Photo by Flexire, iStockphoto
Photo by Flexire, iStockphoto
The Trump economic strategy has always been: do whatever you want and claim it is all part of "America First." But the reality is always going to be "screw Americans first."
The penny dropped for me with Thom Hartmann’s piece about what Trump’s 15 percent tariff on EU goods will do to the pharma customer base in the US. That’s you and me, folks.
Despite Trump’s rambling nonsense the other day, “We’re gonna get the drug prices down. Not 30% or 40%, which would be great. Not 50% or 60%. No, we’re gonna get them down 1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%. Numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.” That’s certainly not going to be happening now, as if it ever would have—despite his new letter demanding pharma companies cut prices.
Trump’s fantasy that he is punishing European countries in some way with this tariff is just that, fantasy. These countries and the companies that reside there will not be paying a single cent of this tax. Every penny will be paid entirely by the American companies and distributors importing these products and that means the final expenses will be subtracted from our personal wallets by the time we buy them.
Americans already pay in the neighborhood of ten times what other countries pay for the same drugs. A few years back I wrote a personal example of this exact point. An asthma medication called Breo Elipta from GSK that I was prescribed cost nearly $380 per month without insurance. I was in South Africa for a couple of months when I needed a refill. That same medication, also from GSK—but with a different name sticker and slight dosage variation—cost $35 total.
When it comes to drug prices, the American public seems to have a tattoo on its collective forehead that reads “Sucker!” Now we’ll start to see these prices start going up even more. And that label will be more visible on of all the people who believed Trump was going to actually lower prices on anything, anything at all.
I’m surehis fans also believe that Trump’s healthcare plan from seven or so years ago will still be here in two weeks. Or was that the concept of a plan?
We should not be surprised about the utter lack of financial acumen demonstrated by a guy who managed to bankrupt casinos. But people are still buying his lies that he’s a great businessman and that tariffs are effective. The truth is that tariffs are nothing more than unlegislated—and therefore illegal—taxes on American businesses and the public at large.
According to financial reporting yesterday, the government has taken in about $150 billion in tariff collections so far this year. But that number will go higher as Trump’s latest tariff decrees go into effect in a few days, with new and massive charges on copper, steel, aluminum and other goods from various countries. He’s also decided to “penalize” Brazil for prosecuting his wannabe dictator buddy Jair Bolsonaro by levying a 50 percent tariff on goods from that country—to be paid for by, you guessed it, us.
Some companies, like the automotive giants GM and Stellantis, have decided on the short term to take it on the chin and absorb the tariff costs for now. But this can’t last. So we may not see price hikes on new cars this year, but on next year’s new models, watch out. Sooner or later this will all be hitting our pockets.
As for the Big Pharma companies, restraining themselves from hiking prices has never been a part of their DNA. For these companies, ripping excess profit from society at large is something they consider their “divine right.”
Meanwhile, for anyone who voted for this guy and is still silly enough to support him, Bill Clinton’s campaign mantra, “It’s the economy, stupid,” is going to take on a whole new meaning.
Trump is showing us every day that his economic strategy has always been: do whatever you want and claim it is all part of “America First.” But the reality is always going to be “screw Americans first.”
Marty Kassowitz is co-founder of Factkeepers. As founder of Interest Factory and View360, he brings more than 30 years experience in effective online communications, social media management, and platform development to the site. He is a writer, designer, editor and long time observer of the ill-logic demonstrated by too many members of the species known as Mankind. After a long history of somewhat private commentary on a subject he totally hates: politics, Marty was encouraged to build this site and put up his own analyses as well as curate relevant content from other sources.
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