Byron Dorgan: “one of the inconveniences of the global economy is that you have advantages and disadvantages, and you have to live with…”

“one of the inconveniences of the global economy is that you have advantages and disadvantages, and you have to live with both. When you move products around in a global economy--and the pharmaceutical industry certainly does--you get the advantages of importing lower-priced compounds and chemicals with which to make prescription drugs. So the big drug companies benefit from the global economy. But one of the inconveniences of the global economy is that the conditions that exist in the country you are purchasing from comes with that product. Today, if I were to go up to my colleagues--and I will not--and turn over their necktie, I would find some of them are wearing a necktie made in China. So I say to them: If you are wearing a necktie made in China, governed by a Communist government, no doubt, when you purchased the necktie, you were contributing to the salary of the Communist leader of China. Do you feel comfortable with that necktie? But, of course, no one set out to give comfort to any government anywhere. They simply bought a necktie. That is why, when the pharmaceutical industry says, ``if you are able to access the lower priced drug in Canada, you are importing some sort of price controls,'' I say nonsense. All you are doing is taking advantage of the global economy, the buying and selling of goods back and forth across borders. Yes, it is inconvenient that some countries--in fact, many countries--do have price controls.…”