The Cobden Centre has no position on any proposed takeover by one pharmaceutical firm of another. On the plus side, the move by Pfizer is an instance of a global market looking for efficency gains, for which shareholders of both the US firm and its intended target, AstraZeneca, can hope to benefit. If the deal fails, hopefully this will be a spur to both companies to develop better medicines. What matters is the free movement of capital and goods, for the benefit of humanity as well as private interests.
What caught my attention is that Pfizer’s chief executive, Ian Read, carries a gold coin with him. Sadly, this isn’t because the world has suddenly returned to the gold standard, which would provide enormous efficency gains to global firms like Pfizer, which could price its products and pay for its goods in gold.
Instead, the gold coin carries a message on each side, “Straight Talk” and “Own It.” Call me an egalitarian, but I would like to see everyone carrying gold coins in their wallets. Nice to know that Mr Reid has at least some hedge against a collapsing paper currency…
US firms are no longer interested in efficiency gains. All that matters in the era of fundamentally transforming the States into a kommietopian dream from an absentee father is currying favor with the Washington masters. Many of the large pharmaceutical and health insurance companies were all on board the federal government’s seizure of the health care system in the hopes of mandatory customers providing them unimaginable riches in exchange for well-placed considerations. A diminishing minority of us Yanks bitterly resent having our God-given liberties stolen from us by crony capitalists conspiring with federal officials who consider themselves Orwell’s more equal animals. My guess is that Master Reid carries gold because he can and he wishes to rub the faces of those who can’t in that thought. There will come a point when these crony corruptibles will attack a figurative Pearl Harbor and awaken the sleeping giant of those still yearning to breathe free. This will indeed, as Mr. Schlichter is fond of reminding us, end badly.
Much as I would like to agree Antoine, `9and mark Littlewood) we are not in a free market yet and these takeovers are a function of ultra low interest rates, corporatism not sound money.
Had the banks been allowed to go bust on 2008 then these takeovers would have been far less likely to happen.