Previous September, when so-called “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli was disclosed to be the CEO of a drug company that had increased the cost of a 62-year old medicine commonly utilized by AIDS sufferers by more than 5,000%, Republicans and Democrats had ultimately found something to agree on. What followed was bipartisan disdain for the former hedge-fund manager. Donald Trump remarked that Shkreli looked like a “spoiled brat,” while Hillary Clinton stated that if he was going to try to gouge American families “for no good reason” — as if there is any good reason — then she was going to hold him “accountable.”
A few months later, after Shkreli had been indicted for securities fraud, the most hated man in America was known to appear before the most hated institution in America. Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress scolded the former executive, who invoked the Fifth Amendment throughout with a smirk, and later tweeted that he could not consider “these imbeciles” represented the American people.
It was a political exhibition, put on by self-absorbed politicians expecting to score points by assailing the number-one villain of the year. Of course, watching members of Congress — Republic members, no less — feign outrage at such callous greed is kind of like watching Donald Trump acting surprised that his rallies have become violent. Shkreli, while no doubt deserving of the scorn he has gained over the past few months, is merely a minor-league player in the big con that it is modern American medicine — a con that politicians in Washington has long served obediently.
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