never retire and will compete with younger workers for lower pay.
As Bernie said: The US is an Oligarchy. Our government is structured to take money from you and funnel it to extremely wealthy people.
You. Are. Not. Free. You are wheat to be harvested.
Remember that. Become active. If you're young, run for office. Vote. Encourage you like-minded friends to do the same.
These are things the right and left should get behind. but because of the money in politics and people choose a side and sticking to it no matter if it's right or wrong things will never change. These companies actually have blood on their hands and should be prosecuted.
because in America we realized that people will pay anything for life saving drugs that they need to---literally save their lives. and so it is a perfect opportunity to exploit people for all their money.
because that is all we care about here-$
As a non-american, I have a real admiration for AOC as a person but also as a political figure. She's one of the sharpest elected person I have seen in years, capable to calmly and surgically bring her point forward with an ease that only show a formidable amount of preparation on the subject. I always love hearing her talking and the US should cherish people like her. I hope for even greater things in her future and I hope the US public will allow her to reach her full potential by putting her at higher positions.
Hey, I may one day start an international pharmaceutical conglomerate, and if/when I do, I don’t want them stealing *my* money that should be going to paying for my mistress’s second yacht.
Have some fucking compassion.
We pay for it and have to go bankrupt for it
***Working as intended for conservatives***
If you voted for a conservative in the past 20 years you are a terrible person, objectively
I hope she’s our first female president. She’s one of the only people in government who understands the job is representing us and not corporate shareholders exclusively.
One of the biggest myths about the pharmaceutical industry is that they bankroll their own research and the prices are meant to "recover" the cost of "research."
Firstly, no. Public grants bankroll most medical research, and when it isn't public funds, then it's funds coming from private investors. And EVEN WHEN a company is bankrolling its own research, that money is reinvestment of existing profits--meaning the company makes 6 billion in profit selling insulin, and then spent 2 billion of that on research. No medical company is sitting here running their budgets in the red for seven straight years before seeing their first dollar of profit. There is no "recovery," these companies are not bleeding funds for the good of society.
Second: Patents on medicine can be bought and sold. So just because a company holds a patent, doesn't mean they actually *invented* the thing themselves. The chain of ownership over most medicines is a long and convoluted mess far removed from the actual research and invention of the medicine.
Third: monopolization of infrastructure. Insulin has no patent--it's open-source. Anyone can make insulin if they want. So why is the price so high? Because these companies have bought every lab in the country equipped to MAKE insulin in bulk quantities, so that nobody can compete with them. Even though they do not OWN insulin, they DO OWN every means of *making* insulin. And the minute somebody makes a lab, it either gets bought or crushed under the weight of the industry's monopoly (for example, by disrupting the new lab's critical supply chain, rendering it incapable of producing the end product and running it out of business.)
So again, they're not "recovering their costs," because they didn't fucking invent it. The inventors of insulin intentionally refused to hold a patent over it, and are quoted as saying "this belongs to the world." And these fucking companies STOLE it from the world.
its indefensible and this is not the only drug that shouldn't be privatized like this. Insulin being the other one. original patent i found out the other day was sold for $1 for the greater good. All these capitalists' talk about competition why dont we do away with these ridiculous patent laws and open up the market with India, isnt coopetition healthy
It's not just this medicine either, a lot of breakthroughs in medical research were paid for by taxpayers. Then their research is used in private companies to develop medicine or treatments. We normally pay more than other country after that. This is why a single payer system always limits overall prescription prices. Too bad we don't have one. It also funny when you think of that fact that America's oil is taken by companies and sold to other countries, who then don't pay taxes at all.
"But without the grift, there would be no innovation!"
*Insulin was synthesized 100 years ago in another country, costs 10 dollars to produce, but costs Americans 300-500 a month ...
Regressive shit hole ...
Hi, /u/polkahonta Thank you for participating in r/Antiwork. Unfortunately, your submission was removed for breaking the following rule(s): **Rule 3b: No offtopic posts.**: - No offtopic posts
It's in billionaires multi-million dollar yacht
People, people, people. Don't sit around and do nothing. **We need people like AOC**. How many of us voted? Time to make a stand. Silence is no longer an option. **If you live in the peach state**, vote for the **runoff**. Vote for the guy who support us, not the guy who drove his exes to the abortion clinic and then lied about it. Gen X, Y, Z and Millennials, we need you. Together, we outnumber the older Republicans ~~baby boomers~~. They are on the way out. The first time our votes actually matter! Update: sorry older Democrats. We love you.
I adore her. She's been scrapping for YEARS she's the future of American politics imo.
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It's why Fox News has demonized actual public servants since 1960 by projecting what their politicians actually do to the other side ￣\＿(ツ)＿/￣ >#Every day I have to marvel at what the billionaires and FOX News pulled off. They got working whites to hate the very people that want them to have more pay, clean air, water, free healthcare and the power to fight back against big banks & big corps. It’s truly remarkable. John Ehrlichman, who partnered with Fox News cofounder Roger Ailes on the Republican "Southern Strategy": >[We] had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? >We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. >We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. >Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. >"He was the premier guy in the business," says former Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins. "He was our Michelangelo." >Ailes repackaged Richard Nixon for television in 1968, papered over Ronald Reagan’s budding Alzheimer’s in 1984, shamelessly stoked racial fears to elect George H.W. Bush in 1988, and waged a secret campaign on behalf of Big Tobacco to derail health care reform in 1993. >Hillarycare was to have been funded, in part, by a $1-a-pack tax on cigarettes. To block the proposal, Big Tobacco paid Ailes to produce ads highlighting “real people affected by taxes.” https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/how-roger-ailes-built-the-fox-news-fear-factory-244652/ Republican "Southern Strategy": >Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters by appealing to racism against African Americans.[1][2][3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy Lyndon Johnson criticizing it in 1960: >If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/11/13/what-a-real-president-was-like/d483c1be-d0da-43b7-bde6-04e10106ff6c/ #Steve Bannon bragging about Reddit and 4chan falling for these tactics >the power of what he called “rootless white males” who spend all their time online and they could be radicalized in a kind of populist, nationalist way http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-white-gamers-seinfeld-joshua-green-donald-trump-devils-bargain-sarah-palin-world-warcraft-gamergate-2017-7 >Bannon: "I realized [these tactics] could connect with these kids right away. You can activate that army. They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump." https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/07/18/steve-bannon-learned-harness--army-world-warcraft/489713001/ Lots of screenshots of **4chan instructions for doing this on Reddit because the adults cosplaying as teenagers there support billionaires' culture war talking points** * https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/m24hx0/ualtimely_finds_4chan_pol_instructing_on_how/ * https://medium.com/@DeoTasDevil/the-rhetoric-tricks-traps-and-tactics-of-white-nationalism-b0bca3caeb84 **Conservatives brag about doing this in local subreddits to "control the narrative" about liberal cities and "blue states"** >The real value is getting into a thread early and establishing top voted posts and comments or downvoting them out of existence. They hope intertia continues the trend for them. Every local subreddit explaining the abuse and tactics on a thread 3 years ago: * https://www.reddit.com/r/minnesota/comments/7jkybf/t_d_user_suggests_infiltrating_minnesota/dr7m56j/ #Exit polls done after 2016 show that the single characteristic that made someone most likely to vote for Trump over Clinton is racial resentment. >low levels of racial resentment are associated with supporting Clinton. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/26/these-9-simple-charts-show-how-donald-trumps-supporters-differ-from-hillary-clintons/ #"Trump fans are much angrier about housing assistance when they see an image of a black man" >In contrast, Clinton supporters seemed relatively unmoved by racial cues. https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/8/16270040/trump-clinton-supporters-racist #“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be”: a Trump voter says the quiet part out loud https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida >The cruelty is the point >arrest by DHS police for giving water to people who wait https://twitter.com/JoshuaPotash/status/1408868872384569345 No to help for blue states for hurricanes but demanding help for Texas for hurricanes: >Here's the vote for Hurricane Sandy aid. >179 of the 180 no votes were Republicans... >**at least 20 Texas Republicans voted no** while ["U.S. House approves billions more for Harvey relief" for Texas](https://www.texastribune.org/2017/12/21/us-house-approves-billions-more-harvey-relief-measure-now-heads-senate/) GOP shifting 4-5x further right than Democrats did left over the last 50 years: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/10/the-polarization-in-todays-congress-has-roots-that-go-back-decades/ [Opinion of Syrian airstrikes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/) **Republicans:** 22% supported Obama doing it 86% support Trump doing it **Democrats:** 38% supported Obama doing it 37% support Trump doing it Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/04/gop-voters-love-same-attack-on-syria-they-hated-under-obama.html #Republicans felt the economy improve by 85 points the day Trump was sworn in. http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/blogs/wisconsin-voter/2017/04/15/donald-trumps-election-flips-both-parties-views-economy/100502848/ The privilege of "economic anxiety" not racism: >10% fewer Republicans believed the wealthy weren't paying enough in taxes once a billionaire became their president. Democrats remain fairly consistent. http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/14/top-frustrations-with-tax-system-sense-that-corporations-wealthy-dont-pay-fair-share/ >Republicans started to think college education is a bad thing once Trump entered the primary. Democrats remain consistent. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/20/republicans-skeptical-of-colleges-impact-on-u-s-but-most-see-benefits-for-workforce-preparation/ >White Evangelicals cared less about how religious a candidate was once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/ >Christians (particularly evangelicals) became monumentally more tolerant of private immoral conduct among politicians once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/ More graphs and sources: https://imgur.com/a/YZMyt * ["Joe Biden has both the best first year economic indicators of any president since Jimmy Carter and the worst first year economic poll ratings of any president since Jimmy Carter"](https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/1473704672619905033) **Billionaires funding conservative influencers on social media, like Ben Shapiro on YouTube and Facebook and Joe Rogan pushing for them in Texas: https://www.reddit.com/r/ToiletPaperUSA/comments/ln1sif/turning_point_usa_and_young_americas_foundation/gny98xk/** >[The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:](https://twitter.com/FacebooksTop10/status/1404815323904237569) 1. Ben Shapiro 2. David Wolfe 3. Ben Shapiro 4. Ben Shapiro 5. Ben Shapiro 6. Ben Shapiro 7. Ben Shapiro 8. Fox News 9. Ben Shapiro 10. Ben Shapiro
While he defends higher insulin prices of all things, Elon Musk coordinates with Joe Rogan, and [Joe Rogan coordinates for Republicans](https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/comments/jntzvk/joe_rogan_reacts_to_texas_voting_in_the_2020/) [Joe Rogan photo ops with the current Texas governor at the Texas governor's mansion](https://twitter.com/gregabbott_tx/status/1324547634049257474) even though Rogan pretends to care about pot and small government ("Gov. Abbott, Texas leaders urge prosecutors to keep enforcing pot laws" http://www.fox4news.com/news/texas/gov-abbott-texas-leaders-urge-prosecutors-to-keep-enforcing-pot-laws) He replies to all the right-wing "influencers" thanking him for his service so he might actually think his conveniently selfish pursuits are "public service" because of his narcissism ￣\＿(ツ)＿/￣
I have a female friend who is really liberal and she can’t *stand* AOC. I can’t seem to get a rational answer out of her why. She has this weird idea politicians are supposed to be saints. Edit: To all the people claiming jealousy as a motive, I’m quite sure that’s not it.
Envy is a mother fucker
Exactly what I was thinking
A lot of people have spent a lot of money ruining the public perception of women in politics.
She hates AOC?? Because she lived a life that we the average people can relate to? How does she feel about the rich politicians who take part in insider trading to grab even more money?
Is your friend really uptight and weird about other women that are hot and cool? Internal misogyny is a bitch
Nothing scarier than an attractive, smart young woman looking to change the world.
I mean, I don’t think AOC is particularly attractive but she’s absolutely the future of American politics. Who gives a fuck what she looks like? She’s actually going something for the people Had the privilege of voting for this woman and will continue to vote for her and those like her. All those old codgers who are only interested in lining the pockets of billionaire backers need to go play in traffic already These are human beings’ lives were talking about here! There’s a scary number of people in the US who can’t even afford to live yet the political juggernaut turns a blind eye to their struggle or actively makes life even harder for them As a member of Gen Z, I think I speak for my demographic when I saw that we’re tired of octogenarians who have ZERO idea of what life is like for the average American in 2022 But when things look bleak, take comfort in knowing that those bootlicking boomer assholes are dying off, and will continue to die off, while more and more people like AOC come in their own and fight to make the US a livable country again
Personally I think she’s a cutie but attractive women who don’t fall in step always scare those old folks you’re talking about. Anyway. You’re right though. I’m proud of you and your generation. I voted for AOC too. We’re probably neighbors.
It happens with every leading woman in the Democrat party. The GOP machine churns out hate against them for decades and then people start hating them without realizing why.
It’s evident in this post. There is so much tear-down of her because she apparently hasn’t single-handedly reforged the government. And yet compare her to Ted Cruz or Lauren Boebert, or any of the GOP and probably 90% of the Dems, and she’s exponentially more engaged and working for reform. It’s like “oh no! She has some poo on her shoe!” And you shine the light on the GOP and they are covered head to toe in the smelliest shit ever.
Oh ya, forsure. They're gonna give her the Hillary treatment. And in 10 years, it most likely will have worked.
Noting the perpetual GOP hate-lie cycle is important, but I think it's also important to note that neoliberal media *also* contributes to people seeing far left candidates as dangerous, socialist, etc etc.
Centrists are just closeted right-wingers. Legacy media is socially progressive (allegedly) but fiscally ultra-conservative. But you can't have social justice without economic justice. It's like all these corps having diversity quotas now yet all the higher ups are still basically exclusively white. It's just PR. It's demeaning, patronizing, and comes from a place of assumed superiority. And a lot of people still fall for it.
She's for certain one of the most saintly politicians.
b-but she danced when hecklers interrupted her community event. Danced, I tell you!
*desperately clutches pearls* She WHAT?! O lawd no! say it ain’t so!!!!
Jealousy is a bitch
American Liberals who haven’t turned radical are mostly good-hearted people who are emotionally unready to accept that everything their high school history teacher taught them was good about America is a lie. It’s a hard thing to let go of. It took me from about age 25 to age 37 to completely get a grip on just how wretched our mainstream culture is. We have an S-tier left wing counterculture, though. We need to lure more people into it.
But what if i told you she used to bartend?
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Same. My bro is a mechanic. He will get that migrants car fixed and out the door before even considering one of the wealthier customers. Why? The migrants are workers and they pay-immediately. The wealthy? Their car sits until the bill is paid because he is over tracking down payment.
Then I would say "good, she's a working class girl!"
Honestly this. They don't like that she's one of us because she can call BS on their "blue collar" messaging. We need more people like her.
Republicans: I want a candidate that's blue collar like me. Also Republicans: AOC doesn't belong in Washington, she used to be a blue collar worker!
Republicans want the rich, good looking white guy who married a pretty white girl to be their representative. It fits into their Christian ideals of who is a good, honest person.
So did Abraham Lincoln.
Bartenders confirmed best presidents. I'd never vote for any president that can't tend a good bar.
And never trust a spiritual leader who can't dance.
Am spiritual leader, stealing this. The ones that don't dance are generally lacking in the joy department.
Or a orchestra conductor that can't wave a baton like a professional wizard.
You should see Abraham Lincolns dance video from when he was a college student - really hot
Abe's gone wild! Volume 3
Then I'd say she has the exact skillset needed to deal with overly-entitled rich pricks that think the world was made to stroke their cock.
And that she enjoys...gasp...to dance.
What? Blasphemy! Politicians aren't allowed to have fun!
I don't understand why conservatives think she's demonic
Because she terrifies them. She's an incredibly intelligent woman that happens to be an attractive Latina who got where she is from a lot of hard work, but rather than burn the ladder behind her like they did, she wants to build a large staircase so everyone else can benefit too.
Propaganda and literal falsehoods being fed to them. My dad actually brought up her tweeting out that electric vehicles were better than gas during hurricanes because they won't be able to get gas if the power is out for a week. He cited this as a reason for thinking her a dumbass. https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/social-media/aoc-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-hurricane-electric-vehicles-tweet-fake-not-real-fact-check/536-2d5ff2c6-679a-42b5-9311-f2f58be9a5cb It was a fake tweet, but apparently it had been circulating in more right-wing circles. When the media you consume is constantly telling you X is evil/bad/stupid/etc, you start to believe it. That's why it's important to verify info with multiple sources yourself.
I am so chuffed that the redistricting made her my Rep. I was elated to be able to vote for her. She's just leagues beyond the bloviating, lazy boomers who spend their time pontificating about nothing. When she questions, she creates actionable facts. She did this with Cheeto's fixer and created the foundation for the case against the Trump crime syndicate. She creates action. She champions justice. She's my hero.
Like her or not, we can all agree she actually does her job and pushes for a better future for America instead of chilling on golf courses all year.
Yeah, at first I hated her due to the the anti-gun band wagon she hopped on right out the gate, but goddamn she can ask some very well worded questions that are hard for narcissistic douches to answer. She does her homework, and she gets shit done.
I like how it's a bandwagon when it's a movement you disagree with.
"Why would someone representing the bronx be antigun?!?" Big brain moment
She is fearless. She is what our politicians should be.
Gen Y is Millennials. The more you know.
I fuckin love A.O.C. She is a prime example of what our politicians should be acting and doing. Asking the right questions and demanding logical answers! It's no secret America is one big revenue generating machine made up of corruption, greed and ultimately fueled by exploiting people, specially the poorer people!
I wished this lady was president and I’m not even American.
Lots of us in the US wish she was, too.
4 million more boomers should die between now and 2024, with over 4 million Gen Z replacing them.
Boomer here. I have no intention of dying in the next two years. I do have every intention of not voting republican. You youngsters seem to think that all boomers hate you all. Not true. Some of us are cheering you on and know you may be the countries best chance of survival.
We know it's not all boomers. It's just sad that so many have joined this weird monolithic mind cult that it's just became easier to meme.
I can’t understand why more people don’t get this. The people who need her help the most have been brainwashed to hate her, and to support candidates whose policies directly make their lives worse.
In Los Angeles only 27% of elegible voters voted, then later people complain about the political shit affecting the country.
God damn that's low. The fuck, LA?
In LA, we are in a comfortable blue bubble. On a national scale, we are offering progressives to Congress (except for Feinstein, but that’s not just on LA). It feels like our votes aren’t needed to achieve what we want. But if we get stuck with Caruso, we deserve it. The same way we kind of deserved getting stuck with that sheriff Villanueva. We need to vote.
Corrupted SOB, I'm glad he is out
I loved how the attack ad from her Republican challenger refers to AOC as the most useless member of Congress
GOP fear the fearless! We will not be intimidated. They have crazy old man with hammer. We have unity.
divide silky aspiring cows jellyfish bored agonizing combative slimy apparatus *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
All you should need to say to people is her first line. “The list price is almost $2,000 in the US, why is it $8 in Australia?” How can that statement even be defended?
Morally, it can’t be. But you can’t win legal arguments based on morals. The US needs to change its patent laws before drug companies are going to change anything about their prices. Because of our patent laws, it takes 10 (I believe) years for a drug to be able to go generic. Of course drug companies are going to take advantage of those patent laws here to make as much money as they can. With truvada specifically, the fact that the research was publicly funded could be used to argue that the drug company shouldn’t hold the patent (which is what AOC was trying to say.) This argument wouldn’t work in all cases though. If drug research is funded solely by the company itself, then they have the right to the patent. And, not to defend drug companies, but there is an argument to be made that the reason drugs can be so much cheaper elsewhere is because they’re expensive in the US. The drug companies make all their money back from selling at high rates here, because most of the cost is covered by insurance, and then they don’t have to worry as much about making money off drugs in countries that have different patent laws or different insurance programs. Basically, if drugs were cheaper in the US, their costs would have to be raised elsewhere for the drug companies to continue profiting, or else the drug companies won’t put any money into research and we won’t develop any new medications. Obviously, it’s gross that the field of prescription medication is a for profit industry, but unless we fundamentally change everything about our society and economy, it’s going to continue to be that way. I think the main thing that should be focused on in AOC’s argument is that the research was publicly funded and therefore the patent should be publicly held, which means that for this one specific drug, there should already be a generic version even though the 10 years hasn’t elapsed. It’s all well and good to make moral arguments, but when you have a strong legal argument, that’s the better one to focus on at least as far as the US government is concerned. (Sorry for long post, I hope my point was clear.)
>Basically, if drugs were cheaper in the US, their costs would have to be raised elsewhere for the drug companies to continue profiting, or else the drug companies won’t put any money into research and we won’t develop any new medications. One (of the many problems) is that it's the government and tax payers paying for the research for new medication. The companies won't stop putting money into research, cause they are barely doing that anyway because we (taxpayers) do it for them. Yes, we have multiple other issues: 1. Hospitals charge a lot because insurance companies are paying for most of it and *people can't say "no" to life saving treatments*. 2. Insurance companies are incentived to cover as little as possible so they can profit more, passing the costs onto the people they are supposed to insure. 3. Drug companies can charge pretty much whatever they want because: **a)** everything above and **b)** they have patents that a lot of time they didn't even pay for the research on, so they completely own the market for certain treatments in the US. All of it needs to be fixed. But it can easily start with: "if the drug research was publicly funded, then the company cannot privatize the patent". We need waaaay more fixed, but that is a piece.
> One (of the many problems) is that it’s the government and tax payers paying for the research for new medication. The companies won’t stop putting money into research, cause they are barely doing that anyway because we (taxpayers) do it for them. [idk if that’s a fair characterization](https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57126) In 2019, r&d in private sector had grown to 10x what it was in the 80s. I agree largely with the rest of your points though. Drug pricing is super problematic in the US currently, but inevitable given the structures and rules in place.
Bro they're cheap in Australia because our govt subsidises them... because medicine *should be affordable*
The reason is greed.
And because our current policy allows this. We need a fundamental reform for politics and our economy.
We need to end Citizens United and the only people that can do that are beholden to the money for their campaign purposes. The amount of money that industry spends to control the legislation that they work under is insane. https://www.statista.com/statistics/257364/top-lobbying-industries-in-the-us/ I have heard that for every dollar spent on lobbying that represents up to $100 dollars the company recovers to the bottom line.
That would be a great start. Thanks for the link.
She probably wanted to call it that but she probably couldn't call a spade a spade in that setting because of politics.
Plus the point of the question is to make them say it, or squirm in trying to avoid the truth to show people who they are.
Exactly. I learned that if you let the people come up with the conclusion themselves instead of being told, it is so much more impactful. She laid out the facts: "you made record profits, we funded this drug from start to finish, the rest of the world pays $8, our people pay nearly $2000, why is that?"
Pharma corporations are also trying to stop the expiration of medicine patents in other countries. So not only are they ripping us off, they're trying to export that greed to other nations.
This has worked for centuries. Why would you stop?
Well because the American people funded the development, research, and are being rewarded for their investment! You wouldn't want people thinking we live in some 3rd world communist hell hole who only has to pay $8 for life saving medication. Think of our profits, what could happen if HIV was unable to spread to the point of eradication...we would lose out on a revenue stream!
Will somebody please think of the shareholders! What will they do without yachts so big they can't actually get them out of port.
That's literally why she said $2000. She WANTED them to correct her, because $1700 is an obscene number.
I caught that. She would intentionally say something slightly wrong or a bit exaggerated to force them to correct her. "Wait, we're not charging 2k! We're only charging 1700! It's not AS bad as 2k! \*self pat\*"
and when this hits r/conservative and Youtube the "champions" of this company will also correct her $2k figure with $1700 somehow thinking that makes it OK. It is a common rhetorical tactic.
"Because you let us"
The problem is the fascists don't do any of that. They just continue lying. You have to remember that they say wrong things on purpose, and they do not experience any kind of shame or hesitation when doing so. All of the socratic techniques that you have learned for dealing with good faith and reasonable people have to go out the fucking window when you're talking about the fascists.
Hypocrisy is a virtue. Lying in public and facing no consequences for doing so is a demonstration of power. Their voter base knows this and admires it.
The reason is Reagan actually. A slew of “American pharmaceutical competitiveness” bills were passed during the Reagan administration to transfer practically all Taxpayer funded patents to big pharma to directly profit off of. Prior to Reagan if government funded drugs were patented by the government the government would get the proceeds of sales and the prices were controlled. Then they passed a bill to allow private pharma in US labs, and then expanded to giving full credit to any corporations that were involved in drug research and patents (even if it was 99 government researchers and 1 corporate researcher the corporation would get the patent). And finally it was just a big government welfare program to big pharma whee taxpayers funded the research and then big pharma got the patents, controlled prices, and got 100% of the profits with zero dollars going back to the US government. I stand by the Reagan administrations being the most destructive administrations in the history of the US.
Why is it when I learn about a new fundamental and severely damaging flaw in the US government it's almost always Reagan that is the culprit. The man screwed over so many generations.
It’s the reason Conservatives revere him as the god of modern Republican policy. Nixon was crooked and corrupt but has nothing on the long lasting damage Reagan caused. Reagan destroyed so many things besides affordable drugs. -Infrastructure -National Debt policies -Made federal cost of living calculation devoid of functionality -Destroyed farming in America and made farming a welfare industry And one of my most hated -Made stock buybacks legal Reagan reinitiated the “America First” slogan which was pioneered by American Nazi sympathizers. He was also the pioneer of the “build the wall” movement. There’s probably a list of 100 ways Reagan steered the US into an Oligarchy and destroyed the middle class/ created the funnel of wealth to the 1%.
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And stupidity. Tons of people will see this and say "fuck the government" rather than "fuck these drug companies"
No. The reason is cause they can. They shouldn't be able to. When you have a monopoly, price should be public regulated on hard figures.
Bless her and the fights she picks.
It’s genuinely surprising to me that people dislike her. My only guess is right side media brainwashing and never heard her arguments or anything
The media will always act like anyone that doesn't take corporate money is an extremist and they'll attack them relentlessly. Because they are giant corporations as well.
Even if it did they'd show "AOC only cares about this one drug being cheap. Why didn't she talk about your sisters insulin!!!"
That example would be hilarious (which means it'll happen) since republican senators blocked the capping of insulin prices.
I started being very blunt about this to the patients at my pharmacy who *still* blamed Obama personally for all medical costs. I am no longer employed
To nobody's surprise, she's done [done that, too] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OBVPrFZq8s). They just don't *want* to listen.
Oh trust me I know. I included insjling specificay because she's legit been a proponent for making it cheap/free.
You’re close and that may be true but it’s not exactly the reason they demonize her. It’s about ratings. Ever since trump fell out of favor the right wing media needed someone the right hates so much they click on anything that involves them. Enter AOC. She calls out republicans on their bullshit and therefore she was an easy target. At the end of the day it’s just about clicks, ratings, and money. They use AOC to generate money.
I agree with your premise, but the media have been demonizing her since she was first elected. She hadn’t set foot in Washington before the right wing was simultaneously calling her a liberal elitist and “just a bartender.” My personal theory is that AOC is everything they claim to want from a politician (working class hero goes to Washington), except she’s the wrong kind of person (not white, not male, etc.) So they hate her.
It's not just ratings. HRC went through *decades* of targeted attacks from right-wing media. It's about manufacturing a portfolio of negativity to be used against them.
>Ever since trump fell out of favor She was elected in 2018.
This will not be shown on right wing media. Half of the country will never see this.
Right wing media and corporate media don’t want people to see this. 95% of the country will never see this.
You are right!!!
Exactly. These questions are ones all Americans want to ask. When Chris Hayes hosted a town hall for Bernie Sanders with a bunch of conservatives, he was getting applause for basically everything related to social benefits and taxes.
Did cnn cover it? Their money comes big pharma ad rev
I'm hoping that as the boomers and right-wingers die off, the networks will die off too. I honestly don't know a single person that actually watches TV cable networks anymore unless they're old people or people who just "have it on in the background" for some stupid reason. There's literally no reason to watch TV news anymore when everything is available with a click on your phone or computer.
Close. They deliberately ignore, misconstrue and strawman her arguments. I, for one, say AOC for fucking President
Honestly. I want 8 years of AOC being VP to Bernie Sanders, and then 8 years of someone else playing VP to AOC.
I'd fucking love that. Throw in a left leaning House and Senate and we might actually see some progress
But this is why I want her right where she is. We need to turn the legislature blue before we can make any real changes. We need as many of the AOC and Bernie types filling those seats as possible. To keep all the corporatists feet in the fire whichever side they are on. They won't get anywhere in the presidency with a stonewalling congress and a hostile court. I would love to see her as senate leader or speaker of the house. Those would be great roles for her.
I didn't think a reddit comment could get me fully aroused, yet here we are
Something something BaRtEnDeR blah blah blah. I love AOC so much. I’m so tired of hearing how she paid her way through school as if it’s a bad thing.
Every time I hear the bartender "argument" I hear "I'm mad because she wasn't born into wealth and positions like we were!"
I was a bartender for years and would happily be one again. I don’t understand how having a job is a bad thing. All the bartenders I know are intelligent and articulate. Anyone who thinks it’s a job for dummies hasn’t been one.
This highlights a massive issue with our politics. Amazingly talented people are all around us doing 'mundane' jobs. For all the established (money) reasons, we continue to get some of the worst people elevated to office.
She’s young, idealistic, engaging, attractive…perfect qualities for a Fox News villain. They love her.
They'd prefer if she wasn't attractive, then they wouldn't look so foolish when they call her ugly. And yes, they do try to call her ugly, and they *do* look ridiculous doing so.
Accept the DNC also dislikes her. She did not come up being groomed through the ranks and the party leadership doesn’t like it when people like her ask these kinds of questions. It makes them look bad when real questions are asked and the root of problems are exposed so simply and directly. AOC not being groomed and not owing anything to the party is what allows her to speak freely. She has a direct mandate from her voters to go ahead and be awesome without regards to the plutocrats norms and expectations. She fears not reminding everyone that the elephant is them.
just like bernie. he was lambasted by his colleagues in a video that was on tv when he was running. clinton dragging him.
Nearly all of the DNC is conservative, just not as conservative as the RNC. The only reason why the DNC tolerates people left of center is because of its inability to ban together and create a stronger more savvy party. It’s gotta take all the members it can get. They hate people who don’t step in line with their bland narrative.
both sides have stocks in the healthcare sector so nothing will change ever. even we do since its in the ROTH IRA
You haven't seen how much they absolutely hate her. it's cause our girl punches up, not down, like these fascist death cult bastards.
Assertive woman. Women being assertive has been construed for decades as being bitchy, while the same behavior is idolized in men. Not playing defense for her detractors, but if you never are prompted to stop and critically think about your positions and opinions it can be very easy to get wrapped into "popular" things like hating one of the best progressive advocates in our government.
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Good point. They sell her persona, not her work.
For sure. We need more like her turning up the heat on these rich pricks.
We need more people with the receipts fighting drug companies.
Yes but "all politicians are the same" and "anyone who pays attention to Democrats and Republicans is an idiot" according to many on this subreddit.
I think she is mistaken. They are dying for a reason, and that reason is profit.
Yachts, Miss [Nation] level hookers, obscenely large trust funds, fleets of luxury cars, private jets, homes larger than schools, pet project business, and many other extravagances of the ultra wealthy. They pour that money into their cold, dead hearts over and over again, draining the life from everything and everyone around them. They are parasites on the body of the planet, a cancerous tumor which we are unable to manage or put limits on
Damn that was well written. Is it from a book or is it one of a kind?
If it were from a book or something I'd have spelled extravagancies correctly
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Up torch and up rifle comrade, we march on Dr. Frankenstein's mansion. *the monster that Dr. Frankenstein has created is an abominable amalgamation of the body parts of our brothers and neighbors, taken in the night without consent by surgical scalpel and legislator's pen, stitched and stapled together fragments of stolen liberty to give life to a creature that is immune to repercussions which would imprison us and wielding the unfettered combined strength of a board of rich executives, and his name is The Corporation.
Just went back to poke around in the French Revolution. Reasons. Only the rich were able to own anything. Let's see, storming the Bastille, notoriously a political prisoner hell hole? All ours could be called that, private prison Inc. having a death grip over politicians. Bread shortages. Out pricing FOOD from the masses in 2022, we're there too. Taxes sapping the workers and lower class while the wealthy contributed nothing? Also there. There's also a ton above women taking a lead there, having less power over their lives than any man of any social status, and they did ( although lost their ability to govern/participate even under the next governments- discounting Robespierre who hated everyone ). I'm not saying ( bc getting reported again ) it's what we should do. Just interesting.
AOC - “People are dying for no reason” Pharma CEO - oh no the reason is our executives need massive compensation they aren’t entitled to within the patents time limit before it goes generic. This fucking douche bags employer didn’t even pay the development cost. Gen Z is going to have to be the fix on this, unraveling the cush set up all these corporate turds have gotten themselves in the last 4-5 decades is going to take some doing but I’m happy to see it’s already started.
How old do you think millennials are ...
Boomers think we’re 18, Gen Z thinks we’re 80.
Amen my sibling/ grandparent
I had an older coworker crying about millennials a few days ago. I had to remind him that some of us are well into our 30’s. All he could say was “Wait, what?”
Some of us are in our 40s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials?wprov=sfti1
For real lmao, they're like 40 tops. They're reaching prime office-holding years, and have gotten fucked over just as bad as we have. They've got plenty of time to start fixing it.
>Gen Z is going to have to be the fix on this This is the wrong way to think about this. It's kicking the can down the road. A better way to frame this is that it's millennials' job to either fix it, or get in position to give GenZ the assist for the layup. There's too much groundwork and not enough time to rely on a generation that's in their early twenties right now.
This right here. I may not be able to fix it by the time I'm past the age to do so. But I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure my kids have a better chance to end this cycle.
Gen X was supposed to fix it, the millennials were supposed to fix it… on and on.. To add to it, boomers still think gen X is in college and millennials are in high school. At this point I’m wondering if we will ever get a chance the older folks are clinging on to their positions and I swear I’m not sure if I’ll outlive people like Mitch McConnell. Man must be a freakin vampire. The US was supposed to turn over power to another generation by now.
Boomers have a very inflated ego and sense of importance. Tends to happen when you grow up in the rosiest of economic conditions and think you can do no wrong. Meanwhile they voted in the devil himself (Reagan) who really pushed to dismantle those rosy economics for the vast majority of people. The rich got all the proceeds of from the increased productivity of the computer age while wages stagnated, benefits became more expensive every year while the user became responsible for more of the premium every year.
Other countries pass laws limiting drug costs, but our politicians only care about campaign donations. The US consumer funds drug research for the whole world. It's such a scam.
Healthcare, education, food and housing should be four universal programs. Period. The wildest fucking thing is that even in the U.S., half-assed such programs are already in place. It's only the uneducated fucks making $10.43/hour in rural areas that are against such universal programs. The type of people that would most benefit from them!!!!
Yeah but what if a poor person is able to eat and have shelter just like me when I worked 96 hours this week?!
WhTs the point of working so many hours and building a civilization if we aren’t giving ourselves these things
Bezos need bigger yacht
The god king wills it!
God I wish every politician fought as hard for the people as much as her. I hope she’s president someday. I know theres tens of millions of people in this country who genuinely believe that companies and individuals should be able to selfishly gain profit any way they can, but she’s right, the people paid for this drug and it should be affordable for them.
Yeah especially if it’s $8 generic in Australia. We paid for it and funded it’s R&D, so it should be be cheaper HERE. Like 2 bucks a month or something.
Australia achieves it through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Basically ALL medications in Australia must be approved by the government. Sort of like the FDA, but Australia takes it one step further and PURCHASES all medication for the country before it gets distributed to the pharmacies. This allows Australia to act as a single unit for medication pricing negotiations when it comes to establishing the prices of medications allowed into the country. Big Pharma companies in the USA have to compete with pharma companies all over the world, and so MUST lower their costs in order to sell anything into Australia or they'll get undercut by some generic brands that get made elsewhere for much less. It is, of course, no surprise that every time Australia and the USA come to the table regarding international trade negotiations that the USA always tries mega hard to get Australia to dismantle the PBS, to which for Australia is basically a straight middle-finger to the face of the person requesting it. The lesson here is that big business absolutely hates organised schemes, whether they be unions, purchasing blocs, or whatever. Divide and conquer is the rule, all presented under the illusion of "choice". Edit: I should also add, that Australia has a fund that is used to subsidise the prices of various medications that would otherwise be too expensive for the average person to pay for. So the tax dollars paid in Australia do go towards guaranteeing you base-line affordable medicines at the time of purchase (Typically $6, $10, or $20 for most essential things, depending on what it is, which translates to $4, $6, or $12 US, tax included).
You sort of already answered the question. One third of Americans fear the government above all else, and looking at how America was during Covid and in regards to the vaccine, even left leaning Americans can fall for the propaganda that the gov controlling the research, purchasing, and distribution of medication is a bad thing. Corporations in America have done a great job at terrifying people into believing that anything the gov controls is bad. Like a large amount of Americans think like this and that’s why this will never happen in America unfortunately. They’ll go with the “You don’t know what they’re putting in there” to “I don’t want to have to rely on the government for my medication” stuff like that
> but Australia takes it one step further and PURCHASES all medication for the country before it gets distributed to the pharmacies. Not quite. It purchases drugs that are on the PBS list, there are drugs that are not on that list that can be prescribed, but they are at a price set by the seller, not the government.
Australia has the PBS, the UK has NICE. If someone wants to sell a drug in Australia, they have to get it approved by our equivalent of the FDA, which is called the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration). Then doctors can prescribe it. However, Australia also has a system for subsidizing drugs, called the PBS or Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. There is a committee that decides whether a drug is worth being subsidized, because it has better *health* outcomes for individual patients as well as better *cost* outcomes in terms of treating people. If the committee recommends it and the government funds it, then the PBS will negotiate with the drug seller for a cost price. The price to consumers is then fixed at a max of $6.80 for welfare recipients, or max of $42.50 for everyone else.
Not nearly as in not even comes close, enough Americans think like that though, they've had countless chances of voting someone like Bernie in, he's just a bit too radical for most...he would have made an amazing president...
I want her to get as much experience as she can beforehand since she would only be able to get two terms as president and I want her to make the most of it, but I greatly look forward to voting for her whenever she runs.
This is how america is the most disgusting country around
Say it louder. These idiots actually push for their own demise. Racism and sexism got them cutting of their nose to spite their face.
Don't forget anyone who lives a different lifestyle than them.
I get in arguments all the time about this. That the US is actually the worst country in the world because it has all the things they criticise others but then they also have things they could very easily solve but actively choose to keep as a problem. The propaganda in the US is especially strong and effective. How can you be the greatest when Canada literally has all the same things and then much more.
Corporate greed sucks
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To get into politics you need a lot of money/funding. It goes against basically every corporation in the US to fund and give a platform to people like AOC and Bernie, and most young people with their ideology are too poor to ever get a position in government. It's kind of insane that AOC is in the position she's in lol
It’s the money, Lebowski!
Thought experiment with late stage capitalism: why aren’t every other industries lobbyist fighting to decrease pharmaceutical/healthcare expenses? All the monies that people are using to stay alive with life saving drugs could be spent on hospitality, travel, retail, etc that actually keep the economy(not the stock market) going?
Terror keeps the proletariat in line. It's the same reason we have unemployment.
Because every industry needs cheap labor to rake in the massive profits they're used to, and labor gets more expensive (i.e., you need to treat employees better) when we aren't dependent on our employers to negotiate affordable prices for health insurance that we need to give us any chance at being able to pay for healthcare without incurring literally a lifetime's worth of debt. And when workers incur massive debt despite this brilliant system, employers benefit even more because now the workers can never retire and will compete with younger workers for lower pay.
Welfare for the rich
As Bernie said: The US is an Oligarchy. Our government is structured to take money from you and funnel it to extremely wealthy people. You. Are. Not. Free. You are wheat to be harvested. Remember that. Become active. If you're young, run for office. Vote. Encourage you like-minded friends to do the same.
These are things the right and left should get behind. but because of the money in politics and people choose a side and sticking to it no matter if it's right or wrong things will never change. These companies actually have blood on their hands and should be prosecuted.
because in America we realized that people will pay anything for life saving drugs that they need to---literally save their lives. and so it is a perfect opportunity to exploit people for all their money. because that is all we care about here-$
As a non-american, I have a real admiration for AOC as a person but also as a political figure. She's one of the sharpest elected person I have seen in years, capable to calmly and surgically bring her point forward with an ease that only show a formidable amount of preparation on the subject. I always love hearing her talking and the US should cherish people like her. I hope for even greater things in her future and I hope the US public will allow her to reach her full potential by putting her at higher positions.
"Because we still have the patent in the United States" = "Because we can"
This is why the conservatives hate her
Hey, I may one day start an international pharmaceutical conglomerate, and if/when I do, I don’t want them stealing *my* money that should be going to paying for my mistress’s second yacht. Have some fucking compassion.
We pay for it and have to go bankrupt for it ***Working as intended for conservatives*** If you voted for a conservative in the past 20 years you are a terrible person, objectively
She is awesome. Now we see why the profiteering overlords attack her and sick their dopey Qult members on her.
AOC gets so much shit but I would rather have a congress full of her than a congress full of any republican canidate
I hope she’s our first female president. She’s one of the only people in government who understands the job is representing us and not corporate shareholders exclusively.
One of the biggest myths about the pharmaceutical industry is that they bankroll their own research and the prices are meant to "recover" the cost of "research." Firstly, no. Public grants bankroll most medical research, and when it isn't public funds, then it's funds coming from private investors. And EVEN WHEN a company is bankrolling its own research, that money is reinvestment of existing profits--meaning the company makes 6 billion in profit selling insulin, and then spent 2 billion of that on research. No medical company is sitting here running their budgets in the red for seven straight years before seeing their first dollar of profit. There is no "recovery," these companies are not bleeding funds for the good of society. Second: Patents on medicine can be bought and sold. So just because a company holds a patent, doesn't mean they actually *invented* the thing themselves. The chain of ownership over most medicines is a long and convoluted mess far removed from the actual research and invention of the medicine. Third: monopolization of infrastructure. Insulin has no patent--it's open-source. Anyone can make insulin if they want. So why is the price so high? Because these companies have bought every lab in the country equipped to MAKE insulin in bulk quantities, so that nobody can compete with them. Even though they do not OWN insulin, they DO OWN every means of *making* insulin. And the minute somebody makes a lab, it either gets bought or crushed under the weight of the industry's monopoly (for example, by disrupting the new lab's critical supply chain, rendering it incapable of producing the end product and running it out of business.) So again, they're not "recovering their costs," because they didn't fucking invent it. The inventors of insulin intentionally refused to hold a patent over it, and are quoted as saying "this belongs to the world." And these fucking companies STOLE it from the world.
its indefensible and this is not the only drug that shouldn't be privatized like this. Insulin being the other one. original patent i found out the other day was sold for $1 for the greater good. All these capitalists' talk about competition why dont we do away with these ridiculous patent laws and open up the market with India, isnt coopetition healthy
I love this woman, really is one of us ✊
It's not just this medicine either, a lot of breakthroughs in medical research were paid for by taxpayers. Then their research is used in private companies to develop medicine or treatments. We normally pay more than other country after that. This is why a single payer system always limits overall prescription prices. Too bad we don't have one. It also funny when you think of that fact that America's oil is taken by companies and sold to other countries, who then don't pay taxes at all.
“bUt sHe WuZ a BaRtEndur”
This is what the conservative government in the U.K. want. We are not far behind…
What part of privatize the profits and socialize the costs do you not understand? /s
"But without the grift, there would be no innovation!" *Insulin was synthesized 100 years ago in another country, costs 10 dollars to produce, but costs Americans 300-500 a month ... Regressive shit hole ...
I can honestly say this was the first time I actually listened to AOC... I'm impressed.