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Bluetus

(1,411 posts)
10. The breakthroughs will still happen, but ...
Sun Aug 10, 2025, 02:39 PM
Aug 10

they will be owned and controlled by other countries, leaving the US even less competitive on the world stage.

But there is another important point here. A central premise of Reaganomics is "Socialise the risks, privatize the profits". And nowhere has this been applied more than in the field of medical research.

The American TAXPAYERS pay hundreds of billions of dollars to fund research, mostly at large universities. And then, when there are breakthroughs, somehow private corporations (and often the professors who were paid to conduct the research) end up with the patents and trade secrets that are worth many fortunes and the taxpayers get nothing in return.

That must end. We want to "run the government like a business"? Well, then the taxpayers must be paid a fair return for our investment. Where is this in anybody's platform? This would make a GREAT campaign point. "When I am elected, we will end the ripping off of taxpayers by industry that walks off with the fruits of our investments. Those days are over. When the taxpayers pay for important research that produces breakthroughs, the taxpayers will be paid handsomely. No more freeloading by corporations that didn't make any investment."

Populism is popular and there are populist messages with just about every major issue. Dems need to learn how to frame these messages in the strongest way possible.

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