price gouging

A new report from advocacy group Public Citizen details how retail giant Amazon “misled the public, law enforcement, and policymakers about price increases during the pandemic,” raising their prices on essential products “to levels that would be considered violations of price gouging laws in many states.” The prices of many products in high demand during the pandemic jumped by over 1,000 percent when compared to this time last year.

-by Reese ErlichThe current recession was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. But after 11 years of economic boom, a capitalist bust was inevitable.

The coronavirus has hit Italy. As of today, the country has confirmed at least 325 cases and 11 deaths already. The large majority of these are in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto. In response, Italian authorities have put several northern cities on lockdown, effectively quarantining around 100,000 people. The Venice Carnival was terminated early and many flights have been suspended. Top division football matches have been canceled, as has Italy’s Six Nations rugby match.

Obama appointed Andy Slavitt to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2015 and he served until Putin managed to install Trump in the White House. His tweet above caught my attention Friday.

The law applies to generic or off-patent drug makers that manufacture a medicine at least three other firms also make.
BALTIMORE — A trade group for generic drugmakers brought a federal complaint Thursday to block Maryland’s attempt of a crackdown on pharmaceutical price gouging.

Last October-- a month short of a year ago-- I started treatment for a rare form of cancer. The treatment ended, successfully, about a month and a half ago after a month in the hospital for stem-cell transplants. Today I spent the entire day at City of Hope's day hospital getting maintenance treatment, something I'll probably be doing every few months for the rest of my life. I've kept a sporadic running diary of my adventures in the world of medicine that you can check out here if you'd like.