A lot of "Medical Research" is a racket.
California learns to turn billions into thousands
20 Don Surber by Don Surber / 4d // keep unread // hide
California is the Cleveland Browns of the states.
And proud of it.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has invested $2.7 billion in stem-cell research. It redistributes taxpayer money to researchers.
Californians approved this plan 71% to 29% in a referendum in 2004. Unlike other referendums to ban gay marriage or ban giving welfare to illegal aliens, no federal judge reversed the decision of the people -- and so California went ahead with the plan.
The state passed out taxpayer money to tax-exempt groups (ah, irony) and now after 14 years and $2,700,000,000, California has received its first royalty check for...
(Drumroll, please.)
$190,000.
Multiply that 10,000 times and wow, you will still fall $800 million shy of breaking even.
The check came from the City of Hope’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinic, which received $8 million in grants.
Its director, John Zaia, told the San Francisco Chronicle that this royalty check proves skeptics wrong.
"I think this illustrates that a state agency can actually fund research in the private community and get a return on its investment," Zaia said.
"It’s something that’s not done in general by other funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, and this is a proof of concept that it can work."
Yes, the concept worked quite well for Zaia. His company got $8 million for a mere $190,000.
Reporter Joaquin Palomino of San Francisco Chronicle showed a skepticism that journalists seldom aim at government.
"Critics of the stem cell institute say it’s still unclear whether California will ultimately reap the rewards it was promised when voters in 2004 passed Proposition 71, which gave the state the constitutional right to conduct stem cell research and led to the creation of CIRM. At the time, the campaign predicted as much as $1.1 billion in royalties from the research — a figure that was quickly called into question by experts," he wrote.
Bravo.
Oh, you can say that the money went into research that saves lives.
But that was not how it was sold to the public.
This was a get-rich scheme.
This was the draft-Johnny Manziel moment for the state.
But there is a larger issue. Why is the state going into business?
Constitutions are supposed to limit and rein in government by telling it that it should make no law.
In California, the state constitution gives the state rights -- not the people.
And thus you wind up with investing billions to make thousands. |
