February 24, 2009
"Obama Fixed It!"
Blog Brother Johngalt asked me to look for warning signs of socialized medicine. I am happy to address his concerns with a report that the nursing staff of Advanced Neurology is professional, compassionate and generally lovely in every way.
But all is not quiet. One staff member was discussing that she had brought in many of her favorite pens and she was protecting them from intra-office theft. I remarked that they should be exempt because they get all those cool pens from the drug companies' sales reps.
"Obama fixed that!" cried another staff member (who obviously has not gotten the message of hope and change) "They can't do that anymore." I restored a smile when I played along, saying "Now I can sleep at night -- I was so worried that my doctor would be bought out by a pen and a box of Kleenex."
I follow pharmaceutical regulation -- I thought -- closely and had missed this pearl. I need to do a little research but don't think he was making this up. I know that marketing costs are a real casus belli to the collectivists -- it is somehow evil to spend money educating your customers and wasteful to promote your product. I'm sure that's why Coke and Budweiser do it.
But this is the world that suffering businesses will have to navigate to grow in difficult times: the proverbial anvil thrown to a drowning man. It will hurt the pharmaceutical companies, pen manufacturers, and as my fellow doubter suggested "I think all the restaurants in the area will close; I never see any pens in there but pharma ones."