Walk to the bus music

Be back in a bit. Vamp.

Chris Collins should resign.

I have to make this short.

I’m not saying he should resign because he’s Republican. I’m saying that because his insider trading selfishness hurt people.

Short summary: biotech startups are created by scientists. Startup costs, capital investments in equipment etc are very expensive for pharmaceutical R&D. There aren’t as many positions available in pharma R&D since the patent cliff caused Pharmageddon in the last 10 years. That means companies have to scale down their portfolios and put most of their money and staff on one drug. One bad clinical failure or FDA ruling and all that hard work and money is gone. I don’t particularly like this business model but that’s the way out new breed of financiers want it. Scientists take a lot of risks and then they have to deal with vulture capitalists. You know what is a good model for a pharmaceutical company? A midsize private corporate lab. Sorry lefties, but that’s the way things work. But I digress.

If you’re lucky to find one, you’re likely to receive some of your compensation in stock.

A lot of your compensation is in stock. It’s not necessarily to incentivize you.

And you can’t make vulture capitalists stay. It doesn’t matter that they don’t understand that research takes a long time and fails repeatedly before something hits. They do not understand deferred gratification.

So when some asshole congressman reacts to a bad clinical trial by engaging in some insider trading and makes the stock drop by 92%, that hurts. That hurts everyone. It hurts the company, scientists and patients.

There ought to be a law or a better way to finance research. But there ain’t. We do have prosecution for insider trading.

I’ll take it.

And Collins can quit. Now.

Walk to Work Music

Good Morning, oh best beloveds. It’s a warm, sticky cloudy day in the burgh. Lots to do today. But I’ll be listening to the Manafort trial if I can. I think we’re getting hints of why Donald Trump doesn’t want to release his tax returns.

Get the popcorn. With extra butter.

Father John Misty: