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Hightower Lowdown
"If all economists were laid end-to-end -- it would be a good thing." -- JK Galbraith
December's Lowdown
Corporate elites and their small-minded political servants are creating the Incredibly Shrinking America
"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." What a paragraph! This sparse, 52-word opening of our Constitution did not merely launch a fledgling nation--but a bold experiment in democratic idealism.
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In This Issue
President Clinton get his "legacy"
The Democrats sell out the middle class over China
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JUST SAY NO THE DRUG PRICES
Life is hard enough for Shirley Kindle, a retired worker from East Hartford, Connecticut who suffers from diabetes and other life-threatening ailments, without the added burden of getting mugged on a regular basis.
Ms. Kindle's robbers aren't street thugs, but the profiteers running America's pharmaceutical giants. They've jacked up the price of drugs so outrageously that they threaten the life of Ms. Kindle and millions like her. She receives a monthly Social Security check of $496. But the price of the pills she needs just to stay alive has sky- rocketed to $506 a month.
Can't something be done? Yes, and State Senator Chellie Pingree of Maine has the right idea. She sponsored the Fairer Prescription Drug Prices Act which passed the Maine legislature overwhelmingly. Citizens of Maine have learned that drugs sell for much less just over the border. For example, an ulcer drug that costs $110 for a month's supply in Maine costs only $55 in Canada and $29 in Mexico. Other nations don't tolerate drug-company ripoffs of their citizens, so they negotiate lower prices. The companies stil make a profit ... but not a killing.
Sen. Pingree's bill simply says that drug prices in Maine cannot be higher than in Canada. To learn how your state can follow Maine's lead, call Pingree's office: 207- 287-1515.