jrhoffa t1_jeg6v8r wrote on March 31, 2023 at 7:51 PM

Reply to comment by Aginor23 in Cap on insulin cost now permanent in Washington by aagusgus

The market has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted to equitably manage human necessities.

forcustomfrontpage t1_jeh29iu wrote on March 31, 2023 at 11:34 PM

Don't know what that guy is on about but there is a real danger in just capping prices, I don't think this goes far enough. Capping prices is just squeezing one side of the tube but not solving any problems, you need to fix the conditions that lead to the price gouging. It's not like it all the sudden dawned on pharmaceutical companies to gouge people, they've always wanted that.

If you want something to be available at a reasonable price in the quantities people need, you've got to find that cause and fix it, high prices are the result of a problem and not the cause of a problem.

Aginor23 t1_jeg767p wrote on March 31, 2023 at 7:53 PM

Well, that’s not even remotely true. And especially in the case of insulin. If the government only allows one producer of insulin via patent protection then that is pretty obviously not free markets at work finding a true price

Merfkin t1_jegg2jb wrote on March 31, 2023 at 8:53 PM

Capitalism is about getting the most money possible, period. If not reigned in, they simply boost the price and force you to pay it (in the case of insulin, the consequences for not buying the product is death).

We have about as "free" a market as it gets in the modern world, it's burning the planet and killing us in swathes. Letting companies do whatever they want means ruin for the average person.

Regulation got us a 40-hour workweek and safety regulations, the free market gave us 50¢/hr wages and child labor.

MyHappyAcnt t1_jegblon wrote on March 31, 2023 at 8:23 PM

Slave labor is still quite common and encouraged by the "freemarket" and that's just the tip of the shitburg that is made of unfettered capitalism atrocities. Let's not forget child labor, union busting murder, Burnie madolf, and so on.

Markets need to be well regulated to balance the needs of the many against the greed of a few.