Dishonesty
in Business
I
read an article in The Atlantic about
a study done with different professionals that tested their honesty. Bankers
tended to be the one group who cheated, especially after being reminded of
their profession, which those conducting the study took to mean meant that this
profession rewards dishonest, cheating behavior. No other group changed their
behavior after being reminded of their profession.
This
study was obviously not comprehensive enough. Sunday, on Sixty Minutes, one of the stories reported that people with cancer
are often stuck between a rock and a hard place. Pay exorbitant drug co-pays
for overpriced drugs or die. Many have gone bankrupt in the process of trying
to stay alive. One medical group studied two particular drugs, one old and one
new to the market. The new drug cost twice as much but was found to offer no additional
benefit to the old drug.
US
law does not allow the government to negotiate with drug companies, who set
their own drug prices. Medicaid pays whatever is charged and the poor sick
person has to pay any copayment. When the medical group studying the two
medications published their findings, the company making the new drug
immediately cut the cost in half.
A
popular drug long on the market to treat one of the most common blood cancers
can add ten years to a patient’s life but has to be taken every day. There are
no research costs to recoup at this point or especially expensive production
costs, yet the drug’s cost has tripled in the past decade.
Who
is Benefitting?
President
Obama asked Congress to change the laws regarding the ability to negotiate drug
costs—no other country has these laws and consequently their drug costs are
fifty to eighty percent lower. No one watching Congress expects that they will
act on the President’s request. This includes Democrats and Republicans. Why
not? Why would they want to protect excessive costs? Who else is benefitting
from the money being raked in? Does anyone believe much of it is going into
research for cures? A cure would kill the cash flow. Drugs are more lucrative.
Other
Practices
Who
hasn’t gone into a store to find they are out of the advertised sale item—the
first few hours of the sale—or found a more expensive item sitting in the place
where the sale item should be? Car sales—any horror stories? I’d love to hear
others’ experiences. I’m afraid dishonesty is rampant in business and it is
always prudent for buyers to beware.
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