Originally Posted By skinnerbox Bloomberg: Pharmaceutical Companies, CEOs Don't Make Much Money <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/21/bloomberg-pharmaceutical-_n_265247.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...247.html</a> "NEW YORK — Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical companies and their chief executives on Friday, declaring that they "don't make a lot of money" and shouldn't be scapegoats in the health care debate. The mayor – and wealthiest person in New York City with a fortune estimated at $16.5 billion – made the comments on his radio show Friday during a discussion about health care. "You know, last time I checked, pharmaceutical companies don't make a lot of money, their executives don't make a lot of money – not that they couldn't be better," Bloomberg said." Wow. Michael Bloomberg thinks that tens of millions of dollars in annual compensation is pocket change. Maybe for him and other billionaires, but not for 99% of the rest of us. This is precisely the attitude that keeps real health care reform from happening. "Those poor industry executives, barely getting by on their measly compensation packages." Boo hoo cry me a freakin river whilst I pay another $1500 monthly premium to my HMO.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt These people are his friends, so of course he's quick to mindlessly defend them. To his credit he did some fact checking and later corrected his statement. <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/21/2009-08-21_bitter_pill_to_swallow_bloomberg_defends_pharmaceutical_companies__then_takes_it.html" target="_blank">http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_..._it.html</a>
