It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. If this is true, then the intimate 'marriage' between big pharma and our world governments should be entering into a bitter divorce and custody battle very soon. Why?
With the collapse of the world economy governments are scrambling for cash to maintain their economic viability. Big Pharma is among the few industries who have not felt the crunch. On the other hand they are also being prosecuted more frequently for criminal activities the world governments are no longer willing to tolerate. The resulting fines from these prosecutions have become a new source of revenue for governments, the USA has finally figured out that as cash rich as big pharma is and as morally loose as they have been, it is easy to fine them for bad behavior, without really hurting them.
Recently the Justice Department fined three pharmaceutical companies 3 billion dollars for bribing public officials. It seems rather massive as fines go, but it is a mere drop in the bucket for the pharmaceutical industry which measures its profit in the hundreds of billions. So as massive as this recent fine was, it was nothing more than a show piece, for you, the consumer. It is the US government saying 'Look at what we've done, we are looking out for you after all', when all they've done is slap the hand of a miscreant industry from where many of our politicians get funds for re-election.
The United States congress is still relatively cozy with the Pharm industry, other nations however, are not so much. You see, the United States is the largest market for the pharm because we consume between 50 and 60 percent of the worlds pharmaceutical production, and we are only 5% of the world population. Eastern Europe is coming down hard on executives and their minions who recently attempted to create 'monopolies' in their emerging economies. Many of these nations are former Soviet Block countries and are familiar with 'monopolies' at the government level. As a result they have ZERO tolerance for such nonsense. Also, these countries tend to be more cerebral on the whole and less gullible to a slick sales pitch.
So with the world governments waking up we may soon be seeing the Pharmaceutical industry seeking to separate itself from Governments they once controlled. Being so intimately associated with these nations, the Pharm has let slip their secrets to those they once held as close and intimate partners. Once this happens we will be seeing what amounts to a divorce and custody battle over the fruits of that mutual association that netted both parties so much cash. Now that the world nations need money and the corporate structures they enabled are flush with cash, the cozy, intimate and even loving relationship they once enjoyed may soon turn bitter, ugly and even violent.
You see, we aren't talking mere billions stashed away, we are talking trillions upon trillions of dollars that have been spirited away from our government coffers to pad the private 'retirement' accounts of politicians who looked the other way as our nations wealth was extracted. Not only will there be a divorce and custody battle, but we may see once prominent figures, particularly politicians arrested, charged and sent to prison for their part in what can only be summed up as a betrayal of national trust. Not that they will ever 'see' prison because these persons, will flip on their partners in crime so fast we won't even see it happen.
So watch the news in the months to come and listen carefully to the subtle comments change their tone against the pharmaceutical industry. It will be a squeak here, and a squeak there, but eventually the divorce of government and big pharm will be dominating the news. Should be neat to watch.
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