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Oct. 17, 2004 John Kerry is putting out the word that it's the Bush administration that's responsible for the current shortage in the flu vaccines. In point of fact, it was the liberals' ideas of price controls and runaway liability suits that are responsible. In the Clinton administration, the idea was proposed for the government to buy huge quantities of flu vaccines in bulk and distribute them country-wide each Fall-- essentially a good idea (in part) that would reduce their cost when bought in bulk and insure an adequate supply. Unfortunately, they ALSO instituted arbitrary and artifical price controls on how much "the government" would pay for those vaccines and did absolutely nothing about the trial lawyers' penchant for filing suit against any company whose vaccine resulted in injury--however minor--to anyone receiving the vaccines--even those with an previously- undiscovered allergy to such medicines. The end result was that American drug companies decided that they would opt out of a system that forced them to take a loss and which never considered the cost of production in setting prices or the cost of litigation whenever a (real or imagined) bad outcome resulted from the administration of the vaccines. As a consequence, the only company even MAKING the vaccines today willing to sell them in bulk to the American government is based in Great Britain...sort of "forced outsourcing," as it were. Just as the American organized labor force has priced itself out of the domestic market and forced "outsourcing" to other countries, the regulatory, taxing and litigation costs of providing huge quantities of flu vaccines have forced American drug companies to abandon the marketplace for this particular commodity. To its credit, our British source of flu vaccine discovered that some of its product had been contaminated and, rather than sell us tainted, vaccine, destroyed about half of its production this year that was schedule for sale in the United States. Unfortunately, this reliance on a single source for the vaccine means that a shortage would be inevitable when such a thing occurs. With no back-up source--especially domestically--there is no avoiding the current shortage. Unless and until we get the regulatory and taxation burden on our own drug companies reduced (and ALL companies, for that matter), we will continue to see "outsourcing" of other vital industries--especially the expense that is highest for any company...labor. Like it or not, it's the profit motive that moves the entire world and makes us productive. When arbitrary and artificial restraints on profits are imposed by any government, productivity suffers and any competent businessman or woman will do whatever is necessary to keep his/her business viable--even if it means moving "off- shore." Recent history is FULL of such examples. The economy began to stagnate in the 70's when Nixon imposed (thankfully, short- lived) wage and price controls on vital industries. When the Democrat-controlled Congress got the bright idea of imposing that 10% "luxury tax" on jewelry, high-end automobiles and boats, the jewelry, automobile and, especially, the boat-building industries suffered catastrophic losses. The yacht- building industry along the East Coast was nearly wiped out, costing tens of thousands of lost jobs, AND, coincidentally, the normal tax revenues they would generate. Instead of increasing the government's take--this ill- advised tax actually reduced it! People buying a half-million-dollar yacht decided they didn't want to pay an additional $50K to the government for the privilege of buying an American-made yacht and simply went overseas to buy it. The same sort of thing has happened with the leftist stupidity with respect to flu shots. No domestic company wants to put up with the regulatory, litigation and tax burdens imposed by our government to manufacture a product on which they cannot make a decent profit. The result is, the only foreign company capable of making a reliable supply has had an accidental contamination of much of its production, making it useless, and we're reaping the results. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the Bush Administration and everything to do with the left's insistence that "profit" is a dirty word and needs to be regulated by government. ------------ About the author: David A. Jared is a news junkie, semi-retired and an avid golfer who's been writing his first book, "4000 years of chopsticks" for the last 20 years. Email: Pappadave@sbcglobal.net |
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