This is a brilliant point that is genuinely thought provoking. Puts the whole concept of Galt's Gulch in a different light.

Trump figured out the political power of being credited for direct charity when he put his signature on the relief checks, and I think if it appears to be powerful electorally the right can outgun us.

Because the billionaire class can fund a hell of a lot more bread and circuses than we can. If Elon Musk wanted to sway NYC politics, he could buy every single voter there $1000 worth of charity and still have $395B left over.

Short run, I agree. Long run, I think there actually is a risk in reintroducing the idea of competing for voters' loyalty based on small scale charitable actions rather than based on government policies that will improve their lives.

For lots of press and pundits it is perpetually December 2024

Ok, negotiate five year pricing with annual inflation adjustments. For God's sake, this isn't the hardest problem in the world. The US government managed logistics to invade Afghanistan and Iraq while also prosecuting the GWOT in other countries. We can handle pricing a few thousand drugs.

I'm no expert, but the idea that setting prices is some impossible challenge when we have Medicare and Medicaid setting prices for over 100M patients is very strange to me.

Let’s win

Every day that goes by, every move that's made, I become more sure that one or more Sulzbergers are in those files with their hands up a 12 year old's panties.

Worth it, though.

Let's be honest, we were already headed that way.