The debate last night showed that Bush's strategy is just to lie. No debate. Just lie. Repeat the lie over and over. Get Guilliani and everyone else to repeat the same lies. Gamble that there are more stupid and gullible people in America. Gamble that most Americans prefer a President who they want to come to a BBQ and share a beer. Gamble that most Americans get pissed off when they're told a long string of numbers about jobs and healthcare and economics.
Americans know that Bush has screwed up. I see it every day when I look at BME memberships. Memberships overall are up, but US memberships are way down. Every day I get multiple emails from people saying, “I've been a member for years, but I've lost my job and I have to cancel,” and this trend just keeps growing. Americans know their economy is a mess. Americans know that getting a $500 tax break doesn't mean shit if you've lost your job and benefits and would be lucky to find a job that pays half what they had before. Americans know that giving a $90 billion tax break to the richest 1% doesnt “trickle down” to the middle class. Americans know they need healthcare. They know they don't have “the best healthcare in the world” — they literally have the worst in the industrialized world, along with one of the lowest minimum wages, the highest poverty levels, the highest crime rates, and so on. Americans know this. We shouldn't have to even have this conversation.
However, I would like to touch on some of the vaccination issues just because it's one that you may not know the details of.
SCHIEFFER: New question, Mr. President, to you. We are talking about protecting ourselves from the unexpected, but the flu season is suddenly upon us. Flu kills thousands of people every year. Suddenly we find ourselves with a severe shortage of flu vaccine. How did that happen?BUSH: Bob, we relied upon a company out of England to provide about half of the flu vaccines for the United States citizen, and it turned out that the vaccine they were producing was contaminated.
Funny that Bush left out that the other half of the flu vaccine supply was bought from France (under the brand name “Victory Vaccine” or “Flu Freedom” I suppose). Anyway, it is true that Chiron, the British supplier of the flu vaccine was forced to destroy two and a half billion dollars (street value) of vaccine due to contamination (more). However…
And so we took the right action and didn't allow contaminated medicine into our country. We're working with Canada to hopefully -- that they'll produce a -- help us realize the vaccine necessary to make sure our citizens have got flu vaccinations during this upcoming season.
Yes, it's true — Canada has an excess of flu vaccine (more) which we make here in our little country. In fact, every other Western nation on the planet has more than enough flu vaccine (more). Americans need to start asking themselves why US drug companies — arguably the some of the biggest, most advanced, and most powerful companies in the world — are unable unwilling to meet the demands that are met by drug companies everywhere else in the world.
And didn't Bush say in the previous debate that he didn't want to get drugs from Canada due to the fear that they wouldn't be safe?
My call to our fellow Americans is if you're healthy, if you're younger, don't get a flu shot this year. Help us prioritize those who need to get the flu shot, the elderly and the young. The CDC, responsible for health in the United States, is setting those priorities and is allocating the flu vaccine accordingly. I haven't gotten a flu shot, and I don't intend to because I want to make sure those who are most vulnerable get treated.
Well that was disturbing.
We have a problem with litigation in the United States of America. Vaccine manufacturers are worried about getting sued, and therefore they have backed off from providing this kind of vaccine. One of the reasons I'm such a strong believer in legal reform is so that people aren't afraid of producing a product that is necessary for the health of our citizens and then end up getting sued in a court of law.
Statistically flu vaccines are far less dangerous than many other drugs that flood the US market. This has little to do with lawsuits, and a lot to do with profit margins. US citizens pay more for drugs than anyone else in the world, and US drug companies have some of the highest profits of any companies due to aggressive legislation protecting them. Flu vaccines are expensive to develop and change from year to year, so they're not really a patent protected high profit drug such as drugs like Viagara. The simple truth of the matter is that the US drug companies don't make flu vaccines because the profit margins aren't worth their while (more). The US is about profit for the rich, even at the expense of life for the rest.
But the best thing we can do now, Bob, given the circumstances with the company in England is for those of us who are younger and healthy, don't get a flu shot.
Or, thanks to profiteering by US companies that have obtained the flu vaccine and have increased the price by 1,000% (more, more), let's just say that the drug is limited to those with wealth, just like everything else in America.
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