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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: fresc who wrote (271)	1/18/2005 7:29:54 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

I agree not all lobbyists are automatically in the wrong. Then calling someone a lobbyist doesn't prove your case even if they are a lobbyist. It's just an ad-hominem, or in other words its about the person not about the issue. But many lobbyists do have their agenda :) As do many non-lobbyists. Example> The NRA! I am sure many Americans believe they need a HAND GUN A little off topic but I don't think the NRA's message is "you need a hand gun", or even "you need a gun". More along the lines of "you have a right to have a gun and we will help protect that right". Kinda like the theory of needing to pay more for drugs to keep funding research. It isn't a matter of not having enough money for research if drug prices dropped by say 10% or even more than that. It is a matter that drug companies will respond to financial incentives and won't invest as much if the return on investment is lower. Of course, if drug prices increasing to ten times higher than they are now would cause a lot more research to happen most people would still be against it. There is some trade off but generally the market should make that trade off. The government does intervene to the extent that it grants patents. I could possible support a well reasoned argument that the US patent terms or too long but I really haven't seen any such argument. Tim