
Google will pay $500 million for illegal pharmacy ads - krelian
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/24/us-google-idUSTRE77N4A220110824
======
ck2
So wait - how come Google can be held to the fire for a half BILLION dollars,
but there still has not been ANY significant arrests or even fines over the
derivatives fiasco (and no significant legislation passed to stop it from
happening again).

It boggles the mind.

~~~
Alex3917
Because when Obama takes bribes from pharma companies they ask him to let
Americans die rather than be able to buy lifesaving medicine from Canada,
whereas when wall street bribes Obama they're only asking to be allowed to
steal trillions of dollars.

~~~
monochromatic
I'm no Obama fan, but... come on, dude.

~~~
Alex3917
Right, because I'm sure Matt Taibbi is lying about Obama getting wall street
off the hook:

[http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/obama-
go...](http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/obama-goes-all-out-
for-dirty-banker-deal-20110824)

And I'm sure that Obama did not actually make Michelle Leonhardt the DEA
administrator at the request of big pharma.

~~~
ck2
Yup, I just read that one this hour.

Also see this one:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/business/schneiderman-
is-s...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/business/schneiderman-is-said-to-
face-pressure-to-back-bank-deal.html?_r=1)

and

[http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-
stre...](http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-
jail-20110216)

And remember that's Rolling Stone and Matt Taibbi is also rather left leaning
from what I can tell off his wikipedia entry (I'm more progressive than him
and I believe Obama is making one mistake after another for reasons I cannot
fathom).

------
glenra
That's very sad. As a consumer, if I google "cheap <drug>" and somebody
outside the US is willing to sell me <drug> at a lower cost and/or with fewer
bureaucratic hoops to jump through than a local provider, that is _exactly_
what I want and expect to see featured in the Google Ads that get served up.
Google was providing the _public good_ of regulatory arbitrage - connecting
willing buyers with willing sellers.

It's a shame Google had to knuckle under.

------
guelo
Why can't Canadian pharmacies sell drugs in the US?

~~~
guelo
Answering my own question: to protect the profits of American Big Pharma. Big
Pharma gets to write the laws they want in DC.

------
suking
Seems like extortion.

