Over the passed few years, the price of common brand name prescription drugs have experienced an incredible level of inflation significantly higher than both regular inflation and even medical inflation, according to the Government Accountability Office. Yet, at the same time, the cost of common generic drugs has fallen. Here we have another great reminder [...]

Yesterday, Ezra Klein was talking about the relative profitability of different parts of the health care sector. Looking at the data, what stuck out to me wasn’t just how unbelievably profitable the major drug manufacturers were (with 23 percent net profit margins), but how dramatically more profitable they were than the rest of the health [...]

[ed. note: This is another post in Firedoglake’s semi-regular series exposing and exploring ways in which the federal government spends vast sums or forsakes vital revenue in a perpetual, profligate and pathetic quest to assure corporate America that the elected representatives of we the people are really, truly, madly, deeply “business friendly.” With each story, [...]

During the health care fight, the Obama administration would probably have benefited from having a military historian as an adviser. Even a cursory study of military history will show you the important role played for centuries by mercenaries—and it will show you their limitations. There are two critical things to keep in mind when thinking [...]