Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Pharmaceutical Company Merck Pays No Taxes

Merck is not the only company paying no taxes in the US, but they are by far the largest benefactor that is listed on the S&P 500 Stock. According to an article in the USA today the biggest example of no taxes is Merck. They actually had a negative tax rate of 7.5 % according to Matt Krantz of USA Today. Yet they had an increase in profits of 52% or 1.9 billion in the most recent qtr. So they made almost 2 billion and paid no taxes.
Their gains appear to be because they profit in countries with lower tax rates. The USA Today article said: Merck got a tax benefit in the quarter from an option exercise connected with rival AstraZeneca buying Merck's interest in a partnership. Financial moves connected to the deal resulted in Merck getting a one time tax benefit.
The way we see it is that companies like Merck raise prices on their drugs because they complain about their R&D (research and development) costs, and also complain about competition, or lower priced generic drugs. Yet they don’t suffer when one of their drugs kills someone unless there is a class action suit. If someone commits suicide while using Celexa, or Remeron Merck doesn’t suffer.
People die from their drugs, and Merck doesn’t get a tax bill on $1.9 billion in income in only one quarter. The pharmaceutical ogre keeps getting bigger and bigger, yet there isn’t any penalty when a person commits mass murder or suicide when on their drugs. I am sure the $1.9 billion tax break can cover any lawsuit if there are any. So the beat goes on.

Monday, September 1, 2014

If Only They Never Met a Psychiatrist

We found this story from CNN about Will Bruce who killed his mother violently, but was “treated” by psychiatry and was incarcerated in a mental health prison. He is now released as this is a fifty year program set up in the State of Maine.
According to the CNN report Will Bruce was incarcerated before and then released. According to the reports he refused “treatment”. After this initial release he subsequently killed his mother within two months, so he is now on his second release. His current release is subject to him checking in often and staying medicated. Hmm, I guess the State of Maine thinks psych meds work.
This is all a special state program in Maine which allows violently mentally ill people to get treatment after crimes in lieu of going to prison. Riverview Psychiatric Center in Maine has many more patients who have killed, and have a potential for release.
Now this report is pro-mental health and it pushes to politicians to provide funds and allow programs like this to be implemented in many States.
What this report doesn’t talk about is that psychotropic drugs have been and continue to be part of violent crimes in America. Many, many campus and offices killings have murderers taking psychotropic drugs. The government, and media seem to immunize pharma drugs as the catalyst for violent killings. The doctors and psych’s are also immune to responsibility. What programs like this in Maine now show many violent criminals are now on release compelled to take medication as part of that release.
These are violent convicted criminals on the streets with drugs in their system. In our view that is a powder keg. Psychiatry has no solution to mental illness. Again, as we have said many times before. Psychiatry is the father of strait-jackets, electric shock “treatment”, lobotomies, and psychotropic drugs use.
Psychiatry has a history of death.