comment: >
  
  Who's to say they weren't half-charging us before?
  What terms did we agree to with them on our original investment? Are they violating those terms now?
context: $19 Billion over two years.  And they want to go from $3/dose to 130.  
  I'm not saying this is the reason this country sucks.  But it's certainly contributing. >
  
  This isn’t the reason, this is merely yet another example and manifestation of the reason.  Greed. 
  Society competing against itself to reward the winners with wealth extracted from society in excess of value provided to society is self defeating.   
  Planet and resources: finite
  Population: exponential growth
  I don’t think maximizing consumption to produce a few billionaires is a long term solution.  
  If economist designed cars, they’d all get 0mpg and be considered the best for it. >
  
  Just feudalism with extra steps and more technology to benefit from. >
  
  So, Moderna wants to say 'fuck you' and gouge people for more money?
  I would be fine with the country saying "Fuck you" right back. Nationalize the company and its assets, continue to provide for the people. >
  
  Seems like keeping our country healthy and safe is a matter of national security. Would only make sense to nationalize these kinds of industries. Capitalism hasn't done a whole lot recently to spur innovation. >
  
  
  Capitalism hasn't done a whole lot recently to spur innovation.
  
  I wouldn't entirely say that.. but it spurs it in limited ways. We've seen drug companies discussing this, usually very quietly. They want to treat our health problems, but not cure them. They're much more interested in lifelong medications than they are a quick cure, but the interest of public health is exactly the opposite. 
  We have gone from a time where those making the drugs would be ashamed to profiteer from them, to watching as the current owners unashamedly test the limits of -how much- they can profiteer from them. >
  
  Since there's "no profit in the cure" so to speak, it seems like capitalism is essentially at odds with maintaining a healthy population. >
  
  Yep, the "no profit in a cure" attitude is the reason we've had no new antibiotic classes in the past 20 years. If only people had chronic MRSA infections! >
  
  Also displays how non-competitive the markets are. If one guy raising the price causes the rest of the makers to match that price, there's no competition. In a competitive market, raising the price this much would be a death knell for a corporation. The other suppliers should maintain the government price and then take all of Pfizers sales. >
  
  That's what happens all the time. The invisible hand of the free market is just flipping the bird to consumers.
  If someone raises the price of a product, but you can't drive them out of business by undercutting them, you just raise yours to match. Because there's always an issue where making more profit per item is better than selling more items for less profit - you have to make more items, so you get less overall profit. Better to sell at what the market will bear. >
  
  Smells like when the inventors of insulin gave away the patent for $1 out of concern for humanity only to have the drug companies rape diabetes patients with it ever since. >
  
  Comparing identical types of insulin, the US still spends way more per dose. Pretty much every other country has the government negotiate prices.
  We were doing that with Covid vaccines by buying them through the federal government. With that ending you can see how much more for-profit insurance companies will pay for the exact same drug.
  I'd argue insurance companies don't even really care. When costs go up they just raise premiums. And the more costs go up the bigger of a cut they can take by law. The for-profit insurance is at best incapable of getting good prices or at worst actively driving up prices so they can make a bigger cut in administration >
  
  People keep saying how free vaccines are test beds for pharmaceuticals. So they’re just going to start charging for the same vaccines so people who’s too stupid to notice to think they’re releasing a finished product.
  We have extremely twisted mental gymnastics towards things offered for free. >
  
  Doesn't even have to be free. At one point a 1/3 lb cheeseburger was released to compete with the Quarter Pounder. It didn't sell, because people thought 1/4 was bigger than 1/3. >
  
  You're probably right about people not knowing the difference between 1/4 & 1/3 , but you try ordering a Third Pounder w/ cheese. It just doesn't roll off the tongue like a Quarter Pounder w/ cheese >
  
  Double 1/3 pounder jalapeño burger from Carl’s Jr
  That’s my jam. >
  
  Make the patent public property >
  
  
  The federal government directly provided $1.7 billion to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine research and development, and guaranteed the company billions more in sales.
  
  The type of "socialism" the GOP has no problem with. >
  
  Great, let's get our investment back with 100% interest since they want to charge us for the thing they created with our money. >
  
  Did we get no valuable benefit from the vaccine itself? >
  
  We did, and should continue to do so. I'm OK with giving them funds so long as they can't then turn around and double-charge us for the thing we paid them to create.
  But if they want to be greedy assholes with the health of the American people... we should take our money back, with interest.