GOP House Speaker John Boehner planned to bring CEOs to President Obama's "jobs" speech tonight in order to argue that American regulations are crushing jobs.
Safi Bahcall is the CEO of Synta, a biopharmaceutical company focused on creating new drugs for treating cancer. Hampered by an increasingly uncompetitive American business environment, Bahcall is advocating for the research and development tax credit to be made permanent. More favorable tax incentives in France and Canada have encouraged Synta to out-source work to Canada and the company is currently weighing the potential of moving American jobs to France.First off, it's interesting that Boehner is elevating a man thinking of exporting US jobs to France. That hardly makes the guy a hero in GOP circles.
Second, I'm sure Synta's consideration of moving their US jobs to France has nothing to do with the fact that the French, reportedly, make far less on average than US workers.
And finally, since Boehner is busy lauding the French regulatory environment for pharmaceuticals, is Boehner suggesting that he's okay with the federal regulation of drug prices? Because in France the government negotiates drug prices down to 1/3 to 1/6 of what Americans pay for the same drugs manufactured by the same company. For example, just two weeks ago I bought 30 200mg pills of Celebrex in France for 18 euros ($25). The same drug, made by the same firm, in the US cost me around $155 at Harris Teeter (and $136 at Costco). That's thanks to the French regulatory environment.
So is John Boehner suggesting that the US government negotiate US drug prices down to 1/6th of their current value?
