Reform the current capitalist system!

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American capitalism transformed the lives of millions and thereby did a good job for the majority.  Arguably, happiness seems to have peaked in the 1950s.  But now the system has clearly  become self-serving, exploitative and unfit for purpose, creating massive wealth disparities and harming young people in particular with its employment policies.  It has been allowed to become a grabbitocracy.  I speak here as someone who was born a conservative, but who now finds the way the country is an embarrassment, and about as far away from Epicurean thought as possible.

The system is not set up to tackle the twin challenges of climate crisis and the threatening rise of China.  The big corporations, with their overpaid CEOs call the political shots and  pay little or no tax to maintain a decent society, which needs to be built anew to serve everyone, not just the 1%.  The following  suggestions are just for starters:

First to go has to be Citizens United, arguably the biggest mistake made by any Supreme Court in its history.

Secondly, all  constituency  boundaries should by law be determined by non-political, disinterested lawyers, sworn to serve the whole country faithfully, regardless of political leanings ( yes, a tall order!)

Thirdly, retiring politicians should be banned from lobbying their former colleagues for ten years.

Fourthly, the anti-trust system has atrophied and should be revived.

Fifthly, compensation to management, and especially CEOs, has grown exponentially, relative to that of employees, and the ratio should be reduced, substantially.

Sixthly, the minimum wage should provide a living wage.  If you can’t pay your staff a living wage you shouldn’t be in business.

Seventhly, universities and colleges are behaving like corporations and have forgotten their purpose. The student loan system is a corrupt scam. No one should  start their working lives with huge debt.

Lastly, the tax dodges and the 15% tax on “carried interest” used by the super-rich should be made illegal.

This is not socialism; it is patriotism. It stands for Epicurean moderation, indeed, common sense.

 

Plastic waste (no, don’t move on to something else – this important! ) Part 1

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Annual global sales of plastic bottles, glass bottles, cans and cartons are expected to reach 1.9 trillion in 2019.

Volunteers who took part in 229 clean-up events on beaches and river banks in the UK found 49,000 pieces of packaging litter. Of this, 15.5% were Coca Cola bottles, and 10.3% were produced by Pepsi.  Other major polluting material came from chocolate wrapping (Cadbury and Nestle) and McDonalds.  Manufacturers of all this gunk pay a mere 10% of the disposal costs; the remainder is paid for by local councils, taxpayers and the environment itself.  You and me!  (reported by The Guardian/Campaign to Protect Rural England).

Leaving aside the issue as to whether anybody at all should be drinking overly large amounts of Coke and Pepsi, fast food or chocolate bars ( the British taxpayer pays for the health results for the over-consumers, but we all support freedom, don’t we?), the companies concerned are clearly not doing enough to encourage recycling, and it isn’t even clear whether re-cyclers worldwide really recycle a lot of the waste, or whether they quietly bury it in landfills.

Opinions differ on these issues.  Epicureans , for instance, advocate moderation.  What the more  laisser-faire advocates cannot deny is that we are collectively despoiling the environment, and that it is unjust to ask people who have not had  a Coke, a Pepsi or. a McDonalds meal for twenty five years, to pay out of their pockets for the selfish and careless behavior of the people who do consume these things.  I say, “Don’t ban them. Put the prices up and use the extra money to recycle.  Just stop freeloading!”.    (Part 2, more positive,  be posted tomorrow)

The war against antibiotic resistance: Part 2, the good news

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The threat posed by antibiotic resistance has finally got through to governments.  98 new formulations are being tested in animals, and nearly two-thirds attack bacteria differently from older drugs, increasing their chance of success.

In May this year, the UK government will  pay two companies to bring new anti-microbial drugs to market. The price of the drug will be “delinked” from what the company needs to recoup its investment, so there is no pressure to market the new drugs aggressively, and they can be saved for the cases that resist all other treatments.

The US Congress also plans to discuss such “market entry reward” schemes for new antibiotics, including an idea called “play or pay”, in which drug firms that aren’t working on antibiotics have to pay into a fund to reward companies that do. Existing legislation allowing government agencies to reward firms that develop biodefence drugs for which there is no market, such as anthrax vaccines, may also be pressed into service.

If that sounds like it will cost taxpayers a pretty penny, compare it with the cost of treating resistance – $2.2 billion a year in the US, according to a study last March. In a patented antibiotics market worth $700 million in the US, another $700 million might get things started, says Outterson.

We might not even need to pay directly. In November, a drug called zoliflodacin passed tests showing it was safe and effective in humans against gonorrhoea, which has become so antibiotic-resistant that some infections are now almost incurable.

Many promising new drugs get this far and no further, but this one is already set to enter the big, expensive tests needed before it can be licensed. The trials will be financed by Entasis, the US company developing the drug, and also by governments and other donors organised by GARDP, a global organisation promoting antibiotic development.

If it passes, Entasis will market the drug in 34 rich countries, while GARDP gets marketing rights in 166 poor ones. Entasis makes the profit it needs, while the gonorrhoea epidemic in poor countries gets an effective drug – under tight control.

Ultimately, if these schemes don’t work fast enough, governments will have to take over the business of providing antibiotics. It wouldn’t be the first time they have done this kind of thing. Until the 1980s, government agencies produced the public-health vaccines that defeated diseases such as polio, measles and smallpox, as a public good, like roads and schools.

Ideology has frowned on governments messing with markets. But it may take only a few more untreatable cases of gonorrhoea or urinary tract infection to make the critics change their minds.  (An abridged version of an article in the New Scientist,  Jan19-25, 2019).

This is something governments  should be involved in, something for the general good of the whole population that private enterprise simply cannot tackle and stay in business.

The war against antibiotic resistance. No.1: the problem

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You have probably heard about the problem of anti- biotic resistance.  This resistance is at last crumbling, but there is another problem – of economics.

The issue is that pharma firms must recoup their investment in developing drugs, but antibiotics are the antithesis of a bestseller. They are taken for days or a few weeks, whereas diabetes or heart drugs are highly profitable because patients can use them for life. Plus, new antibiotics can’t compete with older, cheaper drugs that still work and are no longer patented.

By the time resistance to the old antibiotics builds up and doctors must prescribe new, expensive ones, their patented life may be almost over, leaving little time for their owner to turn a profit. Novel drugs must also be kept in reserve or used sparingly, to stop bacteria building a resistance to them, too.  As a result,  US sales of all antibiotics still under patent totalled just $700 million in 2017 – less than what a single new cancer drug makes in a year. This is having a dire effect on the field. Big companies have  reduced their programmes and are not launching new studies. Now, most drug discovery is done by small, struggling biotech firms. Bad profit prospects meant those working on antibiotics lost some 50 to 75 per cent of their stock value in 2018.  There are only about 800 experienced researchers left working on antibiotics.

A recent study showed that only 56 experimental antibiotics worldwide have passed animal tests and human trials. Typically, only 14 will prove viable and about 5  work in novel ways. That is a concern, because drugs that operate in the same way as existing ones may not be able to defeat resistance.

It is estimated that the loss of antibiotics would cost society trillions of dollars. Tomorrow I will continue by reporting what is being done.  (Based on article in the New Scientist but heavily edited for length,  Jan 19-25, 2019)

 

Beware the creeping coup!

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It is now clear that Dr, Thomas Hofeller—who has been called “the Michelangelo of gerrymandering”— was the author of the idea of adding the citizenship question to the 2020 US census in order to create redistricting rules that would be “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”?  He conducted research showing  that the citizenship question would significantly harm the political power of Latino communities. This is part of an explicit strategy to exclude millions of Americans from consideration in redistricting, overturning centuries of precedent. 

The revelations emerged from files provided to Common Cause by Hofeller’s daughter, who chose to entrust Common Cause with his papers. They provide a detailed view into Hofeller’s behind-the-scenes work to craft district maps for partisan advantage. (Common Cause).

Epicurus, who, unlike most ancient Greeks of his time, welcomed both women and slaves into his garden, discussing, debating, asking their opinions. Today , we have in progress what amounts to a creeping political coup that seeks to solidify the power of a single party by gerrymandering, by exclusion of  whole blocks of people who might vote democrat or require government assistance; by the packing of the Supreme Court, and by using Citizens United and giveaway tax bills to firmly secure both votes and the money of the super-rich to exclude the Democrats for good.

Epicurus warned his followers against politics, and what is happening in the US illustrates why. If we want democracy (remember that?) restored and a fair, happy and fulfilling life for all the people, not just for the ruthless and privileged, we have to forget the indifference of Epicurus – and vote.  And make sure everyone we know votes.  If not, the natural autocrats are about to get their dearest wish.