Powerline thinks Trump’s sharpie means something.
It doesn’t.
Funny. Bill forgets to mention — he failed in 2018.
But Mr. Biden got it done. He did.
Trump is trying to retread a pricing push — that will be abandoned in a few weeks.
These people… Damn.
UPDATED: Here’s what I mean — more fleshed out, with some quiet drafting time, available — on the train home:
Sure — there is a very slim chance he gets something meaningful done, on pharma pricing. But it is a vanishingly-slim chance.
He just this morning signed an unlawful solo executive order / Sharpie scribble — telling big pharma to bring US retail drug prices “into line” with EU pricing. It is crystal clear this is not something he can achieve alone — both as a matter of law, and of political will-power. He needs the might of Congressional acts, at a minimum. And he will never get it (see at right; lobby efforts — in Congress, last year).
The savvy traders at Wall and Broad then gleefully… laughed at his impotence. That is my take. All major pharma names were trading up, all day. The smart money knows… he is already an utterly lame duck. So the traders rejoice — threats to pharma from this nincompoop… are at an end, as a practical matter. Here’s the latest:
…Pharmaceutical stocks like Pfizer Inc., Amgen Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly & Co., and Merck & Co. Inc. jumped on Monday, after US markets opened after Trump’s announcement.
Pharma giant, Pfizer’s shares jumped 3.3 per cent to hit the intraday high of $23.02 as of the early Wall Street session. The stock is now trading 2.92 per cent higher at $22.94 in Monday’s market, compared to $22.28 in the previous US market close….
And so — his incompetence (just as in 2017-19) is once again very good news for drug-makers and bioscience companies. Onward, grinning –[and, I’ll get Q1 2025 lobby spending summaries out this week, to be certain.] End updated portion.
नमस्ते
Powerline Lies... 