Tag: Trade Agreements

“Deal With China Is Done”

More tariff news….

For awhile now the US and China have been in negotiations , trade talks, on the supply of rare earth minerals…..now there is word of a possible deal….

President Trump on Wednesday said the US and China have struck a deal to ease the trade war between them, reports CNBC. China will supply critical rare earths and magnets “up front,” the president wrote in all-caps post on Truth Social. In return, the US “will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!).” Trump said the deal—which was born out of two days of negotiations by economic officials from the respective countries—is still subject to his and President Xi’s final approval. “We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, (and) China is getting 10%,” Trump wrote, adding that the “relationship is excellent” between the two countries.

  • London talks: His confirmation came after senior US and Chinese negotiators signaled they had reached the framework of a deal on mineral and tech exports after the talks in London, per the AP. The outlet adds, however, that it was “not clear whether any progress was made on the more fundamental differences over China’s sizeable trade surplus with the United States.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick put it this way after the talks on Tuesday: “First we had to get sort of the negativity out and now we can go forward.”
  • Context: The new deal essentially gets the US and China back to where they were in early May after an agreement was struck in Switzerland, per the New York Times. The Swiss deal subsequently fell apart as China held back shipments of rare earth minerals and magnets.

Now how did Donny’s ‘yo-yo economics’ play with the markets?

Not as well as Donny may have wanted.

Wall Street’s rally stalled Wednesday after stocks climbed back within 2% of their all-time high.

  • The S&P 500 fell 16.57 points, or 0.3%, to 6,022.24, marking its first drop in four days.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.10 points, or less than 0.1%, to 42,865.77.
  • The Nasdaq composite fell 99.11 points, or 0.5%, to 19,615.88.

The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields eased after a report showed inflation ticked up by less last month than economists expected, the AP reports. That raised expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year. Markets didn’t react much to the conclusion of two days of trade talks between the US and China.

On Wall Street, a 1.9% drop for Apple was the heaviest weight on the market. It’s been listless this week after unveiling several modest upcoming changes to the software that runs its devices. Chewy dropped 11% after the seller of pet supplies reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts had forecast. Tesla swung between gains and losses before finishing with a rise of 0.1% to continue its shaky run. It’s been recovering much of its big losses taken last week after Elon Musk’s relationship with Trump imploded, which in turn raised fears about a loss of business for the electric-vehicle company. Musk on Wednesday backed away from some of his earlier comments and said they went “too far.”

Trump said Wednesday that China will supply rare-earth minerals and magnets to the United States, while his government will allow Chinese students into US universities in a deal that still needs an agreement by him and by China’s leader. Trump also said that “President XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!” Investors are still hoping for a more sweeping trade deal that would ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

This will do little to help struggling families buy the goods that they need….but not to worry Donny got a ‘deal’ he can brag about.

+++Off I go for yet another round of doctors and stuff….hopefully I will make it home early enough to get back to doing what I do best+++

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those China Negotiations

If you will recall the prez slapped a tariff of 125% or was it 145%….any way he recently slacked off to a 80% tariff on goods coming in from China.

All the while we are told that there is massive negotiations going on to try and moderate these trade limitations.

News came out over the weekend that some progress in those negotiations is being made…..

“I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Sunday in Switzerland. He didn’t go so far as to say an agreement was reached, though the White House did, putting the headline “US Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva” on a transcript of Bessent’s remarks on its website. No one provided information in support of that conclusion, but Bessent said details would be released Monday, NBC News reports.

Signs of a truce in the trade war sparked by President Trump’s tariffs would pump up the financial markets, per the New York Times, and reassure those fearing it will bring the global economy down. Later Sunday, per the AP, the Chinese delegation held a news conference in Geneva in which it described the weekend talks as “candid, in-depth and constructive dialogue.” The two sides agreed to “establishing a consultation mechanism” for more discussion on trade and economic issues, said Vice Premier He Lifeng.

Before Sunday’s round of talks began, Trump posted online that “great progress” was being made toward what he said could be a “total reset” on his tariffs, per the AP. Trump said Friday that the US might lower the tariffs on China from 145% to 80%, per the Washington Post. China has maintained it won’t make trade concessions in reaction to the tariffs. The two sides have not agreed on whose idea the negotiations were. Chinese officials say the US asked them to participate. American officials disputed that.

That is good news indeed….but is it?

This administration is noted for a whole bunch of misinformation…..is this to try and placate the markets or is it just wishful thinking?

As I was working on this post at 5 am news that the markets, the futures, jump almost a 1000 points….so I guess my previous questioned was answered.

I am hoping that some sort of deal can be made because without one Christmas is going to be really expensive this year.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

He Has A Trade Deal

Before I begin–I am sure that most people know there was white smoke at the Vatican and that means yes we have a pope, he will be Pope Leo XIV….and he is an (wait for it) American!

Just in case you are interested in the history of Pope Leos…..https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/08/europe/papal-leo-pope-cardinal-pontiff-intl

Moving on to important news.

I have been very critical of Donny and his tariff stuff and I would like to report that he has a new trade deal with the UK.

The US and the UK have struck a deal on trade after President Trump’s imposition of tariffs, the first of what could be dozens to follow, reports the Washington Post. Details are scant at the moment, but President Trump plans to address it at a 10am Eastern news conference. Even if this ends up being just the broad outline of an agreement, markets are happy with the precedent: Dow futures rose about 400 points early Thursday on the news, reports CNBC.

  • The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement. Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!”
  • However, the Wall Street Journal doubts any deal struck in such a short time can be “comprehensive” and instead expects a narrowly focused pact. Trade attorney Timothy C. Brightbill tells the New York Times it’s probably “just an agreement to start the negotiations, identifying a framework of issues to be discussed in the coming months.”
  • The US imposed a 10% tariff on most goods imported from the UK, and the UK also is subject to Trump’s 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum. The UK has retaliated in turn, and the BBC predicts the deal might result in lower tariffs on US cars imported there. The UK might get a break on the steel and aluminum tariffs, but the baseline 10% tariff is likely to remain, per the Journal.

I am very pleased to see that there is now a deal with the UK.

The markets liked it so the openings were really positive….which is good (I guess) but I would like to know what this deal will do for us struggling peasants.

If possible I would like to see more deals follow suit…..so we can get our economy back to some sort of normalcy.

This is another look at the UK trade deal…..

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled the framework of a trade deal with the United Kingdom that was extremely light on details despite being billed as a “full and comprehensive agreement,” leading critics to describe the fanfare surrounding the announcement as a cynical photo op for both sides.

In a statement, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer touted the deal as “historic” while acknowledging that it is incomplete. Trump insisted the deal is “maxed out,” though he told reporters in the Oval Office that “the final details are being written up in the coming weeks.”

…

Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen, said Thursday that “Trump may have enjoyed having his ego stroked by Starmer and [U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick fawning over him for ‘closing’ a deal—one that is obviously not actually done—but his con on American workers continues.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-uk-trade-deal-trump-starmer

So is this a good deal or just a stroke of ego said to get the focus off his failed attempts to control world trade?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine Mineral Deal

Remember that was why Zelenskyy came to DC to sign a mineral deal between the US and Ukraine….and then there was that planned mash-up by Trump and mini me, Vance attacking the Z Man……and the deal was off because Z left DC without signing the deal.

Well it seems, according to Speaker Johnson, Zelenskyy has changed course….

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said during a radio interview that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has done a complete “about-face” on the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal that was not signed after a heated meeting between the two delegations late last month.

“I’m really grateful and glad that Zelensky, in the last several days, has done an about-face. He’s effectively apologized for all that. And he said, ‘Oh no, no, we would like that deal after all.’ I think he had a rude awakening,” Johnson said during his Saturday appearance on John Catsimatidis’s radio show “Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM.

“I think a lot of the people in his country were upset with the way that was handled. Certainly we all were, but we’ve got to get him back to the table,” Johnson told Catsimatidis.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/5184547-johnson-says-zelensky-has-done-about-face-on-mineral-deal/

I know some people were worried that with this deal Russia or China would get these minerals that are needed for our electronics industry.

This is a super plus for American industry, right?

What could go wrong?

To begin with, the contentious 28 February Oval Office meeting can’t be understood without a crucial piece of context: there are no deposits of rare-earth ore in Ukraine known to be minable in an economically viable way. And that would be true even if full-scale warfare were not raging in the country’s east, where a great deal of its mineral resources are concentrated.

Ukraine is believed to have four areas with substantial deposits of rare earth ores, according to Erik Jonsson, senior geologist with the Geological Survey of Sweden. “There are four slightly bigger deposits: Yastrubetske, Novopoltavske, Azovske, and Mazurivske. All but one of them seem to be now within or near the zone that the Russians control, as far as I can tell,” says Jonsson. “And when it comes to resources in those deposits, I mean, we have numbers; yes, that’s nice. But we have no real, detailed, outline of how those numbers were arrived at.” The numbers are believed to come from Soviet surveys dating as far back as the 1960s.

“The rare-earth deposits don’t look that relevant,” Jonsson concludes. “I mean, I wouldn’t go for them.” Two of the deposits are dominated by a mineral called britholite, he notes, which is not desirable because it has not been processed for rare earths, which means that almost nothing exists in the way of process chemistry and equipment.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/ukraine-rare-earth-minerals

If this deal was not the viable at this time what was all this drama about?

Was it another show?

Is it cover for something else going on?

Was this another of the misdirection plans that this administration has?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

NAFTA 2.0?

Back in the day globalization took off big time in the 1990s and the presidency of Clinton….when it was signed into law I said then that it was a bad idea for workers not just here but around the world.

I was a supporter of the Trump’s idea to trash the deal and come forth with a new more inclusive deal.

But after 3 and half years and lots of talk and tariff stuff we have a new “NAFTA”…..

President Trump has touted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as the worst trade deal ever negotiated—and vowed to replace it. Today, it has been replaced by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and, unbeknownst to him, this agreement should hold that unsavory title. While the USMCA makes some modest improvements (largely by borrowing from the Trans Pacific Partnership, which Trump withdrew from), it also includes some protectionist elements and veiled industrial policy. Furthermore, while the administration has been rushing to implement the deal in order to score political points on the campaign trail, businesses are left to sort out the new rules and paperwork that they will have to start following as of today. USMCA was pitched as a way to reduce uncertainty among the three trading partners in the face of threats of withdrawal from NAFTA that Trump made regularly. But at the end of the day, much uncertainty still remains.

The first area where we are likely to see some challenge in implementation was exactly the issue that received an inordinate amount of attention during negotiations: autos. The rules that determine whether a product can cross duty free across the border—rules of origin—were tightened for the auto sector. In NAFTA, passenger vehicles were required to have 62.5% North American content, and in the USMCA that has been increased to 75%. This means that auto producers will need to source more components from the region, in addition to ensuring that 70% of the steel and aluminum used in production also comes from Canada, Mexico or the United States. On top of this—a first ever in a trade agreement—a new labor value content requirement was added that requires auto makers to have 40–45% of their auto content made by workers making at least $16 an hour. This is clearly aimed at moving production out of Mexico, which has been an important link in the North American auto supply chain. For automakers these rules will raise some challenges in implementation, not least because auto production is so fragmented, and that every producer up and down the supply chain must abide by the new content rules. Coordinating this is no easy feat. Canada has yet to pass the regulations that will bring the auto rules into force, and with today being a holiday in Canada, that process will undoubtedly be delayed. In the United States, guidance on the regulations has been shared, but the interim final rules on uniform regulations and labor value content were just published today.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/trump-signed-worst-trade-deal-ever-and-it-just-went-effect-164021

I do not see how this would benefit the workers or make their lives more enriched…..once again the words of Trump have proven to be total crap.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Say Good Bye To Open Skies

That would be a treaty signed many years ago between the US and the USSR…..

Since 1992, the United States has achieved Open Skies with 120 foreign partners. In 2015 and 2016, we finalized Open Skies agreements with Ukraine, Serbia, Cote d’ Ivoire, Seychelles, Togo, Azerbaijan and Curacao (Kingdom of the Netherlands) and a modernized air transport agreement with Mexico. Over 70 percent of international departures from the United States now fly to Open Skies partners. We have Open Skies with countries at all levels of economic development, including major economies like Brazil, India, Japan, and South Korea and smaller countries like Equatorial Guinea. Our agreement with the European Union liberalized the largest international aviation market in the world.

But what did it accomplish?

  • Open Skies contributes to the success of the President’s National Export Initiative, the National Travel and Tourism Strategy, and the Department of State’s Economic Statecraft Initiative.
  • The business model for the international package delivery sector, employing over half a million people, depends on Open Skies to operate competitively in foreign markets. U.S. air freight services to fast-growing regions like the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Africa exceeded $1 billion in 2013 and contributed over $3 billion to the U.S. trade balance in the last five years.
  • The Brookings Institution estimates that Open Skies agreements add approximately $4 billion in annual economic gains to consumers.
  • U.S. Airlines for Open Skies estimates that full liberalization through Open Skies agreements would lead to a 16-percent increase in air traffic and support 9 million jobs in aviation and related industries.
  • Open Skies has dramatically expanded direct international connections to cities like Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Memphis, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, and Salt Lake City.
  • A private study found that new direct service between a U.S. city and a point in the European Union generates up to $720 million annually in new economic activity for the U.S. city and its local region, depending on the size of the markets.
  • Portland International Airport estimates that its direct international flights to Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt generate over $240 million in airport and visitor revenue.
  • The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority estimates that aviation liberalization with Brazil helped increase the number of visitors from Brazil to Orlando from 74,000 in 2004 to 768,000 in 2013, and that Emirates’ service from Dubai will add $100 million in new economic activity in Central Florida and create 1,500 jobs.

The Treaty was cloaked in a economic blanket but was also an intel agreement…..

I gave my readers a quick breakdown of the “Open Skies Treaty” because Donald the Orange has decided in his ego soaked mind that the US needs to withdraw from the agreement….

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States is withdrawing from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, saying it is being used to “undermine international peace and security.” The US has been threatening to withdraw for awhile, though Pompeo says the US might consider returning to the Treaty if Russia makes concessions. President Trump went on to say the US might reconsider leaving the treaty entirely at some point.

The treaty is meant to allow the US and Russia, along with other member states, freedom to conduct surveillance overflights of one another. This was intended to be a trust-building concession, allowing each nation the freedom to check and make sure the other isn’t building up a big offensive against them.

In the course of pulling out of the INF Treaty, the Trump Administration has been critical of Open Skies for some time, accusing Russia of not giving them unfettered access to the exclave of Kaliningrad. The Pentagon insisted this meant the treaty no longer benefits the US.

(antiwar.com)

It seems that Congress wants a better explanation than the flimsy crap spread by Pompeo….

The chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees are demanding an explanation from the State and Defense departments on what they are calling President Trump’s “illegal” move to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty.

A provision in the annual defense policy bill signed into law in December requires the administration to notify Congress at least 120 days before it officially submits an intent to withdraw to the other treaty members.

Democrats say the required notice was not given to Congress before Trump announced Thursday he was pulling the U.S. out of the treaty.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/499164-house-chairmen-demand-explanation-on-trumps-illegal-withdrawal-from-open-skies

Of course NATO is scrambling to find the words to describe their frustrations…..https://www.dw.com/en/nato-allies-alarmed-annoyed-by-us-open-skies-exit/a-53540717

This is the third international arms control treaty to be scrapped by Trump, after the Iran nuclear accord and the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty. Defense hawks have long criticized the Open Skies Treaty, reports the Hill.

As far back as the 1950s was,this treaty envisioned…..

It was hailed as an economic necessity and in reality it was more an intel necessity……and yes it is probably obsolete thanx for those satellites whizzing around in space.

My question is how will it effect air commerce?

Has anyone bothered to ask that question?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–03Jan20

A new year, a new decade and a new trade agreement and this time it does not involve the US…..this agreement is between Japan, China and South Korea……a bloc that could challenge the US….on the trade front.

The trade ministers of China, Japan and South Korea agreed to work towards a regional trade pact and a trilateral free-trade deal on Sunday.

The agreement was reached despite the recent bitter quarrel between Tokyo and Seoul and the uncertainty caused by China’s ongoing trade negotiations with the United States, as well as the threat of North Korea resuming nuclear tests.

The ministers did not announce any concrete results after Sunday’s talks in Beijing, but they voiced their willingness to continue discussions on the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
– which also includes the Asean group of countries, Australia, India and New Zealand – as well as the three-way free-trade deal.
 
Will this trade bloc go unnoticed by Trump or will he use the power of sanctions (his preferred technique to punish other countries) to retaliate?
 
Watch This Blog!
 
I Read, I Wrote, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

We Have a Deal!

Closing Thought–16Dec19

Just in time for the beginning of the process to pick our next president it has been announced that Xi and Trump have reached a deal on ending our trade war…..

Do not let the peasants dance just yet….they have agreed on only one phase of the deal…..

China and the U.S. agreed on the text of a phase one trade deal that includes the removal of tariffs on Chinese goods in stages, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said, as President Donald Trump confirmed that some levies will be reduced and said the next round of talks will start immediately.

China will increase imports from the U.S. and other countries, Wang said at a briefing in Beijing Friday. Vice Chairman of the National Reform and Development Commission Ning Jizhe added that the specifics of agricultural purchases would be released later, as the text of the agreement is still under review.

The comments were China’s first response to a deal signed off by Trump on Thursday that would halt higher tariffs planned for Dec. 15 and represent the first phase in defusing the trade war that’s shaken the global economy.

https://outline.com/9fvXqt

Just in time to help the markets rise a bit and make the economy look better than it is……but the markets did bite this time from Trump….

Stocks are closing at more record highs as traders hope that the US and China can make enough progress on trade to avoid new tariffs kicking in over the weekend, the AP reports. Banks and technology companies led the gains. The S&P 500 rose 26 points, or 0.9%, to 3,168. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 220 points, or 0.8%, to 28,131. The Nasdaq rose 63 points, or 0.7%, to 8,717. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are at record highs. Traders dumped safe-play investments like utilities and real estate companies and moved money into riskier assets. Bond prices also fell, sending yields sharply higher.

I still question the timing of this “deal”….not that Trump is doing anything different from any other president looking for a boost for the next round of voting.

Personally, I feel that we need a more “progressive” trade policy….we are giving too much a way to other nations…..

It is clear that these trade and investment policies no longer even benefit the signatory countries, but rather line the pockets of global elites at the expense of ordinary people and the planet we share. Backlash to these policies has peaked and waned, peaking 20 years ago with the fight against the MAI and the Seattle WTO protests, and again reemerging in the past decade, against the FTAA and, again, against the TPP more recently.

As the right has increasingly taken up opposition to trade policies from a protectionist and often xenophobic angle, the need to distinguish a left, internationalist critique of corporate globalization has never been more urgent. The chauvinist policies of the Trump administration and its imitators need to be strongly condemned. But if the progressive movement is simply reacting to the neoliberal trade agenda and its right-wing disruptors, it is unlikely to achieve meaningful change.

So, progressive politicians and policymakers — from AMLO to Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — must unify around a progressive vision of trade to guide an international system that places people and planet over profits. That is why a bold new vision for international economic cooperation and global development is so crucial.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/12/12/we-need-progressive-alternative-trade-and-nafta-20-isnt-it

Trade should be our focus to save our family farms….and our industries as a whole….not some idle campaign slogan.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–11Dec19

The Dems wanted to prove that they did not go to DC justn to impeach the president…..plus they needed to give their members some cover in the close elections in 2020….for these reasons they helped pass the new NAFTA that Trump promised….

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced agreement on a modified North American trade pact, handing President Trump a major Capitol Hill win on the same day that Democrats announced impeachment charges against him, per the AP. Crediting Democratic negotiators for winning stronger provisions on enforcing the agreement, Pelosi said the revamped United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is “much better” than the North American Free Trade Agreement and “infinitely better than what was initially proposed by the administration.” “This is the right thing to do for our trade situation, for our workers,” she said. In a tweet, Trump said the revamped trade pact—his top Capitol Hill priority along with funding for his long-sought border fence—”will be the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA. Good for everybody – Farmers, Manufacturers, Energy, Unions.”

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, said the three countries’ negotiating teams would meet Tuesday “to announce the advances achieved.” NAFTA eliminated most tariffs and other trade barriers involving the US, Mexico, and Canada. Critics, including Trump, labor unions, and many Democratic lawmakers, branded the pact a job killer for the US because it encouraged factories to move south of the border, capitalize on low-wage Mexican workers, and ship products back to the US duty-free. Weeks of back-and-forth, closely monitored by Democratic labor allies such as the AFL-CIO, brought the two sides together, though Trump had accused Pelosi of being too wrapped up in impeachment. More protectionist and labor-friendly, USMCA contains provisions designed to nudge manufacturing back to the US.

This is nothing but a political gimme to the president…..just a way to help Dems in the states that depend on trade for their economy.

This is just NAFTA 2.0, as it has been labelled)…..it is weak…..

The revised U.S.—Mexico—Canada Agreement (USMCA), announced today by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and endorsed by the AFL-CIO, represents a significant improvement on the draft agreement first released in 2017. Negotiators for labor and House Democrats strengthened the provisions on labor rights, environmental standards, and the enforcement of these rules, and also removed costly and egregious new protections for corporations, including giveaways by the Trump administration to pharmaceutical companies.

But the changes embodied in the USMCA still constitute Band-Aids on a fundamentally flawed agreement and process. Powerful multinational corporations have used and controlled the negotiation of trade and investment deals to facilitate offshoring and the deregulation of the U.S. and global economy, as noted by the Machinists Union, which has announced its opposition to the USMCA. The original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) resulted in the loss of at least 680,000 U.S. jobs due to growing trade deficits with Mexico alone. It also caused downward pressure on the wages of nearly 100 million U.S. workers and the devastation of manufacturing communities across the United States, especially in the industrial Midwest and battleground states—with far-reaching social and electoral consequences.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/12/10/us-mexico-canada-agreement-weak-tea-best

Like I wrote…this is a weak piece of manure that does little but give Dems some cover for their upcoming elections back home.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Those Damn Drug Prices!

While I prepared for the Storm Barry to show up I checked my supplies and my meds to be sure I had enough to last 2 weeks in case the storm was more dangerous than predicted….and this had me thinking…..

I admit that the older I get the more drugs I seem to need to keep going….and those prices are so damn high that all us old farts are bitching about the prices.

There are many theories as to why this situation exists…..mine is that Congress just protects its handlers profits……but could there be another possible answer?

How about the US Trade policies?

Skyrocketing drug prices were a major issue in the 2016 US presidential campaign, and the Trump administration has since announced measures to bring them down. Why, then, is the administration also pushing for intellectual-property rules that give pharmaceutical giants even more price-gouging power?

Sharp price increases for essential and life-saving medicines have generated a political backlash against the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. In February, the US Senate Committee on Finance scolded industry representatives for pursuing policies that are “morally repugnant.” Since then, 44 US state governments have filed a lawsuit against Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 other companies, alleging conspiracy to stifle competition for generic drugs and illegal profiteering from over 100 different medicines.

For its part, US President Donald Trump’s administration has also announced that it will pursue measures to reduce the prices of drugs, especially those needed to treat America’s opioid epidemic. Yet the administration is also trying to export intellectual-property rules that are known to be associated with massive price increases abroad, making basic medicines unaffordable to millions of poor people in developing countries.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/10/blame-us-trade-policy-sky-high-drug-prices

As much as I would love to be able to blame it all on Trump I just cannot….every president is just as guilty….it has NEVER been about the health of the people rather the profit of the corporations.

Pharma and insurance companies are panicking with the popularity of Medicare For All…I have even had a few come to IST and try to wish away the Medicare For All program…..but they will succeed because they have the cash to buy the Congress to get their way and the rest of us can just die if we do not like their plans.

Sorry about that a rant first thing on a Sunday.

Looks like we were fortunate and all we got here was rain and a bunch of wind…..one down and waiting for the next……0330 hrs and 93 degrees….getting back to normal…..