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Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

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Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#131

Post by s73v3r_ »

throwaway84742 wrote: post #121
otalp wrote: post #92

It does say something depressing about our laws that he got sent to prison for the thing where he lied to rich people while still making them money rather than the thing where he extorted sick poor people...which is still fully legal even if the majority of society thinks it shouldn't.

He didn’t “extort sick poor people”, he extorted insurance companies. If you couldn’t afford his drugs, he was offering them for free.

And schools, and other places which, by law, were required to have Epi-pens on hand.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#132

Post by rayiner »

otalp wrote: post #92

It does say something depressing about our laws that he got sent to prison for the thing where he lied to rich people while still making them money rather than the thing where he extorted sick poor people...which is still fully legal even if the majority of society thinks it shouldn't.

Not it doesn’t. Our legal framework doesn’t oblige you to save someone’s life just because you have the means to do so. If it did, we’d all be in big trouble—for the cost of a fully loaded MacBook Pro, you could save someone from malaria in Africa.

The fact that people think a particular unpopular thing shouldn’t be legal doesn’t change that. There are a lot of things people believe should be illegal that aren’t illegal, because that would conflict with higher principles of law. People are easily swayed by emotion; the law at least attempts to be rational.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#134

Post by [deleted] »

otalp wrote: post #92

It does say something depressing about our laws that he got sent to prison for the thing where he lied to rich people while still making them money rather than the thing where he extorted sick poor people...which is still fully legal even if the majority of society thinks it shouldn't.

[deleted]

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#135

Post by saas_sam »

s73v3r_ wrote: post #131
throwaway84742 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He didn’t “extort sick poor people”, he extorted insurance companies. If you couldn’t afford his drugs, he was offering them for free.

And schools, and other places which, by law, were required to have Epi-pens on hand.

You should read things before posting.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#136

Post by s73v3r_ »

Clubber wrote: post #124
mannykannot wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this dialog, only one party has constructed a narrative that involves drug prices, and it is not 9889095r3jh.

I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to insinuate.

You're claiming that the person who responded to you was distracted by something, but their response didn't indicate that at all.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#137

Post by [deleted] »

wintermutesGhst wrote: post #126
toomuchtodo wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember this when you end up on the wrong side of the law, and the book is thrown at you when it shouldn't be. Easy to cast the first stone. Aaron Swartz was eligible for 50 years in prison and a million dollar fine based on his computer crimes. That's fair too, right? Y'all need some empathy and compassion. People are human, and make mistakes. The punishment should fit the crime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron…

That is the issue though, someone has to decide whether to "throw the book at you" or not. As long as someone is left to decide that, then you risk things like "being offensive" working against you, or "showing remorse" helping you. The allowance for empathy, compassion and mistakes are what lead to the (to you) unfair punishment that was given.

[deleted]

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#138

Post by Clubber »

mrj wrote: post #53
Clubber wrote: post #20

Here's what we just witnessed. 1. Companies were cornering certain drugs, then hiking their prices up significantly. Shkrelli did the same thing (but stated he was willing to give it free for anyone who asked). Note, that this is not illegal in any way, but news was all over it and citizens were pissed. 2. Shkrelli, being outspoken, became the focus of this issue. He dug a hole for himself, but concerning drug prices…

Well, you seem to be saying that because the investment tripled, then no crime has taken place. That's not really how it works.

I didn't intend to insinuate that. I was more trying to paint a picture of him being a scapegoat for the monopolization of drug prices. His prosecution diverted the public eye from this much larger problem.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#139

Post by tedunangst »

dragonwriter wrote: post #109
foxhound6 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...Offending the public, whether right or wrong, has consequences. Shkreli is getting a taste of mob justice, or just what he asked for. Isn't that exactly what the justice system is in place to prevent?

Criminal punishment in a republic [0] is exactly the institutionalization of the idea that offending the public has consequences. Hence, in the US, the popular styling of criminal cases as “The people vs. defendant ”. [0] a “republic” in the sense of a regime where government is notionally an institution for the interest of the public rather than a private property interest of a ruler or distinct ruling class; in non…

Wouldn't a more complete explanation mention constitution or code of laws or some such as well? Maybe some ex post Latin?

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#140

Post by matte_black »

s73v3r_ wrote: post #131
throwaway84742 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He didn’t “extort sick poor people”, he extorted insurance companies. If you couldn’t afford his drugs, he was offering them for free.

And schools, and other places which, by law, were required to have Epi-pens on hand.

Schools waste disgusting amounts of taxpayer money overpaying for things all the time. What’s a couple more dollars to the books?
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