Vaccines and the limits of intellectual property

These ever-so-welcomed vaccines we're getting shot with bring to front of mind the injustice and profiteering which can underlie our reliance on private, profit-driven actors to supply essential social needs. 

The U.S. government -- that means we, the taxpayers -- put up billions of dollars to ensure that pharmaceutical companies did the work and dared to invest in creating these magic shields against the coronavirus. And a very proper use of our common goods it was. 

But should our government use its cash and influence to ensure that, as vaccination advances speedily here, the whole world will have access? We've pledged $4 billion toward an international effort and are sending vaccine supply not needed here to Canada and Mexico. Our more civilized politicians insist we must do more. 

Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups are pressing [President Biden] to go further by supporting a request by India, South Africa and 55 other countries for the World Trade Organization to waive patent protections on vaccines. Those countries argue that would enable manufacturers around the world to copy the formulas and massively increase production.

Drug companies, including the ones making the vaccines now authorized in the U.S., widely oppose the move, which they say would undermine the global response to the pandemic and not have the intended effect of speeding up production. The Trump administration opposed it at the WTO. But House Democrats say they have already collected close to a hundred signatures on a letter urging Biden to change the U.S. position. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also have weighed in. Those critics accuse the drug companies of prioritizing profits over saving lives.

Here's Senator Sanders:

The discussion raises the perennial issue of whether governments must create such generous protection for patents -- for the exclusive right of companies to profit from inventions that often take their germs from government funding and public academic institutions.

The economist Dean Baker took on excessive deference to patents in The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer. He believes so deeply in freeing vital information that you can get the book for free at the link. Here are some snippets of Baker's argument:

In policy discussions, patents and copyrights are usually treated as part of the natural order, their enforcement is viewed as being as basic as the right to free speech or the free exercise of religion. In fact, there is nothing natural about patents and copyrights, they are relics of the Medieval guild system. They are state-granted monopolies, the exact opposite of a freely competitive market. The nanny state will arrest an entrepreneur who sells a patent-protected product in competition with the person to whom it has granted a patent monopoly.

Patents and copyrights do serve an economic purpose — they are a way to promote research and innovation in the case of patents, and a means of supporting creative and artistic work in the case of copyrights. However, just because patents and copyrights can be used for these purposes, it does not follow that they are the only mechanisms or the most efficient mechanisms to accomplish these purposes.

… It is necessary to have mechanisms for supporting innovation, and many alternatives to patents and copyrights already exist. The government directly funds $30 billion a year in biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health, a sum that is almost as large as the amount that the pharmaceutical industry claims to spend. A vast amount of creative work is supported by universities and private foundations. While these alternative mechanisms would have to be expanded, or new ones created, in the absence of patent and copyright protection, they demonstrate that patents and copyrights are not essential for supporting innovation and creative work. The appropriate policy debate is whether they are the best mechanisms.

My emphasis. A worldwide pandemic which can only be defeated on a worldwide basis should bring this discussion to the fore even in this country where we so often assume we have the best form of "free market" anywhere.

Excellent food for a cat

On Thursday I had a new experience: I went shopping for baby food. Since Morty's escapade in the wilds, he has been off his feed, sometimes going a couple of days without discernibly eating. His vet and our friends suggested we try feeding him pureed turkey baby food. Some cats think it is yummy.

So there I am in a super market and I can't find the stuff. I'm looking for rows of little glass jars. Isn't that what baby food looks like?

Stupid me. Laura Reiley explains that my expectations are absurdly out of date.

There’s been a boom in unhealthy foods and beverages for children six months to 3 years old, packaged for convenience and often promising to make children stronger and smarter.

Dietary supplements said to boost the immune system. Squeezy pouches boasting 3 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. Oven-baked stone-ground wheat “wafflez,” superfood puffs and a baffling array of toddler milks purported to aid brain and eye development.

... “Americans are snackers,” said Mary Story, a professor of global health, family medicine and community health at Duke’s Global Health Institute. “And the food industry is always looking for novel ways to market their products and increase demand.”

... For a scientific report for the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, her team found that 29 percent of toddlers’ calories were coming from snacks, most of which were salty or sweetened processed foods, not fruits and vegetables.

It's not hard to be suspicious about what this will do to these kids later in their lives.

Anyway, I didn't identify the bright colored plastic packets as baby food. They look like snacks -- and maybe nutritionally they are.

But I did find, way at the back of the shelf, out of sight, the last jar of the kind of baby food I was looking for. Morty will grudgingly lick up a bit of it; it passes the feline test.

A tale of two expensive places

It's a staple of conversation here on Martha's Vineyard: everything just costs SO much.

And there's truth to that. After all, this is an island. Most everything in stores here has to be brought in by boat or perhaps airplane.

Moreover, the island thrives on a summer tourist economy: visitors come here, many on day trips by ferry, to play and to spend. Naturally the local people understand they should set prices to capture as much of that play money as possible.

As well, some -- though by no means all -- of the seasonal residents here are among East Coast society's winners. There's nothing wrong with expecting those people with their yachts and McMansions to shell out.

There's a strong local agricultural economy, but locally grown food carries boutique prices since it has to support a short growing season and the high labor costs of a place with hardly any cheap housing.

And yet, and yet, to a San Franciscan, this island is an oasis of low gas prices!

Here's what I paid yesterday to fill up:

And here's what ABC News shows my California neighbors are paying at the moment:

Oh, I imagine careful shoppers in the Bay Area can do better, but not by that much. And a lot of the California price goes to infrastructure improvements and climate change mitigation.

But it is still a little amazing to realize I've dropped into a low gas price location.

About time I say!

According to the Business section of the Times:

Sweeping Away Gender-Specific Toys and Labels
“The gender barriers are breaking down, and both manufacturers and retailers are not labeling toys like they used to,” said Jim Silver, the editor in chief of TTPM, a toy review website. “The industry’s learned that you shouldn’t be labeling for a specific gender. There are so many girls who want to be Iron Man and Captain America, and boys who want to play with Easy-Bake.”

The shift is part of a wider movement in retail to blur gender lines, as society moves beyond stereotypes, and celebrities as varied as Caitlyn Jenner and Jaden Smith put a spotlight on an array of gender identities. ...

... the most significant shifts in gender categorizing — and certainly the most debated — have been in children’s merchandise. ... Parents have taken to social media to protest retailers’ overly girly offerings, or to show off their children defying gender norms. Last year, Land’s End introduced a line of science-themed shirts for girls after a New Jersey mother, Lisa Ryder, posted an open letter on the brand’s Facebook page calling out its boy-only science collection. More recently, a Virginia father, Paul Henson, garnered widespread kudos online for his Facebook post about his 3-year-old son, who intends to dress as Elsa from Disney’s “Frozen” movie this Halloween.

Toy peddlers who have reduced gender specificity have encountered both support (and healthy sales) and opposition. The article is worth reading in full.
*** Some of us were ahead of this curve:

Blogger with a cousin dressed for Halloween about 1955.

Saturday scenes and scenery: Walmart in the Khumbu

When the name of the town is Namche Bazaar, it's not exactly surprising that the center of town is a market.


But what a market! This sprawling display is known as "the Tibetan market" because traders trek over from that Chinese-dominated country across Himalayan passes well over 20,000 feet in order to sell their goods in Nepal. Clearly the border is someone else's line that seems made to be crossed from the point of view of the hill peoples.


It's a bustling, if cold, place on a November day -- the end of the season as the passes will soon be closed by winter snows.


What's on sale? To me, it looked like a jumble of products from Chinese factories that make knock-offs of European and American brands. Perhaps these had failed to pass inspection? For the Nepalese, this stuff is the best of bargains. The porters who carried our gear loaded an additional 3 feet of bedding bought here on top of our (relatively compact) gear. Whether these were presents for their lowland relatives or intended for resale, I didn't find out.

Saturday scenes and scenery: A stroll through the Mission Community Market

In addition to our Mission neighborhood street food vendors and our corner produce markets, since July we've also had a weekly (Thursdays 4-8 pm) street market on Bartlett Street.

The Mission Community Market (MCM) is a weekly, outdoor marketplace that celebrates the Mission District’s diversity with fresh foods, local businesses, and youth activities in order to improve family health, youth access to arts, and the safe, fun use of Mission streets.

It was fun to walk around during the second week of November.


Farm stands take over the street.


Only in California would these have been in season so late in the year.


There's something a little scary about salad greens this colorful, but I bought a bag; had to try 'em.


Vendors suspect they had better teach us how to cook their produce ... they will probably be quite right as we move into the season of root crops.


Musicians collected a small crowd of onlookers -- they were fun.


In the midst of all this food, time to stop for a bite.


Art for sale attracts interest.


Any market whose produce comes in this truck is a great addition to the neighborhood.

Chronicle impersonates cat box liner

If the San Francisco Chronicle is going to print crap like that pictured above, it is hard to give a damn whether it survives its economic difficulties.

That headline is quite simply a Chamber of Commerce talking point against of the subject of the article. The substance is actually well captured in first sentences:

Washington - -- When Rep. George Miller of Martinez this week introduced "card check" legislation that would make it much easier for workers to organize, he plunged the Obama administration into a fight that has the potential to rival former President Bill Clinton's gays-in-the-military controversy.

Few issues raise more hackles on the right than this one. The Employee Free Choice Act is the bête noire of businesses, who say it would eliminate secret ballots in union elections.

An honest headline writer might have written something like "Labor measure introduced; angers big business". But no. Instead the Chron repeated what its own reporter called the arguments of "the right."

Interestingly, on the online version here, they've cleaned up the headline to read, "'Card check' labor bill stirs controversy". Much better. ***Chronicle workers voted the inevitable today, okaying the concessions that will lead to 150 people losing jobs while those who remain see seniority gutted, longer work weeks and less benefits.

The Chron is almost certain to go under anyway; the model of selling advertisers the eyes of readers of print media is dying. Complaining about this is like complaining that monkish copyists, the fellows who produced those lovely illuminated manuscripts, were done in by the printing press. Technology has upended how people get information -- but the new modes have only increased demand. Some way will be found to profitably meet that demand; that's one of the rare functions I do trust the market to accomplish.

Street fair on Broadway

There wasn't much novel or interesting among the trinkets for sale at yesterday's Upper West Side street fair (72nd to 86th in New York) -- but some of the food and some of the booth performers were diverting. No, I didn't try a deep fried oreo -- the item looked a lot like a fried artichoke from Castroville but even the thought was cloying.


The guy selling some kind of mop was energetic ...


as was the man selling a "salsa maker as seen on TV."


This Obama fan was talkative, while the Hillary folks seemed to be just going through the motions.


This gent looked a little sad and lonely, but he was there.


But the real attraction was the food -- how's that for some turkey legs?

A boulevard of books for sale

Cali left a comment on my previous post, a book meme, that led to this set of photographs from where my travels have taken me today:

Remember to support your local independent book store...if you still have one.

A walk on Broadway in New York City between W. 72nd and the upper 80s blows away any notion that books only come from Amazon.


There's quite a selection.






So many books, so little time. So good to see that someone still recycles books.


Some have more value than others -- at least so the sellers believe.


Of course the retailing monster has moved in on this market.


On this stretch of street, this the honorary street designation seems just right.

Off the everyday tourist track

When you have good friends who live in a foreign place, you get to see a little more than you might if you only had a guidebook. Of course that doesn't mean you understand what you see. Some parts of Mexico City's Mercado Sonora I'd never have seen without friends. Make of them what you can.


There's nothing strange about folks using traditional herbal remedies. I'm glad I can visit an accomplished Chinese acupuncturist at home for my medicines. Check these prescriptions available at the market.


Down the aisle, these hanging diablos began to take us a bit further out of everyday consciousness.



Devils and skeletons are common in Mexican folklore, but we're getting a little macabre here.


Now we're getting to the deeper stuff: "Santa Muerte's [Lady Death's] magic spells and amulets, both black and white magic, prepared here for your home or business." Looks like she is doing okay.




Under her skirt, she appears to be well fed.

Mercado Coyoacan

The neighborhood of Coyoacan is a bit hip and trendy, a meeting of classic older Mexico City residences with the nearby Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) whose 300,000 tuition-free (!) scholars support a multitude of bookstores and cafes. Because the University is not in session now, the streets are not so full of students -- the break is why we're here, enjoying the vacation of our friend, a University instructor. But Coyoacan's market is simply a market -- a feast of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, taco stands, and sundries for daily life.


Need a pineapple?


Or a few chiles?


Or perhaps some cheese from Oaxaca?


There's no doubt about the freshness of these fellows...


...waiting for purchase under a proper shrine.


Hungry? Take your choice of fillings at the taco stand.


Are the cares of life getting you down? Stop by the apothecary for an aerosol blessing!

San Francisco marketsFair Oaks and Fair Trade

This is story about San Francisco mini-neighborhoods.

When my friends and I bought the communal property where we live, the seller's real estate agent optimistically handed us a descriptive flyer claiming the house was located "just blocks from Noe Valley!" Sure and pigs can fly. When you are half a block from 24th Street and Mission, you are pretty far from Noe Valley.

Noe Valley, a neighborhood five long blocks up a steep hill from where I live, was a quiet working and lower middle class location when I moved to the city in the 1970s. Folks who lived there were families, mostly white but with a large sprinkling of Latinos. The one thing that Noe Valley had in common with the Noe Valley of today was lots of kids. Now though, the children are mostly blonde and they are often watched by nannies while their upwardly mobile, professional parents toil long hours in the upper reaches of San Francisco's economy. The houses are valued in the million $$ plus range and the commercial thoroughfare, upper 24th Street, is a mix of boutique shops and yuppie chain stores.

Don't get me wrong. I like Noe Valley fine -- my gym is there and their supermarket sure beats anything else in walking distance. But Noe Valley is another country from the Mission.


Last Saturday was the annual Fair Oaks Street Fair. Real estate optimists aside, Fair Oaks is where you know for sure you've gone far enough uphill to be in Noe Valley, absolutely no longer in the Mission. The annual garage sale is a BIG DEAL, 5 blocks of neighbors selling their junk in front of their houses.




These young women were enthusiastically hawking "Lemonade -- Cookies."


There were some amusing items for sale.


But it was hard to imagine why anyone would want most of this stuff. Even the sellers seemed simply to be going through the motions, acting the part of holding their annual garage sale.


The most enthusiastic participants were folks selling food for the benefit of the local schools, public and private. This woman was slinging hot dogs and tamales for Fairmount Elementary.


I bought a cookie to support these women, though I had to interrupt their conversations to make the purchase.

As I walked north on Fair Oaks, the displays became further apart -- less householders were participating. This segment of Fair Oaks hopefully aspires to be another neighborhood altogether:


I've never heard anyone actually use that label for this area, but I haven't been reading real estate flyers lately.

In its northernmost block, Fair Oaks runs uphill coming to an end at 21st Street -- Noe Valley shades over here into Dolores Heights, land of magnificent Victorian follies.


It was a pleasure to wander down into green Dolores Park itself, an oasis where the Mission, Noe Valley, and the Castro come together, more or less amicably.


There I found another kind of market where volunteers were eager to tell me about World Fair Trade Day. These good folks sent me off with a message of global hope and a sampler of goodies they trust are produced equitably.



I wandered home via Valencia Street, a main drag in gentrifying transition which I'll document another day.