• Martin Shkreli's trolling transcends space and time
    236 replies, posted
[QUOTE=_Maverick_;51570674]I've heard of this guy, but I have no idea who he is or what or does. Someone mind giving me a brief summary?[/QUOTE] He was CEO of a drug company that raised the price of a HIV drug 1000% overnight. The public went to sham him and he turned his new found infamy to become the Internets biggest troll by spewing shit on twitter. He appears on TV occasionally and is just a totally normal dude.
[QUOTE=nVidia;51570148]If you ignore the triggered mainstream media view of Martin, he's actually a fucking awesome dude.[/QUOTE] I'd possibly agree with you if he wasn't the owner of a company that people literally need to stay alive. The fact that someone this immature is in such a position of power is pretty gross.
[QUOTE=nox;51570694]Give me one redeeming quality of his besides being good at capitalism and I will reconsider my opinion of the man.[/QUOTE] He's sharp, smart, self-aware, and obviously pays broad attention to the world. He's gotten to where he is through clever and slightly ruthless business decisions, and he isn't humble at all about it, and in our current culture that's seen as highly distasteful, but if you ignore that part of his life he's a total wise-ass who's smart enough to pull it off. When he's acting like a smug cunt he has a massively punchable face and in a hypothetical situation I could see myself taking a swing at him if he said something to deserve it, but I can't help but admire him for being a clever bastard. He wasn't handed a vast wealthy empire when he turned 18, his smarts got him where he is.
[QUOTE=nox;51570694]Give me one redeeming quality of his besides being good at capitalism and I will reconsider my opinion of the man. He gives the drugs which he price gouged to people who can't afford it, so is he somehow a saint for solving a problem which he created? I also hear he's good with the le epic memes, so there's something.[/QUOTE] He raised the cost of the drug because it's an ineffective drug that only a small amount of people need. He's making a shitload from pharma companies, and the reason behind him raising it is to encourage development of a much more efficient drug than the one he has. Again, if it cant be covered by insurance, he'll give out the stuff for free. [QUOTE=carcarcargo;51570708]I'd possibly agree with you if he wasn't the owner of a company that people literally need to stay alive. The fact that someone this immature is in such a position of power is pretty gross.[/QUOTE] He's literally said he will give the drug out for free if it somehow becomes too expensive for them. And mind you, it's a 40+ year old drug that's garbage.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51570737]He's sharp, smart, self-aware, and obviously pays broad attention to the world. He's gotten to where he is through clever and slightly ruthless business decisions, and he isn't humble at all about it, and in our current culture that's seen as highly distasteful, but if you ignore that part of his life he's a total wise-ass who's smart enough to pull it off. When he's acting like a smug cunt he has a massively punchable face and in a hypothetical situation I could see myself taking a swing at him if he said something to deserve it, but I can't help but admire him for being a clever bastard. He wasn't handed a vast wealthy empire when he turned 18, his smarts got him where he is.[/QUOTE] He certainly did a great job of getting morons on his side by appealing to meme loving retards.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51570737]He's sharp, smart, self-aware, and obviously pays broad attention to the world. [/QUOTE] So is every other cutthroat capitalist in this world, shouldn't we be praising every corporate CEO? Besides, Shkreli aint shit compared to Christopher Gardner when it comes to rags-to-riches. [IMG]http://www.chrisgardnermedia.com/assets/images/speaking.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=.Vel;51570744] He's literally said he will give the drug out for free if it somehow becomes too expensive for them. And mind you, it's a 40+ year old drug that's garbage.[/QUOTE] That was a token policy, he's still going to drain the bank accounts of every person who can "afford" it until they run out of money. And no it isn't a drug that's garbage, it works perfectly well as many doctors pointed out. Well done for falling for the dumb spin.
Also, a reminder that Shkreli's decision to jack up the prices is more leeching off the (already-broken) US insurance system more than it is leeching off of people. It doesn't make it right, but it makes it easy to spot who's uninformed and spewing melodrama when they omit this info. [media]https://twitter.com/martinshkreli/status/677192472490065920[/media] [URL="http://www.daraprimdirect.com/"]And, it's true:[/URL] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jCCeeDK.png[/IMG] [QUOTE=carcarcargo;51570754]That was a token policy, he's still going to drain the bank accounts of every person who can "afford" it until they run out of money.[/QUOTE] Care to enlighten us on just how it qualifies as a "token" policy? Got any sources on how difficult it is to qualify to not get shafted? [QUOTE=carcarcargo;51570751]He certainly did a great job of getting morons on his side by appealing to meme loving retards.[/QUOTE] I'm not sure if you're trolling me here or what.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51570776] Care to enlighten us on just how it qualifies as a "token" policy? Got any sources on how difficult it is to qualify to not get shafted? [/QUOTE] From the website [URL]http://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/turing-reduces-cost-of-daraprim%C2%AE-pyrimethamine[/URL] [QUOTE]Provide Daraprim free-of-charge to uninsured, qualified patients with demonstrated income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level through our Patient Assistance Program.[/QUOTE] also made applying as difficult as possible to deter people.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;51570796][QUOTE]Provide Daraprim free-of-charge to uninsured, qualified patients with [B]demonstrated income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level[/B] through our Patient Assistance Program.[/QUOTE] Barely applies to anyone[/quote] [URL="https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/"]The federal poverty level for a single-person household is $11,880/year.[/URL] 500% of that means anyone making less than $59,000 a year and living on their own qualifies. The value only goes up the more residents, especially minor dependents, per household. [QUOTE]One key measure is the real median level, meaning half of households have income above that level and half below, adjusted for inflation. According to the Federal Reserve, this measure was $51,939 in 2013, below the 1999 peak of around $57,000.[1] The Census Bureau estimated real median household income at $53,657 for 2014 and $54,462 in 2015.[/QUOTE] So according to [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States"]Wikipedia[/URL], more than half the country qualifies on inability to pay measures alone. [QUOTE]Barely applies to anyone[/QUOTE] :goodjob: [QUOTE=carcarcargo;51570796]they also made applying as difficult as possible to deter people.[/QUOTE] And this is a complete first in the insurance and benefits industry?
cargo sounds exactly like the lady in the video. [editline]22nd December 2016[/editline] like, imagine being as wrong as cargo is and still trying to act like youre informed.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51570862][URL="https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/"]The federal poverty level for a single-person household is $11,880/year.[/URL] 500% of that means anyone making less than $59,000 a year and living on their own qualifies. The value only goes up the more residents, especially minor dependents, per household. So according to [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States"]Wikipedia[/URL], more than half the country qualifies on inability to pay measures alone. :goodjob: And this is a complete first in the insurance and benefits industry?[/QUOTE] 60k per year is not a lot, he's just cutting off the people he can't profit from, he can give it to those people for free since the drug can be manufactured for pennies while he exploits lower middle class people into debt. Nobody is denying insurance and benefits companies are run by scumbags, but most people who aren't rabid republicans admit that. Fact stands he's a scumbag who's exploiting people with an illness that can be deadly without this medication.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;51570908]while he exploits lower middle class people into debt.[/QUOTE] While he exploits the tiny cross section of America that a) needs Daraprim, b) has too much income/worth on-paper to qualify for free or income-assisted discounts, and c) doesn't have health insurance coverage that covers it to at least affordable levels, you mean. This number is probably pretty fucking small against the US population. Because, news flash, [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/14/the-strange-case-of-americas-disappearing-middle-class"]the middle class is an endangered species in America[/URL] and [URL="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-05-13/the-middle-class-has-a-debt-problem"]it's saddled to fuck with debt already.[/URL] My heart goes out to these people who fall through the cracks because they're getting financially fucked at a time in their lives when they are ill and need all the help they can get, but unless you'd like to provide me with some sourced numbers, I think the number of people who are truly directly hurt by Shkreli's greedy price hikes are going to be measured in terms of "number of shitposters postal could ban in two weeks" rather than "more than the following states' populations combined". As for the impact it has on the insurance system, that's not Shkreli's problem, and the system has long been broken, he's just the latest person playing it for parasitic benefit and is being open about it on Twitter and in interviews instead of hiding from the media in his boardroom and trying to keep his shady dealings as private as possible. Hospitals routinely do this kind of shit. It's endemic. The system needs to be fixed but bitching about Shkreli won't fix it, and nobody expects Trump to fix it (other than tearing it all down with no set plan for a replacement) so gg status quo for now.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51570964]While he exploits the tiny cross section of America that a) needs Daraprim, b) has too much income/worth on-paper to qualify for free or income-assisted discounts, and c) doesn't have health insurance coverage that covers it to at least affordable levels, you mean. This number is probably pretty fucking small against the US population. Because, news flash, [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/14/the-strange-case-of-americas-disappearing-middle-class"]the middle class is an endangered species in America[/URL] and [URL="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-05-13/the-middle-class-has-a-debt-problem"]it's saddled to fuck with debt already.[/URL] My heart goes out to these people who fall through the cracks because they're getting financially fucked at a time in their lives when they are ill and need all the help they can get, but unless you'd like to provide me with some sourced numbers, I think the number of people who are truly directly hurt by Shkreli's greedy price hikes are going to be measured in terms of "number of shitposters postal could ban in two weeks" rather than "more than the following states' populations combined". As for the impact it has on the insurance system, that's not Shkreli's problem, and the system has long been broken, he's just the latest person playing it for parasitic benefit. Hospitals routinely do this kind of shit. It's endemic. The system needs to be fixed but bitching about Shkreli won't fix it, and nobody expects Trump to fix it (other than tearing it all down with no set plan for a replacement) so gg status quo for now.[/QUOTE] HIV isn't exactly fucking uncommon. And guess which type of people saddled the middle class with that debt? Oh yeah people like Martin Shkreli considering medical fees are one of the biggest causes of bankruptcy in the US But who cares about them eh, what really matters is how hilarious his latest petulant trolling was, that absolves everything.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;51570977]HIV isn't exactly fucking uncommon. But who cares about them eh, what really matters is how hilarious his latest petulant trolling was, that absolves everything.[/QUOTE] Winning arguments is easy when you don't bother to read a post before replying to it.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51570984]Winning arguments is easy when you don't bother to read a post before replying to it.[/QUOTE] there's 1.2 million people in the US with HIV, about half of those are probably earning above 60k, that's a lot of people, on top of this those who want insurance will now have their insurance premiums jacked up to ridiculous levels thanks to this. He's screwed over thousands of people in so many ways it's not even funny.
martin shrekli isn't satan like the media says, but he does a good job of acting like an twat funny as fuck, but a twat. im incapable of hating the guy but i can't say i have any love for him either
I still can't believe people are actually trying to justify Martin Shrekli being a good person. He's a complete scumbag, and while he may be very good at being a complete scumbag, that doesn't mean he isn't still a fucking scumbag.
[QUOTE=Firestarfk;51571004]I still can't believe people are actually trying to justify Martin Shrekli being a good person. He's a complete scumbag, and while he may be very good at being a complete scumbag, that doesn't mean he isn't still a fucking scumbag.[/QUOTE] Wanna come back around for another try after you've actually read the thread?
Shkreli isn't responsible for a lot of things but I don't get why people like him either You can get Daraprim cheaply world wide it's just the US that makes a mockery of it. It's not Shkrelis fault but I don't get why we're really celebrating the abuse of the system when he's popularizing that abuse, not to get it changed, but for shits and giggles
This women is a racist, unsociable, bitch. Seriously doesn't know how to even converse without attacking him. She doesn't even fucking know what the drug does. She has a job, jesus christ. You just have to google, daraprim, and its right there on the side. "Anti-parasite. It can treat toxoplasmosis. It can also prevent malaria and other kinds of infections." [editline]22nd December 2016[/editline] Never tell a woman to shut up. Proceeds to tell him to shut the fuck up multiple times. The dramatic self victimization complex some people have is just astounding. [editline]22nd December 2016[/editline] WHITE ENTITLED MAN BUT IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT YOUR PARENTS DO JESUS IM HAVING ANEURYSMS wow
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51570964]While he exploits the tiny cross section of America that a) needs Daraprim, b) has too much income/worth on-paper to qualify for free or income-assisted discounts, and c) doesn't have health insurance coverage that covers it to at least affordable levels, you mean. This number is probably pretty fucking small against the US population. Because, news flash, [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/14/the-strange-case-of-americas-disappearing-middle-class"]the middle class is an endangered species in America[/URL] and [URL="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-05-13/the-middle-class-has-a-debt-problem"]it's saddled to fuck with debt already.[/URL] My heart goes out to these people who fall through the cracks because they're getting financially fucked at a time in their lives when they are ill and need all the help they can get, but unless you'd like to provide me with some sourced numbers, I think the number of people who are truly directly hurt by Shkreli's greedy price hikes are going to be measured in terms of "number of shitposters postal could ban in two weeks" rather than "more than the following states' populations combined". As for the impact it has on the insurance system, that's not Shkreli's problem, and the system has long been broken, he's just the latest person playing it for parasitic benefit and is being open about it on Twitter and in interviews instead of hiding from the media in his boardroom and trying to keep his shady dealings as private as possible. Hospitals routinely do this kind of shit. It's endemic. The system needs to be fixed but bitching about Shkreli won't fix it, and nobody expects Trump to fix it (other than tearing it all down with no set plan for a replacement) so gg status quo for now.[/QUOTE] I don't really see how [i]only[/i] exploits a probably relatively small but undetermined number of people and [i]only[/i] strains the already broken insurance system makes him not a huge shit. And also keep in mind you're assuming that everyone who is eligible to get it for free actually do. I mean he's obviously not fucking Stalin or anything but he's a piece of shit still.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;51571028]Shkreli isn't responsible for a lot of things but I don't get why people like him either You can get Daraprim cheaply world wide it's just the US that makes a mockery of it. It's not Shkrelis fault but I don't get why we're really celebrating the abuse of the system when he's popularizing that abuse, not to get it changed, but for shits and giggles[/QUOTE] He's actually said on interview that his Daraprim money is going into funding a replacement for the drug. Daraprim is primarily used to treat Toxoplasmosis and cystoisoporiasis, two diseases that are found worldwide. These diseases however are not normally a threat by themselves, the immune system can fight them off leaving us as simply carriers. The diseases become issues when they are combined with immune system compromising diseases such as Malaria and HIV, which allow these parasites to take hold, as the immune system can no longer fight them off. Because malaria and HIV aren't very common diseases in the United States the drug has a very low demand, as the likelihood of contracting one of these parasites as well as HIV is extremely low in North America. The issue with Daraprim itself is that the drug targets these parasites by inhibiting folic acid production of the cells. The problem is that your cells make the same enzymes as the bacteria, so Daraprim in it's current form has some REALLY nasty side effects due to it's imprecise nature. I'd suggest reading the wikipedia article: [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrimethamine"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrimethamine[/URL] Now what Shkreli did was jack up the price of the medication by an extreme degree, however he does claim that the drug costs less than pharmaceuticals in similar situations, a claim which I have no education towards. Arguably not the best solution to the problem as apparently his program to distribute the drug free to those that could not afford was not immediately made public, however the lack of any verifiable case of a patient in need of the drug on any media outlet does point towards Shkreli's efforts not destroying anyone's lives. He made a dick move for insurers and premiums, but given the recent changes of Obamacare, he's really only made it inconvenient for those who can afford the 75000 course of treatment(read people who are most likely loaded). What Shkreli is doing is something quite odd. From the looks of things he knew the media shitstorm he was about to create and doubled down on it, buying Wu Tang albums and accepting his evil persona to be the fall guy for the issues of big pharma. Say what you will about the man but anyone who does something like this and then has a "call me if you hate me" livestream where he directly answers criticisms etc. is deserving of some respect in my eyes. The man accepts his shit and stands by his virtues like no other, even if they aren't the most agreeable initially. Check this video out, he explains his side quite well and doesn't even get aggressive with a guy that starts out by shitting on everyone around him. Definite respect for the guy. [video=youtube;HXVQOZDKlRE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXVQOZDKlRE[/video]
Okay I still don't like him though? Like yes he can defend somewhat reprehensible ideas because he's smart. The issues that he brought up aren't being fixed. They're now just purely the source of his fame and he's not really proceeding to change things on that front. Just kind of enjoying the limelight while he has it. Again, I didn't say I hated the guy, but I'm not likely to like him just because people here do.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;51571163]Okay I still don't like him though? Like yes he can defend somewhat reprehensible ideas because he's smart. The issues that he brought up aren't being fixed. They're now just purely the source of his fame and he's not really proceeding to change things on that front. Just kind of enjoying the limelight while he has it. Again, I didn't say I hated the guy, but I'm not likely to like him just because people here do.[/QUOTE] That's your choice I guess. I'm just saying the reason I lean more towards liking him is that he actually stands up for himself while admitting the faults in what he's done, even if overall he's trying to make a positive thing happen for people who need Daraprim.
Everyone's allowed to dislike him. I admire his intelligence and wit, but on the whole I don't like the guy and, as I said in an earlier post in this thread, he can be a smug cunt and I could see there being situations where I'd be tempted to take a swing at his punchable face if fate crossed our paths. (not a credible threat of violence against Mr. Shkreli only forum japes haha) Henry Ford is often praised as an early pioneer in the modern automotive industry, but he was a horrific anti-semite bigot and had virtually no redeeming personal qualities outside of being the founder of the Ford automotive empire and being successful in those measures. You can praise individual qualities of a person while still condemning them, and you don't need to blame them for the long-present ills of the system around them just to demonize them even further.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51571205]Everyone's allowed to dislike him. I admire his intelligence and wit, but on the whole I don't like the guy and, as I said in an earlier post in this thread, he can be a smug cunt and I could see there being situations where I'd be tempted to take a swing at his punchable face if fate crossed our paths. (not a credible threat of violence against Mr. Shkreli only forum japes haha) Henry Ford is often praised as an early pioneer in the modern automotive industry, but he was a horrific anti-semite bigot and had virtually no redeeming personal qualities outside of being the founder of the Ford automotive empire. [B]You can praise individual qualities of a person while still condemning them, and you don't need to blame them for the long-present ills of the system around them just to demonize them even further.[/B][/QUOTE] I didn't though?
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;51571209]I didn't though?[/QUOTE] That was more a response to other comments in this thread than addressed to you specifically, sorry for the lack of clarification.
Like Shkreli isn't trying to change the rules that bind the pharma industry, nor does he have to, but as someone profiting off of it and making it a public discourse issue, to be doing as little as he is, and benefiting as much as he is, yeah, I don't hate the guy but I'm not sure why I should feel anything but blatant apathy towards him.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;51571251]Like Shkreli isn't trying to change the rules that bind the pharma industry, nor does he have to, but as someone profiting off of it and making it a public discourse issue, to be doing as little as he is, and benefiting as much as he is, yeah, I don't hate the guy but I'm not sure why I should feel anything but blatant apathy towards him.[/QUOTE] He is a real person, accessible, with a public agenda. That alone is refreshing in this corporate shill world. We and countless others would never even be talking about pharmaceuticals and insurance if it wasn't for him.
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