And ACA dismantlement starts

[iris lilies]

Are "big pharma" companies producing above-market yields? I mean, if they are such profiteers, it'd show up in the bottom line, right? Which ones are raking in the dough?

Yes, so that I can buy their stock.

[iris lilies]

I really love it when people start blaming the poor

The poor will always be with us. As will their cell phone bills, apparently.

[Alan]

If they're not, they must be cooking the books. There's that red herring of R&D costs, most of which are covered by our taxes for universities.

I work in small pharma. We don't produce widgets in sweat shops, we employ the best and brightest who spend years developing a few products that take more years of clinical trials and regulatory submissions to gain approval for sale, which doesn't always pan out. We then have a limited life span on the product before it's eligible for the generic market. We are the most highly regulated manufacturers on the planet. We're expensive, otherwise we couldn't exist.

[ToomuchStuff]

Home phones for the poor, is something I looked into, as I wanted that service but found I didn't qualify. It is called Lifeline service, and back then was something like $7 a month (before the taxes, which were 50% of my bill). I personally thing the big thing against the "Obamaphone" is both the fact that tents were set up and they were offering it to everyone (fraud), as well as not enforcing it the same as Lifeline service (I was offered one twice), as well as what you got with it: (think about how the news makes these your spokespeople)

[MaryHu]

"The poor you have with you always" said Jesus to which I would add "beacuase the rich will see to it" (that there are always poor people)

Remember the rich only want one thing: EVERYTHING!

[Miss Cellane]

There are still programs to provide low-cost smartphones to people receiving state aid. At least in my state. If you are getting any kind of state aid, you can get a free, refurbished smartphone (not an iPhone) and get service for about $10 a month.

It's seen as a way to make sure people have a phone. And it gives them access to the internet, which they might otherwise not have.

But the cost of an iPhone, without a service plan, is about the cost of 2 months insurance premiums for a single person. Once you give up your phone, what do you give up to pay for the remaining 10 months of the year?

[bae]

We're expensive, otherwise we couldn't exist.

So, you're saying I can't find any big pharma outfits on the DOW/NASDAQ that have higher-than-market returns over time, to pad my retirement portfolio with? Darn. Seemed like an easy score.

Probably the books-cooking theory is correct, after all, nobody ever audits these corporations or looks at the books, especially shareholders or regulators. All that cash, secretly hiding in a vault somewhere...

[bae]

Huh.

Gilead Sciences, a Pretty Big Pharma Outfit (market cap $89 billion), pays a 3% dividend. P/E ratio of ~7.

Ford has a smaller market cap, more cash in the bank, and pays a considerably higher dividend.

[jp1]

Huh.

Gilead Sciences, a Pretty Big Pharma Outfit (market cap $89 billion), pays a 3% dividend. P/E ratio of ~7.

Ford has a smaller market cap, more cash in the bank, and pays a considerably higher dividend.

Maybe you should be looking at Pfizer instead. They found a not so secret vault. And just imagine if they cut their marketing budget. But at least they don't need to worry about their biggest customer ever trying to negotiate prices, since congress doesn't believe in capitalism. At least not when taxpayer money is involved.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pf...0T51ZS20151116

[ToomuchStuff]

"The poor you have with you always" said Jesus to which I would add "beacuase the rich will see to it" (that there are always poor people)

Remember the rich only want one thing: EVERYTHING!

I didn't realize that Greed, or the love of money were only ones with those feelings?