Price fixing

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U.S. Senators financially enslave Americans as Indentured Servants to Big Pharma Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

There's no end to the cash being generated by this illegal price fixing scheme that, by any sane standard, would have long ago been classified as an organized crime racket and prosecuted under the RICO Act. The real problem, then, is not necessarily dishonest Senators who would sell out their countrymen (and women) for a few dollars from Big Pharma. The real problem is that corporations are allowed to financially influence lawmakers in the first place!

Democrats win, Big Pharma loses (opinion) Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Part of that direction, of course, involves ending the blatant pharmaceutical price fixing scheme that was erected by a conspiracy of the Bush Administration and Big Pharma. This scheme is also known as the Medicare discount drug plan, and it established a pharmaceutical monopoly whereby the federal government was not allowed to negotiate volume price discounts with drug companies. The result? A massive government handout to the wealthiest corporations in the nation: Drug companies. Nancy Pelosi has promised to pass a bill ending this price fixing scheme within her first 100 hours as Speaker.

Americans betrayed by Democratic senators with surprise amendment that protects Big Pharma monopoly Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

It's not just consumers who are financially harmed by this drug price fixing scheme, either. Many corporations, city governments and states are headed to near-certain financial bankruptcy in large part due to monopoly pricing on prescription drugs. The near-collapse of the U.S. auto industry, for example, is largely due to health care costs. General Motors spends more on health insurance than it does on steel. The cost of doing business in the United States is now unbearable for many companies, and they're fleeing to other countries where health care costs are a fraction of U.S. costs.

That, of course, requires money, and corporations have lots of that -- especially when they run FDA-enforced monopoly price fixing schemes that clearly qualify as crimes under existing anti-trust legislation. Democracy is failing When the government of any nation forgets its people and, instead, focuses on defending and promoting the interests of powerful corporations, you no longer have a Democracy. Instead, you have a Plutocracy (see Wikipedia entry on Plutocracy), where the wealthy elite control the political process and use laws to further enrich themselves at the expense of the public.

U.S. Senators financially enslave Americans as Indentured Servants to Big Pharma Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Modern-day Indentured Servants The whole price fixing scam brings to mind a relevant term from American history: Indentured servants. These indentured servants were people who agreed to work a farm or plantation for a period of 4-7 years in exchange for passage to America. But dishonest plantation owners played a cruel trick on the indentured servants: They had to buy their farm tools and supplies from the plantation owner. But they couldn't pay cash since they didn't have any money, so they were forced to extend their work commitment in exchange for tools and supplies.

FDA refuses to pull dangerous diabetes drug Avandia, even knowing it will kill thousands Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

The whole system is a criminal operation and violates numerous federal laws on price fixing, anti-trade and racketeering. (In fact, RICO laws should be applied to Big Pharma right now, as the whole system is run much like organized crime.) This latest decision by the FDA to keep Avandia on the market, knowing full well that it will kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, is yet another example of the FDA's ongoing crimes against the American people (and its all-too-cozy relationship with drug companies).

Merck Engaged in Blatant Scientific Fraud with Vytorin Cholesterol Study? (opinion) Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Beyond all the bribery, price fixing, corruption, dishonest advertising, monopoly prices and deadly drug side effects, underneath the whole thing it's all based on scientific fraud. We're not just talking about one drug and one study here, you see. This is the way Big Pharma routinely conducts business. It's all about getting the results they want to see, regardless of what it takes, who has to be bribed, which researchers have to be intimidated, and so on.

FDA drug safety bill passes in the U.S. Senate; health freedom advocates outraged at betrayal of American consumers Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Although hundreds of thousands of consumers contacted their lawmakers to demand an end to the monopoly price fixing currently operating in the United States, lawmakers seemed confused and could not bring themselves to support any amendment that would have threatened the profits of Big Pharma. Ultimately, the Dorgan amendment was quickly defeated by the Cochran amendment, trapping Americans in a monopoly medical market that would be considered illegal by nearly everyone if a corporation like Microsoft attempted something similar. S.

Natural Health Solutions Mike Adams See book keywords and concepts

Defrauds states and the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars due to "price fixing" and monopoly drug pricing enforced by the FDA. Distorts science to create any outcome desired through fraudulent clinical trials and cherry-picking trial results. JAMA says doctors should stop accepting bribes from drug companies The Journal of the American Medical Association is rocking the boat in conventional medicine. An article in JAMA has come up with the suggestion—that doctors should stop accepting bribes from drug companies.

Democrats win, Big Pharma loses (opinion) Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Nancy Pelosi has promised to pass a bill ending this price fixing scheme within her first 100 hours as Speaker. But that doesn't mean the bill will become law, of course. Bush retains veto power, and he won't be afraid to use it to protect Big Business. Should he veto such a bill, however, his popularity would likely plummet even further, especially among state Governors who are currently dishing out countless millions of dollars under the financial burden imposed by the Medicare requirements.

Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser See book keywords and concepts

For two decades, he had done just that, first through a series of journalistic exposes (Haddad had extensive family media connections and earlier had won a Pulitzer Prize for a series on price fixing in the antibiotics industry), then, in the 1970s, through his work in the New York state legislature. There, as a staff member with subpoena power, he had forced the brand-name firms to disclose which drugs were off patent.

As a result, "the consumer is paying plenty in the form of government-sanctioned price fixing." It was time, Engman said, to consider serious deregulation. Engman also went after what he called "professional conspiracy." He sued the American Medical Association over its ban on physician advertising — something he believed deprived consumers of the ability to get the best doctor for the best price. He went after state medical societies for their bans on the advertisement of prescription drug and eyeglass prices. In fourteen months he filed thirty-four antitrust actions.

Natural Health Solutions Mike Adams See book keywords and concepts

The most common con used involves "price fixing," and here's how it works: 1. Drug companies sell drugs at deeply discounted prices to buyers like Costco, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, and other retailers. 2. When the same drugs are sold to state Medicaid programs, drug companies use the Average Wholesale Price (AWP) sheet - an industry-wide price sheet with almost no correlation to the wholesale prices charged to public companies. The AWP billing states astronomical fees for common drugs. A $2.25 bottle of dextrose, for example, which is basically sugar, magically becomes a $928.

Disease Prevention and Treatment The Life Extension Editorial Staff See book keywords and concepts

Free markets, however, do not need a government watchdog to ptotect against price fixing. The outrageous profits generated by the European-Japanese monopoly motivated the Chinese to copy just about every dietary supplement and sell them at sharply reduced prices. While the quality of these Chinese knockoffs was considered inferior, it forced the Europeans and Japanese to slash their prices in order to remain competitive. The net effect is that the inflation-adjusted prices for dietary supplements have plummeted.

Food Politics Marion Nestle See book keywords and concepts

Occasionally, however, companies get caught in patently illegal actions such as bribery or price fixing. Chapter 7 describes situations that place food companies on one or the other side of the legal line, as either plaintiffs or defendants. Together, these chapters illustrate how lobbying and related activities raise questions about the undue influence of food companies not only on the health of the public but also on democratic political processes and institutions.

Nestle accused the AAP and the leading formula companies of conspiring to stifle competition through price fixing (an illegal sales strategy discussed in the next chapter). The AAP admitted that it had accepted about $1 million annually in donations from other formula companies but had refused donations from Nestle-Carnation because of the direct advertising to the public. Eventually, Nestle settled the case against one of the companies but another case went to a jury that decided in favor of the AAP.

The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy E. D. Hirsch See book keywords and concepts

Measures, usually temporary, taken by governments to limit price rises in times of rapid inflation. price fixing Any usually unlawful practice by which producers of a commodity act together to obtain an artificially high price. prime rate The interest rate that banks charge to corporations that are considered excellent risks. fa The prime rate is usually the lowest prevailing interest rate; if it rises, rates available to consumers will soon rise. principal The original amount of money lent, not including profits and interest.

Food Politics Marion Nestle See book keywords and concepts

Although anyone who notes the similarities in the prices of competing brands of cereals, soft drinks, margarines, or candy might be surprised to learn that they are not arranged in advance by their various makers. price fixing is indeed against the law; it defeats the benefits (in lower costs and higher profits) of competition in a free-market economy. The following three examples reveal what happens when companies get caught in price-fixing activities.

As we shall see, this second factor led to the price fixing. Because the WIC program is not an entitlement (state programs serve only the number of eligiblcmothers and children for which funds are available), any rise in the cost of formula forces a reduction in the number of participants. During the Reagan administration, a time of relaxed regulatory control, WIC directors were required to pay retail prices for formula purchases. When formula prices- started to rise, they demanded competitive bids in order to serve a larger proportion of the eligible population.

Whether these fines were enough to discourage further price fixing remains to be seen. Feed Additives In 1992 the government began to investigate the price-fixing practices of the Archer Daniels Midland company (ADM). An informant told investigators that the company conspired with competitors in Japan to fix the prices of lysine, an amino acid added to animal feed (amino acids are building blocks of body proteins). Although such a common component of protein might not seem worthy of federal attention, lysine sales generated about $1 billion annually.

During the course of the investigations, federal prosecutors discovered that the company also had discussed price fixing for citric acid— a feed additive manufactured by the Roche pharmaceutical company— with Cargill and other companies. Cargill denied the charge, but Roche paid a fine of $14 million to settle that particular case.25 Roche also was involved in other questionable activities. Read on. Wholesale Vitamins: Vitamins, Inc.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know James Trefil, Joseph F. Kett, and E. D. Hirsch See book keywords and concepts

Measures, usually temporary, taken by governments to limit price rises in times of rapid inflation. price fixing Any usually unlawful practice by which producers of a commodity act together to obtain an artificially high price. prime rate The interest rate that banks charge to corporations that are considered excellent risks. fa The prime rate is usually the lowest prevailing interest rate; if it rises, rates available to consumers will soon rise. principal The original amount of money lent, not including profits and interest.

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ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.