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Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

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Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#101
post #88

Sometimes I feel like this is the endgame where the US overall kind of declines but California starts managing itself better and operates almost like an independent country. Probably wishful thinking but would be great.

Pretty wishful thinking indeed. It's already losing population (down two years running), probably due to a bunch of factors. My guess it's being driven by the obscene cost of living (housing, taxation, energy) and the declining quality of life (worsening air quality, growing petty crime and homelessness, creaky infrastructure). Most of these are uncomplicated policy problems, yet solutions seem out of reach. Do you t…

The last time we "reformed" CPUC so that energy markets could be more competitive and reliable, we essentially rendered the whole thing subject to the free markets. Immediately, both PG&E and SoCalEd teetered on the edge of bankruptcy due to corrupt energy traders (e.g., ENRON, but not just them) manipulating the markets. Sometimes, regulation is a good thing.

Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#102
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t relate at all to that sentiment. California has got to be one of the most bloated and wasteful state governments in the entire US. High taxes and nothing to show for it. The entrenched far left seems bent on destroying the middle class, driving out business, regulating everything to death and displacing merit as a selection factor. Whatever glory Cali has— tech, entertainment, farming, weather, natural beauty…

High taxes on newcomers. Nearly nonexistent taxes on dynastic families.

Newsom is quite close to that dynastic wealth, too- https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-pol-ca-gavin-newsom-san-...

Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#104
post #67

Quoted post unavailable.

> Outsourcing would be financially expedient, but that would be the end of executive aspirations. Suspicions regarding Newsom's motive notwithstanding, outsourcing production to foreign countries is in fact a more difficult endeavor due to strict controls on pharmaceutical imports by the FDA.

It’s also in the states interest to bring businesses into its tax basis.

Those local manufacturers will hire local, spend local. Each dollar the state provides will cycle through many local businesses.

Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#105
post #86
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California schools system is not good.

They used to be good.

California has plenty of amazing public schools. But California is also highly segregated by both income and ethnicity. Fremont High School, for example, rivals some of the most expensive private schools nationally in terms of achievement, but it's a majority Asian school, especially South Asian, many of whom are middle- and upper middle-class (notwithstanding that by Bay Area standards the Fremont area is considered "working" class. You can find schools like Fremont all over California, but especially in the Bay Area, coastal Central California, and many places in Southern California.

OTOH, just a few miles from some of the best public schools in the country you can also find some of the worst. While California is segregated, most Californians nonetheless live in relative close proximity to people living in vastly different circumstances, so disparities are very evident.

Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#106
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one in their right mind would build manufacturing from scratch. Contract manufacturers exist to do relatively cheap design work in exchange for access to their expensive-to-build (but cheap to use by comparison) manufacturing facilities. I can't speak to drug manufacturing, but I know from experience that when it comes to medical devices, you save almost 10x in up front fixed cost by outsourcing, like California i…

With regard to insulin 3 companies control 90% of worldwide production. I'm not aware of a third party manufacturer that can actually produce modern insulins at scale. Even if they existed, they still have to work around the issues previously stated. It is unlikely that you would be able to partner with the big players as they have no incentive to help a competitor and they are already running at full capacity. You p…

There are many many very difficult parts to novel drug developments, and I'm not saying they will have success finding something that doesn't infringe and also scales. What I'm saying is that the strategy of doing everything yourself with startup level funding and experience is not optimal, and you can save money and time by outsourcing at the beginning.

Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t relate at all to that sentiment. California has got to be one of the most bloated and wasteful state governments in the entire US. High taxes and nothing to show for it. The entrenched far left seems bent on destroying the middle class, driving out business, regulating everything to death and displacing merit as a selection factor. Whatever glory Cali has— tech, entertainment, farming, weather, natural beauty…

It's a mix. California has at least some reasons for why it is a tech haven: non-competes unenforceable; well-supported state university system California also gets a lot wrong that interferes with tech: prop 13 and friends, housing policy, incredible corruption, massive local conservatism But California is most like America as a microcosm: horrifically corrupt but such a powerhouse that it resembles a leviathan that…

> California also gets a lot wrong that interferes with tech: … incredible corruption…

Indeed, it is literally “incredible”. What passes for corruption in California wouldn’t even be worth noticing on the older states of the east coast, especially the north east. I’ve lived in both.

Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#109
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't claim you are wrong. But I do question when the evidence is so murky. A lot of what folks think they want in efficient systems are systems that would fail because of how efficient they were run. That is, what evidence do you have that the success is in spite of government? Is there a comparable government or system that is doing better? Why? Or why not?

Bullet train: despite earthquakes and mountains, Japan runs a pretty decent network of high speed trains. Politics, well documented by the papers, show how a high speed train had repeated stops added to it, and was slowed down in California to the speed of a regular train while costing much more. Despite adding an additional 1.0% tax to fund mental health, homelessness has only increased in California. Efforts to red…

Another good point of comparison for the bullet train system is Spain. California is currently projecting to spend $105 billion for 520 miles of track. By contrast Spain built over 2000 miles of track for $72 billion.

Re: Governor Newsom announces California will make its own insulin

#110
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Los Angeles are some of the best engineering schools on the planet.

*According to Californians

It’s not an exclusive list; a lot of states have good tech universities. But it’s a pretty objective evaluation. Ask a tech employer anywhere.
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