Pfizer's Lobby Spend Continued Its Climb -- Through 3/4th Of 2016 [Updated, With A Shout Out To "Hamilton"]

But first (and not really on a tangent -- given the topic of this post), we are mercifully just hours away from the end of the most bitterly rancorous, and gut-wrenchingly awful presidential cycle, in over a century. And all sides bear some responsibility for that. So, as the nation goes to the polls, I encourage all to keep St. Theresa's meditations (at right) in mind. [In a late breaking development, there is credible talk of forceful vote suppression efforts by extremists -- in inner city Milwaukee (even though Wisconsin will certainly stay blue), so I'll likely be deployed there -- come Tuesday morning. Been there; done that; got the tee shirt -- decades ago (in inner-city Chicago). Thus, blogging may be scarce -- through election night.]

The nominal topic here is the $10.2 million Pfizer spent on lobbying in the first three quarters of 2016. That amount is about 40 per cent higher than Merck's spend, in the same time frame. Detailed below is what Pfizer spent it on, along with a lower center graphic -- comparing the two.

I've included Alexander Hamilton's thoughts, as well -- since conservatives are so fond of quoting the Federalist Papers. Hamilton and Madison did not view corporations or LLCs as imbued with personhood -- at least not insofar as rights to influence elections were concerned. This is a fact that modern day conservatives find very inconvenient. So I repeat it -- smiling as the end of Citizens United looms (and the correlative end of all its manifold ill-effects on ordered liberty) -- once a full United States Supreme Court is seated. [More predictive stuff, in comments here.] Onward, then:

. . . .Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations, Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), Trans-Atlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP), Canada IP/Trade Issues, South Africa IP Issues, China IP Issues, Indonesia IP Issues, Thailand IP Issues, Korea Pricing Issues, Saudia Arabia Pricing Issues, United Nations Health Panel, Privacy Shield, G7/G20, APEC, OECD. . .

21st Century Cures Initiative, Senate Innovation Project, Drug Pricing, Biosimilars Reimbursement Policy, Patent Troll Legislation, Defend Trade Secrets Act. . .

Medicare Rebates/Medicare Part D, Non-Interference, Medicare Part B Reimbursement, Medicare Part B CMMI Demo. . .

Deferral, Comprehensive Tax Reform, Territorial Systems, Patent Innovation Box, Inversions, Section 385 Proposed Regulations. . .

Omnibus Appropriations Bill, 2017 FDA & Labor/HHS Appropriation Bills, Prescription Drug Abuse. . . .

Perhaps slightly overly reflective on this fine sunny and crisp Saturday morning, but since I may be running pillar to post through Tuesday night -- then on to the West Coast later in the week, I am savoring this moment to reflect. Reflecting on the last few days then, and seeing all sorts of things with "new and (hopefully) better eyes" -- since we -- as a politically aware, well-informed class of citizens -- will be done with Mr. Trump, as of Tuesday night. Thank goodness, for that. As I say, onward.

UPDATED -- Mid-Sunday morning: I feel comfortable, based on the fire-wall of early votes (almost all of them blue) built in Clark County (which includes Las Vegas), through Thursday and Friday -- in predicting that Mr. Trump cannot win, nationwide.

Mr. Trump may (or may not) eek out a win in Florida, but without Nevada (traditionally a red state) -- he has no math. No electoral college math. Mr. Trump spoke in Reno, yesterday, but history will record that he lost the election on Thursday and Friday, when the hotel workers in Vegas voted early en masse. The hole he's in -- in Nevada -- is now beyond retrieval. He'd have to find several hundred thousand new Republican voters (ones who've NEVER voted before), in Nevada -- and essentially all of them would have to turn out on Tuesday, and vote -- for him. As I say, he loses in the electoral college (the only place it actually matters), without Nevada. HRC is the 45^th POTUS -- the flux capacitor(!) just hasn't caught up to it yet. . . smile.

Now you know. But it is delicious irony -- Mr. Trump will have lost the nation, due precisely to the turnout HE generated, against his racist "build a wall" policy, among the hard working honest citizens largely of Hispanic descent, who make the beds in the opulent Las Vegas hotels. Flawless irony!

नमस्ते