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Today’s entry: I’ve heard you rail against socialized medicine and tout the benefits of capitalism. What do you have to say about the fact that the country with socialized medicine was the first to distribute to its people the vaccine. Also, what do you say about the fact that capitalism has allowed companies to sell out their stocks of the vaccine to other countries before the United States gets it.
Bottom Line: First, I’ll share with you the exact response I shared with this listener.
I reject the premise of your question because the vaccine's approval has nothing whatsoever to do with economic systems. England's regulators approved the vaccine before the FDA did. Period. The FDA reviewed for final approval on Thursday. Nice try. Moreover, to the extent, economic systems factor into this topic. Ask yourself why the lead vaccine candidates are all advanced by American companies. If the premise of anything is false anything built on it is too. In this case your entire argument.
If you come across any absurd arguments, you're more than welcome to borrow this from me. Beyond supplying a shutdown argument for those touting the benefits of socialism over American capitalism during the pandemic, this topic is instructive. The reason Operation Warp Speed was so successful was due to the ability for leading American companies to rapidly allocate resources to a cause free from government bureaucracy implicit within governments with socialized medicine. Moreover, it’s the profits derived by American drug companies most notably Pfizer and Moderna, that literally aide in the saving of lives in England and beyond right now during the pandemic.
While drug companies are frequent and seemingly easy targets of those who are economically ignorant, what’s not widely reported is how and why capitalism is specifically responsible for life-saving drugs, vaccines, and related technologies. First of all, the industry ranking of R&D spending by American pharmaceutical companies. Also, it's the #1 industry ranking based on the percentage of revenue and profits reinvested by American 9 pharmaceutical companies. Lastly, 90% of clinical trials fail.
To summarize, no industry deploys more capital or a higher percentage of revenue and profits to develop new products than the American pharmaceutical industry. And the high level of development is critical because only 10% of projects result in a successful end result. In other words, the 90% failure rate is static. More profits, equal more opportunities for future success. Lower profits equal fewer opportunities for future success. It’s not a coincidence that with every government and every capable pharmaceutical in the world attempting to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. The first two to successfully do it were American companies. American capitalism has created more prosperity, more freedom, saved and improved more lives in 244 years than every other country and even then, you’ll still benefit.
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