ABC has no shame in their mission...

For the medical device industry, they work very well, particularly when you can rig them!

 

Please explain how the Medical device Industry rigs the market?


P.S. If you actually respond to this request in a reasoned and justified way, don't just tell us on the forum, report it to the proper authorities!

No one who believes in market solutions, ever wants rigged markets!

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i suppose most folks will only see what they want. just read through the posts in this thread and try to tell me with a straight face that this comment alone can't easily be turned into that indictment, especially among those who are eager to find fault with the system. look to your own post. you've taken that $40k price tag at face value, a little research would tell you that this is the high end, and decided it is "egregiously high". you consider it "gouging a captive market" without bothering to figure in all that goes into the product before it is even sold and in doing so condemn an industry based solely on the inflated accusations conveniently provided by a biased media.

in what passes for thought within the echo chamber of the liberal hive, the drones see only dollar signs as the be all end all of our endeavors. they spend so much time lusting after the wealth of others, they fail to recognize that money is merely a form of power and a rather inefficient one at that. it may be traded for the truly important powers, the power to control the lives of ourselves or of others, but the exchange rate is incredibly high. in the private sector we concern ourselves mainly with the ability to control our own lives, accumulating what we may need to shape our own destinies and, along the way, enabling others to do the same. the public sector, on the other hand, is mostly about controlling others, the regulating of the lives of the citizenry. the fourth estate, the lords of media if you will, exist within a grey area. they are certainly concerned with industry, the creation of a product and the continued existence of their enterprise, but their control over the flow of information also puts them in the business of controlling the lives of others. there are really only a few sources of raw data, natural choke points in the flow of information. it is from these outlets that the media draws their information, deciding what will be passed along to the public and how it will be presented. the lords of media (i kind of like that term) recognize the power they have, the power to shape the public consciousness, and they use it to their own ends. they may use that power to promote the goods and services in which they have an interest, to promote the goods and services of those who are willing to "pony up" or even to shape the will of the nation according to their own agendas. it goes beyond mere advertising and enters into the realm of social engineering.

i could keep on going, but i think you get my drift. i could continue with the obvious, that an ignorant population is a pliant one and ripe for the picking by the unscrupulous, or explain why so much of media has opted for the liberal course, that a dependent citizenry is most easily manipulated by those wishing to assume control, but what good would it do. the drones of the liberal hive already exist within that echo chamber and seem happy with the path down which they are being led.

 

Don't ya just love capitalism?

 

Sure. And very cool of the group of students to volunteer to work on it too.

If this is a "product" and its being sold for the cost of $350.00, then all of these students should be fined for paying below the minimum wages established. Oh... and I am sure that they had insurance too (probably not). Did they pay corporate income tax on the $350? Nope.

ITS NOT A PRODUCT. Its a charity.

 

If others can price it cheaper great.

But they don't get to use slaves to do so. They also need to align with all of the other regulations, certifications, and corporate requirements including taxes and insurance that the prosthetic companies have to.

Apples to apples is all I am asking for.

This story compares apples to chevys, and then jabs at profits.

See the difference?

 

No... how did the original company that did the R&D make any profit?

 

No, your own perception is what creates this problem for you. The way I view it is that if these kids can do it, for the cost of what they represented, it can be done cheaper and competition should be sought out.

 

Exactly.

Check out this chinese version of the BMW X5.

Called the CEO



That is not healthy competition

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Clearly some of these people have never operated anything more complex than a kool-aid stand.

They don't even realize the costs that go into even starting a business.

 

This conversation really isn't about the cost of prosthetics.

Its about the inability to create a prosthetic arm for the claimed $350, in order to jab at the prosthetic companies.

Seems to me, you agree with their flawed accusation of improper profiting.

Care to weigh in on the lie?

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Because its completely illogical, dance in field of flowers, holding hands in a circle, singing songs with unicorns prancing nearby.

Comparing charity to capital efforts is stupid.

Its not sustainable. People have to eat.

Is the basis of the lefts economic policy now "work for free for the benefit of others"? Really?

 

Nope.

You missed the point too.

That is not the point of the thread. It has nothing to do with the charity. Or the profit for that matter.

That is you spinning the topic, because you find it easier than actually debating it.

The point is.... artificially suppressing the costs of goods and services by using free labor, lacking any corporate responsibility, and without overhead as a means of demonizing cost of other products is not logical.

 

They don't want to get it.

Its easier to tell me that I am a demon, opposed to charity, in the name of profit. When that wasn't the point at all.

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Thats a flat out lie.

That thing can not be made for a few hundred dollars.

That is the point.

 

It is almost a truism that some of the Right worship Corporations...the way they claim to worship God or Jesus.

 

there is an entire anti-business culture based on just such ignorance. it seems to be founded on the bizarre notion that we have some right to that which makes us happy. no such right exists. we certainly have the right to strive for our happiness, but that right ends when it interferes with the rights of others, the rights of personal property and of their own right to strive for their happiness. wealth does not abrogate those rights, no matter how our malcontents may try to vilify the attainment of riches.

 

If that competition aligns with all of the requirements that the medical device companies have to... sure I agree.

This one instance alone doesn't indicate that is the case. It makes an accusation, one that I call BS on.

 

I do agree on the requirement aspects of regulations, something I think is often too high.

 

How convenient for some to view corporations as evil greedy machines devote of ties to human beings. That which allows them to seek fairness at the cost of such evil entities.

 

Very much a semantic argument, but I'll bite. Since the price is $350, not $0, therefore it is an item for sale (a product) not charity.

Uh, they sold prosthetics, obviously.

Source? Because I just saw a source that says it can. Electronics are cheap these days, as is printing plastic.

 

i see you are continuing to compare apples to oranges. a product is more than the sum of its parts. a sword is of greater value than its steel. these students were reimbursed for their labors by the educational value of the experience. how much do you suppose that would cost in today's market? the equipment they used was provided to them as part of that experience. how much do you suppose you would be charged to use that equipment? what would be the cost of upkeep and repair, not to mention the initial price, of the printer alone? now consider that the technology used to produce this device was relatively new and not necessarily approved for this purpose. what would be required to jump through all the hoops and part all the red tape to get such approval? now put all that together and ask yourself how many tens of thousands of dollars this one device would actually cost to make.

 

New technology can shave thousands off the price for prosthetics, and all you see is an "assault on profits"? What do you have against amputees who can't afford tens of thousands of dollars for a prosthetic limb?

 

I've watched the video a couple of times now, but I don't see the part where they blamed profits for the high cost of prosthetics.

 

But if labor was free, then more profits can be made. Isn't that why all the offshoring occurred and continues? Keep reducing labor rates. Well free is a low as it gets.

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The story was about college kids making something. You blew it out of proportion because ABC news ran a story and did a comparison.
Otherwise, I'd never heard about it.

 

Good its a product.

Sue the crap out of the students for not complying with all of the regulations and requirements of an operating medical device business.

Nice circular argument.

The products are overpriced, and more products could be sold cheaper, because students can build it using a template that is the resultant of tons of R&D, which costed a corporation a bunch of money, and now over prices for their product, because students can build it using...

So the only thing it takes, in regard to overhead, to produce this product is the plastic to put through the machine? Thats it.

Hunk o plastic = prosthetic arm?

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Another one who completely missed the point.

 

If so many people are missing your point, perhaps the deficiency is yours. You made an accusation that is simply not supported by the video you provided.

 

OK, first of all, red tape is not an inherent cost, but an artificial one. If you want an arm for yourself, you don't have to have that crap. Just make it and wear it. If these guys figured a way to not jump through BS government hoops, then good on them. That's innovation in itself. "these students were reimbursed for their labors by the educational value of the experience. how much do you suppose that would cost in today's market?" - irrelevant, since they DIDN'T do it like those companies do. You keep saying "bull(*)(*)(*)(*), it doesn't cost $350", when in fact what you mean is "it WOULDN'T cost $350 if they did it like everybody else". The fact that it may have cost others more doesn't mean that this arm does not, in fact, cost $350. Bottom line, if I can buy it for $350, then that's what it costs.