The Obama Administration has been widely criticized for being captured by the pharmaceutical industry, which has gotten the White House to block efforts to guarantee lower cost drugs and increase profits for these companies. Pharmaceutical lobbyists have in turn given huge amounts of campaign money to President Obama and Democratic members as well as jobs to former members. Even with this record, however, many are shocked by the White House pushing of a trade agreement that would undermine international efforts to reduce the cost of drugs and extend the patents for these companies to further increase their profits. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) allows for techniques like “evergreening” to extend patents for the industry, which in turn has continued its own evergreen record of high-paying jobs for political allies and massive campaign contributions for the White House and Congress. Everyone wins . . . except the tens of millions who cannot afford medicine. While these companies have valid interests in recouping their investment and making profits on new drugs (which are expensive to develop), the secrecy and sweeping impact of the TPP deserves far greater attention in the media.
The Obama Administration is in Salt Lake City to push 11 other countries to agree to the changes on intellectual property rules. Of course, Obama’s self-described “most transparent” administration has kept the public out of the proceedings and much of the work has been in secret. Cloaked from the public eye, the Obama Administration has carried out the demands of the industry over the international need for lower priced drugs.
While the public is barred, companies like Walmart and Monsanto are allowed to participate. The former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson joined protests of the Administration’s “horrible betrayal of the American promise of liberty, of equality.” The Administration and its partners clearly picked Salt Lake City in winter as the least likely to generate protests, but still faced protesters in the street outside of the hotel.
In the meantime, the White House is touting the agreement to extend patent rights (and prices) for companies as “a model for future trade agreements.” It includes extending drug patent terms from 20 years to at least 25 years and would allow companies to patent new formulations of existing medicines. This is called “evergreening,” which involves small changes like a shift from a gel to a tablet to continue to control the sale and prices of a drug. It also has provisions to make it more difficult to market lower cost generic drugs until the long patent periods have run. It is a bonanza for drug companies and lobbyists. Public interest groups have denounced the effort but few people in Congress are willing to oppose the drug lobby.
Lobbying remains one of the most profitable areas for former members. Ironically, the pharmaceutical industry has been repeatedly denounced for the hiring of former members and staffers in what some view as a award for the passage of windfall legislation.
The hold of these companies on the White House and Congress is remarkable . . . as is the open revolving door of influence. For example, former Congressman Billy Tauzin, R-La., pushed the bill through the House over objections from members and public interest organizations. He then accepted a $2 million a year job as president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the main industry lobbying group. Medicare head Thomas Scully, who was accused of coercing employees to hide the true costs of the program, was given a job as a pharmaceutical lobbyist as were 14 congressional aides who worked on the passage of the bill. Twenty-five former members and high-ranking staffers returned to lobby for the industry with huge salaries — an example to others how to profiteer at the public expense.
With our current duopoly of power, there is little threat to this lobby which has deep hold of both parties. When confronted, the two parties simply return to the same blue state/red state rhetoric and portray the other side as worse. In fact, they are on the same side and the only people made worse are millions of Americans who are being bled financially to get access to needed drugs.
Blind Faithiness,
That is an excellent, thoughtful analysis. Thanks for posting it.
Bruce, never, ever did I vote for or support Obama for office. I have consistently spoken out against his many illegalities and cruelties. I did not get what I voted for. Even people who did vote for him do not deserve the TPP, nor do any of Obama’s many victims deserve the consequences of what he is doing.
What we need to do is oppose him and his backers. Blind Faithiness has made many excellent points and raised profound questions. We need to consider these and we need to act as a group of people to oppose the domination of corporations envisioned by the TPP. Obama is a willing minion, but that does not mean ordinary people, including those who voted for him, need to be willing minions of injustice.
Jill, You need to include SCOTUS with Citizens United and possibly McCutcheon making it even worse for the corporations who are now people and can do pretty much as they like.
Im posting this to my women in pain awareness group and fb page and asking folks call the White House to tell them how in disagreement they are with it, Shameful that as has been said we are hearing mum in this from the government and the media.
If you listen to Obama the senator and then Obama the president you would think he had a brain transplant. This guy’s the worst ever. He’s delaying implantation of certain parts of Obama care till after the 2014 elections so he doesn’t lose the Senate.
Jill; This is called transparency Obama style. From community organizer to president in six years, your getting what you voted for.
Like a few others have stated, the TPP is scary for more reasons than just this pharma issue. The whole thing has been negotiated in absolute secrecy. A coalition of concerned groups banded together and offered a bounty to anyone that publishes the TPP in its entirety.
Wikileaks managed to publish some parts.
The TPP has wide ranging implications for world economies and pushes control of those economies further into the hands of a small percentage of players.
Rules affecting intellectual property rights are also being negotiated in TPP. TPP pushes an agenda, which has a potential outcome I never would have thought I would be suggesting, of international corporate control over the resources and rights of all people. It’s international fascism being less and less disguised and increasingly emboldened.
Intellectual property, information/data logistics, and pharma/agriculture patents are the potential parallels to the resource grabs in the post-Spanish-American War-era imperialist expansions that lead to the cataclysmic WWI/WWII “scuffles” over the of control land, resources, and ideologies.
What would take the place of the fanatical nationalism in a replay of the 1st-half of the 20th century I’m not sure about. People can be motivated to commit atrocities against each other in so, so many ways.
HANG THEM ALL
How is this any different then say, selling a vacant Senatorial seat in Illinois–Blagojevich? If you go to Washington, sell yourself like a prostitute sells her “body of work” (Habeas Corpus) to a John, for cash? If someone gets themselves ahead by selling corruption in Washington, then isn’t that the intent to commit quid pro quo ethics violations?
I would like to know the claimed authority which Obama is using to insist Congress may read some parts of the agreement but may not talk about what they read in public, to the public.
His Obama care site was also secret. Under what authority is this secrecy taken? What will happen to Grayson, for example, as in Elaine;s posted video, should he speak of the provisions in the TPP? As the speaker pointed out, our Constitution gives the power to regulate trade to the Congress. Why then is the administration able to silence members of Congress? What have they threatened them with?
Why isn’t the public suspicious of this secrecy? We have already seen multiple instances of law breaking by the administration. This lawbreaking has profound consequences. Why no questions? Why do corporation-people get to see and negotiate this pact but general public people do not? Some “people” are more equal than others.
It is well past time that “liberals” open their mouths and speak the truth and stand for justice. If a popular president does it, it is not legal. He should not be popular. Question authority, even when it looks nice!
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/healthcare/330199-trade-agreement-could-lock-in-high-drug-prices-aarp-warns
“But Obama’s budget proposals, including his fiscal 2014 plan, have repeatedly called for the window to shrink to seven years. The administration estimates the policy change could save billions of dollars for federal health programs.”
Two months ago Obama wanted to shrink the window to 7 years. …
Now he wants to increase it to 25?!!! WOE THE HUMANITY.
Not particularly efficient, that one there.
Why didn’t he just take care of this little thing at the same time he took away the public option?
Where is AARP on this one?
True healthcare reform is the opposite of this. This reminiscent of what tyrants have done down through the ages. Drive the government to disfunction so the populace will beg to be saved.
Many factors converge to allow this to happen. First we have complicit press which agrees to remain silent or actively cheerlead for a corrupt corporate govt. Obama can do this in secret because the press isn’t doing its job.
Obama can also do this in secret because we do not have a functioning govt. in the US. Very few people in public “service” work on behalf of the people as a whole. They work for a very few, wealthy and influential people. Thus we have little push back from Congress. We also have a stacked judiciary, one also in favor of the wealth few over the needs of the many.
Finally, we have a truly propagandized population. The TPP will bring slavery to many, many people around this world. Because the Obama administration has successfully cynically manipulated many people into believing that any use of the word slavery is an expression of white privilege, people will be harmed by the TPP, mostly by people with class privilege who are unable or unwilling to oppose the great economic harm which is here/coming for people of all colors.
The cynicism of using race to erase criticism of harm to every color of people that the TPP will bring is astounding.
It is incumbent on all people to pull together. MLK spoke strongly about the need to unite people for the economic good of all. We must want this and work towards it. The enemy of most people on this earth and of this earth is the wealthy few who would bring great misery to the many. They own our politicians, our press and they have befuddled our minds through propaganda. If we can free our minds from their junk, it is still possible to peacefully work for economic and social justice.
It’s the Chicago way. Patronage for those who kickback millions in dollars.
Pardon me while I turn my back on this schmuck and those that put him there a second time.
The only injustice would be if we didn’t deserve him.
There’s much more to be concerned about with regard to the TPP:
President Obama Trying to “Fast Track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a Trade Pact That Could Be Worse Than NAFTA
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/09/28/president-obama-trying-to-fast-track-the-trans-pacific-partnership-a-trade-pact-that-could-be-worse-than-nafta/
*****
“A Corporate Trojan Horse”: Obama Pushes Secretive TPP Trade Pact, Would Rewrite Swath of U.S. Laws
Shameful blot on our political system.
It’s easy for those who aren’t part of the windfall, to oppose it. Those who are living comfortably on dividends from investments in pharmaceutical and fossil fuel companies are much less inclined to voice opposition, even when they are not highly paid revolving door lobbyists.
Thank you for this explanation professor. I was unaware, and the information is valuable to me.
Reblogged this on Brittius.com.