Many of the commentaries on the internet are outraged by “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli’s price gouging of a lifesaving HIV drug in the last year. People rejoiced in his arrest, believing that karma would bring justice to the new face of greed. Many more were outraged by last week’s arrogant display in front of congress where he seemed to smile at the thought of people dying while he made a profit. He smirked his way through the session and then insulted the congressmen afterwards on Twitter. Most of this outrage is steeped in surprise at someone so blatantly touting their greed without consideration for the consequences.
Am I outraged? Yes, but I am not surprised. This has been the modus operandi of capitalism for generations. Somebody must lose in order for the capitalist to win financially, whether that is loss of culture, future, or life. How can we continue to be surprised by the nefarious activity of a humanity that enslaved people for centuries and is responsible for the genocide of countless others? Maybe because we have been conditioned to believe that the lack of humanity at the root of these atrocities have been eradicated from earth? No that can’t be it. Not when black men and women are being killed at the hands of police with no justice to be seen, not when the frontrunner of the US elections is calling Mexicans rapists and advocating for preventing people entry into the US on the basis of religion.
Ultimately Martin Shkreli’s actions are not an isolated case and he is not the beginning or end of capitalism. He is part of a tradition that continues to control all aspects of society due to the money power and respect that holds governments across the globe to ransom. This is a game to him and he is winning. He is able to make huge amounts of profits by providing a service and inflating the prices of the product, even to a disadvantaged population that may not be able to afford the increases. As outrageous as this reads, this behaviour is not unique to him alone. The system that supports him and the Wall Street gang is extreme much like ISIS and Al Qaeda. People who operate within this system may choose to have hearts and be fair to others and they do exist. However, some are amoral and use their privilege to push others even further into poverty and disenfranchisement. Once members of the population protest or draw attention to these injustices, they are often told to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps”. That is easier when daddy “loans” you millions to get started. Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is harder when you are constantly faced with rising costs for everyday items so that already rich people can not only maintain luxurious lifestyles but build on them. Surviving, far less succeeding is harder when medical prices, food costs, housing costs and even transport costs increase, sometimes without warning, while pay does not rise to match the rising costs.
Anyway, I digress. Back to Martin Shkreli. He is not an anomaly. Should we be outraged by him? Yes. But we should also note that he is a symptom of a greater disease of privilege and societal imbalance. Yes his hike of price is appalling. I support shaming and disgracing him for all time. People like him are the reasons programmes like #BLACKLIVESMATTER are essential in this modern, ‘civilised’ world. They treat human beings as though their lives do not matter. On the contrary, the lives of the people that medicine will treat does matter. Furthermore, his hike of the medicine’s price is a signal of the way the powerful see ALL of the masses not just those facing HIV or Cancer – as money trees.
His behaviour is not unique – this is why there is inflation across all sectors of the economy and costs of living is continuously increasing. Mindsets like his among big business and policy makers is why the middle class is slowly disappearing. So when they treat these disadvantaged poorly, remember this, when the powerful are done mistreating this group they will come for the rest of us. If we wait until they threaten us to speak out, there will be no one to stand with us. When we treat him like an anomaly or sit by quietly because we are not being directly targeted, we fail to realise we are all threatened by a parasitic and destructive system of oppression.
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