Free Trade and Folk Marxism is an article at TCS Daily focusing on theories about inadequate access to important drugs in developing nations. Many blame it on patent restrictions by large drug companies. The author is particularly critical of the New York Times. Several recent studies are cited, and the author came to this conclusion.
If the Times and its friends in the global health community have data that show something different, they should use it to justify their arguments [against free trade]. Otherwise, they should focus on true obstacles to access — these include economic stagnation, excessive taxes and tariffs on essential medicines, and the corruption and infrastructure problems in the developing world. It is these obstacles, after all, that explain why even though the great majority of essential medicines is not patent-protected, the poor still are dying without them.
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