Sunday, May 27, 2012

Three Strikes and Out for Corporate Felons,Too...L&C

You usually hear a lot of rhetoric during election years dealing with crime, however crime has been down and therefore you don't see stories along the lines like "Three Strikes and You Are Out." This refers to habitual criminals committing crime-after-crime year in and out. Now, the sentence is mandatory after the third felony. What I'd like to see since the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are entities who can commit untold dollars into political campaigns, apply this same thinking to corporate crime.
Big Pharma
sets the standard for fellow felons in this category. Am I the only one who thinks after hearing the latest commercial for some new drug that Big Pharma is pushing, who is in such a sad medical state that they have to try this drug which under the disclaimer to which is a crime also that one can lose their eyesight, go deaf, lose a kidney or liver or both, erectile dysfunction or a host of other dysfunctions, but hey, you will have instant relief from your previous ailment, although our new drug does not say it will cure you of it. Are you kidding me? Where and who is looking out for the public interest?
FDA
does a lot of good with a little budget, however they suffer from the same fate as many other good ideas. The Republicans dominate the Democrats in this technique. If you can't stop the legislation, wait until you win the big office and then, appoint your people to resume the status quo. 
This example leads the list when it comes to our water and what pollutants and amount are allowed to flow into it. The FDA sides with big pharma to allow Bis phenol-A, the plastic chemical, saying that it is not harmful to human health when it is.
Then, there is the so-called political debate. Less government more jobs. The Ayn Rand objection to rules and regulation. This is so absurd and foolish beyond conversation or debate. Yes, too many rules and regulations are harmful to business and growth, but no rule thinking was crushed by Machiavelli in the 1500s. This is why Teddy Roosevelt found our National Park System. The act stops the greedy idiots who would cut every tree and leave the stumps to blithe the land or use excess mercury or other toxins in mines and leave the local community with poised water. No rules is the wild west and I think the pioneer days are over.
No Respect for the Law or Us
Recently, Pfizer was found guilty through its Warner-Lambert unit of two felonies and paid a fine of $300 million. It wasn't the first time for them or any of the big pharma companies. These companies push drugs like Neurontin that are not even approved by the FDA or for the ailment in question. Have you ever heard of Bextra? It's off the market because it was found to be so harmful, it could write its own death book. Pfizer like the others don't care. The bean counters tell them, look the profits we make will cover the fines and civil cases many times over. Bextra paid the largest fine ever at $1.9 billion and another billion in civil cases, but earned around $16.8 for the company. Put them out of business if this is their thinking and to me that includes and means you cannot blame a unit of the company, but the whole company, parent included. No rules and regulations, get out of town!
This is one reason why you get many critics who say that the FDA is the biggest booster for pharmaceutical companies. Case in point:Ranbaxy Laboratories. They are under investigation for many crimes like substituting inferior ingredients that could cause new dangerous reactions, making substandard medications and fraudulently trying to cover their tracks. Talk about crime-after-crime in Ranbaxy's case, the number at present is (18)eighteen times. Enough is enough! Also, I don't want to hear about the threat of bankruptcy. This is another field where lawyers have made the laws for the wealthy and the individuals, workers or investors get the shaft. No! If you violate the law three times with what would be considered a felony if done by an individual, then, you are out of business because you have violated the public trust. Close the company and pass out the assets. End of story.
LIARS and CROOKS: This week we go to Spain and its fourth largest bank, Bankia. This bank was formed from seven bad banks with tons of money, sounds like our Feds thinking, but it is not doing so good. In fact, it has asked for more money to cover their accounts. I think that these criminals should be put in jail. Check out the recent record. In 2011 Bankia claimed to have made $300 million euros when in reality, they lost $3 billion euros. In the last three year period Spain has restructured the banking system four times. Obama, looking for a new Fed chief? The head of the finance ministry similar to our treasury assured the public that only $8 billion euros was needed. Today, it was learned that the banking system needs another $36 billion euros to remain solvent. First Greece, now Spain. The ECB should read my article on King Solomon's Solution and of course, this is yet another example why we should End the Fed!