What's your response to Republican claims that the government should "get out of the way" of the private?

[The Contentious Otter]

sector and allow companies like Facebook to engage in unlimited solicitation of information from children and the subsequent marketing of that information to any party willing to pay, or that HIPPA should be repealed and that medical service providers should be able to sell access to your personal medical information?

[Obamageddon]

My response would be that your premise is both inane and idiotic. As usual.

[Troll Hunter ©]

I think what they are talking about is the massive burden of regulation forced upon businesses. That is why you don't see many new businesses starting up.

Also, I do not think they're saying HIPPA should be repealed. I would have to see a source to back that up.


As opposed to the liberal solution of tax, spend and regulate until we are like East Germany where you can't sneeze without permission from the government.

[Justin Thyme]

I agree with them on that,get the Feds off main street and the economy will improve all by it`s self.

[BekindtoAnimals22]

I am not in favor of that. That has to do with privacy issues.

You take everything a repub says as a blanket statement as if they have no idea what they are talking about. That is ridiculous. The world is much more complicated than that and we are all aware of that. There are many areas where government is restricting business activity for absolutely no good reason. If you would do your own research, you would understand and have a better idea of what is going on in the world. And I do mean the world.

[ndmagicman]

They are under the false assumption that all businesses will always act ethically. History has proven that is not the case. Governmental rules and regulations are required in order to insure that businesses and corporations will not run over the rights and best interests of the public for the sake of maximizing profits. Now can these rules and regulations become an over burden at times? Sure and we need to guard against that but to completely do away with them as many on the right ask for is flagrantly ill advised.

[Thorcornâ„¢]

It's the Democrats and the Obama regime that is collecting all of that information.

''The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)''

''The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013. Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital “pocket litter.” It is, in some measure, the realization of the “total information awareness” program created during the first term of the Bush administration—an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans’ privacy.''

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03...nter/all/1

[Top Source]

Well gosh!

If only those Big Govt regulators would get outa the way of the Robber Barons, we the people would be SO much better off!


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/busine...l?_r=1&hpw
A judge in Arkansas ordered Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary to pay more than $1.2 billion in fines on Wednesday, a day after a jury found that the companies had minimized or concealed the dangers associated with an antipsychotic drug.
The fine, which experts said ranked among the largest on record for a state fraud case involving a drug company, is the most recent in a string of legal losses for Johnson & Johnson related to its marketing of the drug, Risperdal.

In January, Texas settled a similar case with the subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for $158 million. Last year, a South Carolina judge levied civil penalties of $327 million against Janssen, and in 2010, a Louisiana jury awarded nearly $258 million in damages.

The Arkansas Circuit Court judge, Tim Fox, issued a penalty of $1.19 billion for nearly 240,000 violations of the state’s Medicaid fraud law; he also fined the companies $11 million for violations of the state’s deceptive practices act.



In a statement, Janssen said it would ask for a new trial or, if that failed, it would appeal. “The state did not show any Arkansas patient was ever harmed by using Risperdal,” the company said in its statement.



“They were trumpeting it as a miracle, breakthrough drug,” said Thomas Melsheimer, a lawyer who represented the whistle-blower in the Texas Risperdal case. Instead, he said, it was no better than cheaper generic alternatives. “It was grossly overpriced in relation to its qualities.”

Janssen has said it complied with all state laws and did not mislead doctors or patients about the risks of the drug.

In its 2011 annual report, Johnson & Johnson said it set aside money to pay for legal settlements or verdicts and did not expect the ultimate resolution of any Risperdal cases to affect the company in a material way.

The fine in Arkansas barely registered on Wall Street, where the company’s shares closed at $64.13, down 7 cents. At least one analyst speculated that the large fine would be reduced on appeal. Johnson has appealed the South Carolina and Louisiana decisions.

Johnson’s history with Risperdal is just one of several examples of government investigations into the marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies. In November, the British drug company GlaxoSmithKline announced that it had agreed to pay $3 billion to settle federal investigations into its sales practices for several drugs, including the diabetes drug Avandia.

In 2009, Pfizer settled for $2.3 billion over marketing of its painkiller Bextra. That same year, Eli Lilly pleaded guilty to criminal conduct involving its marketing of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa and agreed to pay $1.4 billion in fines.

“Investors at this point have become inured to these large settlements,” said Les Funtleyder, a portfolio manager at Miller Tabak & Company, which owns Johnson & Johnson stock. “And you’ve seen it almost across all of pharma.”

If Wall Street is not moved, the public is increasingly fed up, as evidenced by the recent jury verdicts, said Erika A. Kelton, a lawyer in Washington who represented a whistle-blower in the Pfizer case involving Bextra. “I think it’s part of a bigger picture of a growing intolerance of pharmaceutical companies ignoring the rules of the road
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/...r-wins-61m
Whistle blower on big-pharma, Glaxo is awarded $96 million in contaminated Rx case.
Bactroban made in the contaminated plant was "contaminated with a micro-organism associated with bacteraemia, urinary tract infections, meningitis, wound infection, and peritonitis"
Paxil and Avandia were made there, too.
During the period surrounding whistle-blower, Cheryl Eckard's complaint, Paxil and Avandia were in the world's 50 top selling drug products.
Other drugs affected included the chest infection treatment Factive; Bactroban ointment, an antibiotic used to treat skin infections in babies; Kytril, an anti-nausea injection for cancer patients; and Tagamet, for heartburn and peptic ulcers. Drugs of different types and strengths were found in the same bottle; Avandamet was shipped in tablets of the wrong strength; and court documents show.
Cheryl Eckard, 51, will pocket the $96m share of a $750m criminal and civil settlement between US regulators and the Glaxo British pharmaceuticals group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/busine...wanted=all

"GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug giant, has agreed to pay $750 million to settle criminal and civil complaints that the company for years knowingly sold contaminated baby ointment and an ineffective antidepressant...

[hwinnum]

Government does need to get out of the way. There are too many regulations. When a kid's lemonade stand needs a permit to operate, when a church bake sale can't sell homemade pies, when raw milk is confiscated from farms, retail outlets and consumer's homes, we need to rethink what the H*** is going on.
And, btw, HIPAA has an exception for pharmaceutical companies to get your info, while hospital workers are in fear of looking at their own test results.

[out2lunch4now2]

People join Facebook by their own choice. They should know when joining that their information will be used to make money for the company. They should have the option of opting out or asking the company not to share their info. If they don't want their info shared and can't opt out, they shouldn't join in the first place.

Medical services providers are trusted with confidential information. I have never heard of ANY Republican who wants to allow them "to sell access to your personal medical information". Please tell us who is favoring this and what your source is. CAN'T, can you?

Republicans want the federal government to repeal a lot of its regulations that restrict and limit how a business can do its job and grow. Complying with federal regulations and interference is the single highest cost of creating jobs. Elimination of unconstitutional, unjustifiable federal interference would reduce the cost of the federal government, thereby taxes, and make it easier for companies to produce products Americans want and thereby grow, creating more jobs. Hence, less governmental regulatory interference leads to more jobs. The federal government should LIMIT itself to those few items it is authorized to interfere in by Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States.