Big pharmaceutical corporations have big problems with the Trans-Pacific "Partnership," big enough that it could get scuttled. But given that both left and right are now attacking the same part of the deal for different reasons, Mr. Obama could pick up a lot of support for the plan by saying, see, both sides hate it! It must be good! Which is rather like Solomon actually splitting the baby in half.
Paul Ryan now says he'll run for Speaker, if he can be a "unity candidate," i.e., one who's not completely controlled by the "Freedom Caucus." But I think this is all theatre. Paul Ryan may not be a member of the "Freedom Caucus," but he's surely one of them; the only difference between them is that he's willing to wait a little longer to turn America into dystopia. But I'm not sure how many members of the "liberal" media still fall for the notion that Paul Ryan possesses deep intellect and devotion to policy-making.
ProPublica wonders if the 21st Century Cures Act would "cure patients or the drug industry." The FDA, of course, has already "streamlined" its processes, if we measure by acceptance rates, but the real problem is the narrative that pits government regulation against innovation -- as if regulation never, ever spurs innovation, as if it's not the FDA's job to keep unsafe medical products off the market, as if a product that's unsafe could possibly be "innovative." Only if we're "innovating" on the definition of "safety" so that it includes things that aren't safe, amirite?
Ho hum, Good Jobs First releases a study finding that states actually give large corporations the lion's share of taxpayer assistance, regardless of how much they go on about their love of small businesses. Big corporations get 90% of the money states give out, and that's not counting programs that small businesses can't even reasonably take advantage of. The more testosterone-addled among us might say well, that's how it should be, because they're bigger! But, actually, "large corporations should get more assistance than small businesses" is not Newton's Fourth Law -- legislatures could write laws that only assist small businesses, though large corporations really, really wouldn't like that.
Finally, in a development that wasn't likely to be widely noted even before Vice President Biden's announcement yesterday that he wouldn't run for President in 2016, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb is ending his campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination, though he may make an independent run at the same office. It can't just be the "liberal" media's fault that Mr. Webb's unorthodox message, designed to sell left-wing economic populism to disenchanted white men, never resonated -- Mr. Webb doesn't seem to enjoy campaigning or fundraising (not that I blame him!), and Bernie Sanders has basically stolen whatever populist thunder Mr. Webb might have had. I doubt an independent Webb run would hand the Presidency to Donald Trump, though plenty of liberals would stupidly blame Mr. Webb if it did.
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